My five cents regarding chpts. 3 and 5

I enjoyed reading chapter 3 even though the class has already created our individual blogs so alot of what Richardson writes about I already know. But he also provided some other interesting tidbits like the 1 gigabyte space per blog, photos should be sized and formatted before uploading to blog, and that there are some safety features associated with blogs. The last bit of info is good to know especially since I would want to use blogs in my classroom but at the same time ensure (as best possible) that students are not being linked to some random weblog that is not appropriate for their viewing. From discussions in class, it sounds like schools put a lot of restrictions on what the computers can be used for in class so I'm not sure if they would allow me to use a blog or let my students use a blog. It's understandable because bad things can happen and there has to be much scrutiny by the teacher at all times. Students like their freedom and I think if they know the teacher is going to possibly "edit" their post then they are less likely to participate. I still think Blogs are an interesting concept that can be used in a classroom but with the understand that there will be some limitations and restrictions (if the school will even allow the use of Blogs).



And just when I didn't think I could feel anymore out of touch with technology, I read chapter 5!! I'm glad I read it because learning about RSS is going to make my life a whoooooole lot easier! I definitely see myself establishing a feed for getting anything new that comes out about Plethodon salamanders since that is the basis for much of the research that I do in the lab. Usually, I dread the times I need to start filtering through all of the publications online. It is time consuming and tedious. But now that I have this handy tech tool to send me feeds when something new comes out on this salamander I can just sit back and wait for the info to come in. Yesssss! Seriously, though, I can definitely support using this in my job but I can also see using this in the classroom both for the students and for myself as an educator. As with most science fields, there is just an enormous amount of research being published everyday. I would use the RSS feed to filter my specific interests/themes that I want to teach in class. I don't want to teach chemistry in a dry, boring way. Even though the content does not change much I do think that it is good to supplement it with some current event that can be linked to the subject. Students crave for teachers to tell them why it is important that they are learning something and I think having some type of "Did you know......?" sort of minute in the lesson would do that. With a RSS feed, I can always be getting the latest info out there. Even Richardson said that "RSS feeds can add to your knowledge base, help you communicate, and make your teaching better." Sign me up!!