Plusses and Minuses of Blogs in a Classroom

It has been a wonderful experience learning and sharing with the fellow students in EDM 310 Spring 2009. Everyone has been very eager to learn, share and help each other. We have used blogs extensively in our classroom. I have very much enjoyed the experience. Even my husband, Leonard, who had not heard of blogs before this class was so excited that he created two of them: one personal and one for his outreach ministry. He is even encouraging his Masonic lodge to use blogs for some of their business dealings. In other words, blogs have caught on in a big way with me and my family. I think that they will have just the same effect in the classroom.
I think that blogs are a fun, easy, different way to get students to look at reading and writing assignments. It is also an innovative way for teachers to share information with their students. I would have my students to create a blog at the beginning of the school year and respond to reading assignments that way. I would also require blog following among my students and idea sharing. My own class blog will keep my students up to date on assignments, had outs and test dates as well as test materials needed. This is how I would encourage a paperless classroom.
However, I do see some drawbacks to this method of teaching. First of all, some of my students may not have access to a computer to create a blog and keep up with postings. In addition, many students may complain that they may not have time to post assignments to blogs when using public computer facilities which are often closed when the student leaves school or work. Some other students may complain of computer illiteracy while others may complain of constantly losing passwords.
All in all, I would be willing to work around many of these obstacles whenever I can because I feel that computer literacy and advanced technology should be taught and made available to every student. We are not only preparing our young people to be lifelong learners, but we are also preparing them to be ready for the technological future ahead.