Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Blog Review
The blog I chose to review is called Digital Education,
which is co-authored by Ian Quillen and Katie Ash. The blog topics range from digital dissection
in a high school science class to the New York Senate passing a cyber-bullying
bill. The posts seemed to have a wide variety
of topics, thus appealing to everyone. Archives
dating back to 2008 also show that this blog has staying power and in my mind solidifies
the value of this blog.
One thing that initially drew me to Digital Education was
the multiple posts per week. I feel that
if I am reading a blog for ideas in technology or just looking for information to
stay current, a few posts a month would not be enough. Instead I was able to find several new posts
with great information that I was interested in. The authors also do a nice job at giving
their readers just enough information to be understand at a basic level, but
then supplement that with links leading to more details.
I was disappointed not to find a bio on the authors. The only information that was provided next
to their picture was that both are staff writers for Education Week Digital
Directions. While this does not make or
break a blog, when initially checking out a blog one of the first things a
reader will do is look for background information on the author. Since anyone can put out a blog these days, it
helps knowing the credentials of the author.
I should also add that there was a link to e-mail the authors, but that
was it.
I really connected with the post regarding the science
teachers in Florida moving away from classroom dissections in favor of a
virtual dissection. This made me think
of my department and how we are piloting a program a virtual text book on the
ipad. Last semester a group of lower
level math students were the first students to not be issued a text book. They did not complete traditional paper and
pencil homework assignments, nor did they have traditional assessments. Just like the schools in Florida claiming the
big switch was driven by financial savings, we are looking to do the same. Our decision to move towards the virtual text
was financially a solid investment, but also used as a tool to spark motivation
in a group that normally is lacking. If this
wasn’t something my department already began to implement, I would definitely bring
this information to the table in our next department meeting.
The blog Digital Education has more than enough
information to keep even the tech savvy teacher interested. The design is appealing and quite user
friendly. If you have a moment please
check out the blog here.
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