Ryan
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Blogs enhancing international student collaboration
Blogs can be a great way to enhance international student collaboration. The first way it enhances collaboration is by taking away the boundaries set by the traditional classroom. By having a tool that is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, accessible from anywhere in the world, physical limitations are no longer an issue. The second way blogs enhance international collaboration is by allowing students to link/follow other students blogs. By liking or following others blogs it creates a social network that can easily be expanded beyond the constraints of their area. The third way blogs can enhance international collaboration is by having the teacher find a collaborating classroom. There are sites like epals.com that allows teachers to find other classrooms of a similar age and level and set up collaborative experiences. The students can follow these students blogs and develop a cyber relationship with them through their personal blogs.
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The information that you gave about epals is great. I am the only health teacher at my school so it is hard to collaborate with other teachers that teach my subject. We have a system called blackboard that allows us to share materials but nothing that involves open communication like you metioned. I am going to look into epal so see if there are any teachers I can connect with that teach my subject.
ReplyDeleteI too like the information about epals.com. My students have spent their lives in the city and could possibly never leave. I am always looking for opportunities for them to see inside the world further than their own window. We may need to find a class to communicate with.
ReplyDeleteRyan,
ReplyDeleteI really like the points that you address regarding how blogs can help student collaboration. I think that you are a wonderful example of that as well. The fact that we are able to work together and collaborate on a project while you are in another country is the embodiment of blogging and online collaboration.
I think that one thing that we can also remember is that blog collaboration can take place between a classroom and a known outside party. A few years ago, my cousins' class did a "Flat Stanley" project right around the time my dad was supposed to travel overseas. My cousins sent Flat Stanley to my dad right before his trip, and my dad took Flat Stanley with him on his trip. But rather than keeping a diary of Flat Stanley's adventures, my dad created a blog. My cousins kept up with the adventure on the blog, and shared it with the class. This was one great way that the blog was able to help my cousins keep in touch with my dad and Flat Stanley.