Blogging About Blogging

In no particular order, here are the Edublog award sites that I engaged in reviewing this week.

Site 1: Adora’s Blog, Student Edublog 2009 Nominee

While visiting Adora’s blog I learned about Adora the “youngest teacher in the world.” Adora is a 12 year old teacher who instructs professionals in the use of technology in education. Her blog features a variety of posts.

While visiting Adora’s blog I commented on her post describing Twitter as a cult.  Though many of Adora’s readers agreed with her point of view, I posted a dissenting opinion stating that I believe that Twitter is more of a fad then a clut. I do not believe that it will have true longevity due to the fact that many other services can easily take its place.

I liked how Adora had a variety of different posts, ranging from personal commentary, to academic discourse, to updates on her professional life. This format kept the blog interesting.

I disliked that there were many technical issues on the site. She posted several videos with audio that was too low to hear, and an embedded Glog that could not be displayed properly given the blog’s formatting.

I may come back to Adora’s blog from time to time, but I do not expect to follow it closely after this exercise.

Site 2: Free Technology for Teachers, Resource Sharing Blog 2009 Winner

On this blog, I learned about a diverse body of resources that have been compiled by teachers for teachers. All of these resources are posted along with ideas for using the resources effectively.

I discussed a posting regarding the creating of a teachers online hub.  I liked the graphic that the user created, but suggested that there are more modes for building an online hub than just using blogs, wikis and websites.

I liked that there were many different resources listed on this site. The lists of  resources did not feel redundant, instead each post covered a new idea from a different perspective.

I did not find anything I particularly disliked about this blog.

I have bookmarked this blog and I plan to use it in the future.

Site 3: Tech Addiction Harms Learning, Most influential Edublog post 2009, runner-up

This post detailed a critical analysis of an article written claiming the Tech “addiction” “harms learning.” This blog response called into the question the professional background and methods of a study which made this claim. The author went to great lengths to obtain the article and give her too cents.

I discussed the need of the media to be critical consumers of research. So often the media reports on articles which, though published, do a very poor job of ethically and effectively reporting findings. I feel it is important that we watch out for claims based upon unsubstantiated and poorly defined research.

I liked that the post of the blog took the time to research a claim that seemed less than accurate and to report the findings to the community at large.

I disliked the title of this blog post. I felt like it was unintentionally vague. As a matter of fact, I almost skipped over the post all together, but I decided to give it a try.

Though I found this post interesting, I do not have plans to follow this blog at this time.

Site 4: Afgahn Women’s Writing Project, Best Group Edublog 2009, nominee

This blog consisted of a writing project by women from Afghanistan. It is something of a living history. It provides narratives on the lives of women in Afghanistan.

I replies to this blog post written by an Afghan woman who lost her father during the pro-Communist movement in Afghanistan. I was moved by the account she gave of her father, and I felt like sharing a comment regarding her post.

I liked that there was a variety of narratives on this site, ranging from poetry, to personal statements, to family history.

I dislike the way that the blog was laid out, the front page felt rather busy, with a variety of different sub headings.

I have not spent enough time on this site to appreciate all that it has to offer. I plan to revisit it to read more of the engaging narratives that it features.

Site 5: Betcha Blog, Individual Blog nominee 2009

From this site I was able to glimpse some more about what a education related topical blog can look like. I was motivated by the posts that I found there, and it gave me some ideas about things I might like to blog about in the future.

I discussed a post that was made about trust and respect in the classroom. I presented my own point of view and how I show respect in my classroom with 2nd graders.

I liked how the author of this blog engaged a variety of topics relating to education that he felt were important.

I did not find much that I disliked about this blog.

I think that I will be likely to continue reading this blog in the future.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 @ 10:42 pm on the category Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.