Blog+Reflection

**PMI on Blog reflection**
Promote creative, intuitive and associational thinking, Promotes analogical thinking, Potential for increased access to quality information , Class blogs can serve as a portal to foster a community of learners, Collaboration and discussions, Blogs present, organise and protect student work as digital portfolio's, (Crie, 2005). Combination of solitary and social interaction, Quick and easy way a blog can be updated and post information quickly, Vent your feelings but in the correct context, Have links to your blog which drives traffic to your site which leads to more comments and learning ideas from others, (Marketing Titan, 2011). Highly motivating to students especially those who might not become participants within the classroom, Excellent opportunities for students to read and write, Powerful tools to enable scaffolded learning or mentoring to occur, (Crie, 2005). Enables students to elaborate and build knowledge (Fasso, 2012) || Need to be careful with appropriate language and tools used, Online safety, Blogs need to keep it constantly updated otherwise you lose potential readers (Marketing Titan, 2011). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Need to be supported by online thinking tools such as scaffolding for them to be educationally beneficial. || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Types of blogging used in education. How can this be managed? Ensure blogs are being used for the right reasons ( Marketing Titan, 2011). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Monitoring acceptable online behaviour, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students need to be trained on issues regarding access, privacy, Security and free expression, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As blogs have no publisher, producer or editor students must carefully consider the content of postings to avoid anything defamatory or an infringement upon the rights of others, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Classroom management, how will they be managed (Crie, 2005 ). Blogs need to be learner focussed and used in the correct context (Fasso, 2012). || **Online Safety** <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">While students are using the internet to search for material to use in their blogs, or images to upload, online safety implications need to be understood and managed by the teacher as well as the student. Students need to be aware of the risks associated with working online, and it is the responsibility of the learning manager to implement this into students learning. Students may be exposed to inappropriate material when using the internet when searching for images, content or material to help create or use within their blogs. Another risk when using the World Wide Web is 'stranger danger', where students may meet someone online claiming to be someone they are not. These risks need to be managed, and schools as well as teachers need to implement specific strategies to minimize these risks from occuring. NetSafe Kidsprovides some strategies and resources for schools and teachers to keep children safe from these types of dangers when working online. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Young students may also be exposed to cyber bullying through email, chat rooms, social networking sites and even comments on their learning tools from other students or peers. I have found a great website which provides fantastic advice and prevention strategies to minimize the risk of cyber bullying occuring within the classroom and schools. Finally i would like to highlight the importance of students referencing all material used that is not their own work, as not to breech any copyright or privacy laws. This may include any uploaded images or videos into their blogs or any material copied from others blogs, wiki's or websites that has been taken without permission or reference to the main source. **References**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Positives about blogging || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Minuses about blogging || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Implications about blogging ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Promote critical and analytical thinking,

Crie, M. (2005). //Using Blogs to Integrate Technology in the Classroom.// Retrieved from [|http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47] .html. //Marketing Titan//. (2011). Retrieved from []