“This blog is posted in order for people to benefit from the research I conducted on the phenomenon of blogging and, in particular, blogging as an instructional practice in the K-12 classroom.”

As Felix summarizes the results from his disseration study, I am reminded that ed tech teachers knew the following occurred with students and it is fantastic that there is research to use with administrators, directors, etc. to quote when making a pitch for using or integrating tech tools into daily curricula/instruction.

“The study shows that teachers perceive a significant increase in student learning through motivation for assignments and through deeper thought processes. Students seem to enjoy the connectiveness of their work to other subjects and to each other. This collaboration encourages a deeper relationship with their peers and with the teacher. Other studies have shown these relationships produce more student learning especially in minorities and students of low socioeconomic backgrounds. It also seems that teachers see the benefits of this practice. They have increased their use of blogging year after year, which seems to show they feel blogging has great relevance as a classroom tool.”

As I was reading one of the comments to the blog, I was reminded that the district that I was recently affiliated with blocked all blogs until this past March and then only the CIT blogs for each campus and the district ed tech blog were unblocked. It is so sad that the district leaders didn’t, couldn’t or wouldn’t see the importance of this instructional tool to revolutionize instruction in the classroom.

Intially, when the CIT’s asked the director if we could use blogs with students we were told no as students would need email accounts. At that time, we were wanting to use the blogging portion only of Gaggle.net. A generic email account/login could have been used with the email portion of Gaggle still blocked if that had been actual concern. Then a week later the director’s spouse began using Classblogmeister and suddenly the world of blogging became available to the CIT’s only. Use with students wouldn’t be allowed until this upcoming school year. The other CIT’s didn’t use, know how or receive training on how to effectively use a blog with staff. Discussion of ways to use, maintain, implement and promote the blogs never occurred as the directors themselves did not know how or even experience reading blogs. RSS feeds and blogging were so foreign that the CIT blogs had no posts, comments or activity from teachers on their respective campuses. It is so unfortunate the awesome things that could have been done to involve the students and community with blogs. Hopefully that evolution will take place and that area of expertise will expand and grow. I have shared my own (small but evolving!) blog and other educational blogs by superbloggers so hopefully the spark will light a fire for the district instructional technology personnel.

Wes Fryer’s post:

“I hear you Jon. It can be lonely to write when no one is listening or seeming to pay attention. (I flashback to April 2001 again.) Our opportunity to have conversations which both change our practice and potentially change the thinking and practices of others, however, is unprecedented TODAY in human history. I am both humbled and electrified by that reality. Yes, I blog for many intrinsic reasons. Blogging helps me process and document my own learning journey, and I frequently benefit from this virtual bread crumb path as I refer back to old posts as well as social bookmarks in tags I’ve used.”

Jon Becker’s post:

“This blog is ONLY just over 3.5 months, but I find myself obsessed with figuring out if I am contributing to any networked learning. Scott McLeod has written about “measuring” the impact of a blog and I commented that I’d like to consider some combination of comments/post/reader and number of pingbacks. In other words, I will feel like my blog is useful/valuable if it is generating discussion. People may come and learn by simply observing, but I don’t feel like that’s enough.”

This appears to be a common notion at present time and I am heartened that I am experiencing similar feelings from the ‘heavy hitters’ in educational blogging. Just as in start up venture, whether it be writing or a new business, an investment of time and reflection is necessary. The creative process can be daunting and taxing and I felt comforted that even the ’superbloggers’ feel a twinge of uncertainty at times.

Mentioned in these bloggers’ posts throughout their respective blogs was the importance of the reflection process for growth. While the topics of the posts in the superbloggers of ed tech’s blogs seem to come and flow naturally, I struggle with what to write and will anyone care what I have to say or read what I have shared. It is difficult being vulnerable, yet striving to be a prolific writer at the same time, in my humble opinion. But the mention in Miguel’s post about the importance of the reflection process is to affect change and growth struck a chord with me.

When I was working to achieve national board certification, critical questions requiring reflection on the learning process were asked throughout the entries I had to submit. Although I had already taught for 15 years or so, initially I didn’t see how important the reflection process was or how valuable and significant to professional growth that the reflection process played. After achieving national board certification, it has become ingrained that a reflection upon the lesson I just delivered to ensuring success for my students – whether they be K – 12 students or adult students. So I thank Jon Becker, Wes Fryer, and Miguel Guhlin and all of the other ed tech bloggers for making themselves vulnerable, taking a risk and sharing their own personal reflections with the rest of the world.

Taken from the Wiki defining Understanding by Design is:

Understanding by Design is a method for planning using backward design — visualizing the end result (what students should understand) before selecting learning activities.

The link to the wikispace is: http://ubdeducators.wikispaces.com/. Check it out and experience a different form of professional discourse and collaboration. What are your thoughts?