Student Success

     Once we have students trained on how to create and add to a blog, where do we go from here? How do we make the experience meaningful and related to the goals of the curriculum and classroom? Sure, the students may find the use of another platform and technology fun and a break from traditional learning, but in order to ensure that there is true learning occurring, the way we engage and monitor students is important. By creating a blog post, what is the student doing? To start, they are sharing their ideas and opinions with others. While doing so, they are also reading the writings of others. Students are now engaged in three important areas: writing, reading, and learning (Zinger & Sinclair, 2013). Students learn how to become betters writers by practicing consistently and also by reading the writing of fellow students, their teacher, and others who comment on the blog (Hall, 2013). The same applies to their reading skills: the more we practice reading, the better we become at it. By requiring students to write responses, they must read the posts of others first, requiring them to practice their reading skills. 

     There are several others ways to tie blogs into the classroom and help students be successful in their learning journey. Blog assignments can be done outside of the classroom, when students have time to process the information and work at their own pace (Hall, 2013). Students can be assigned into groups to work on posts and practice collaboration with others (Hall, 2013). Not only can students do their own blog posts, but they can post as a class or a team too. For those students who struggle with writing, blogs are a way that they can demonstrate their knowledge while using alternative displays, such as images and multimedia (Hall, 2013). This can also translate into various ways of obtaining a participation grade for students. All of these, done correctly, can help our students achieve success in the classroom and create a more productive learning environment.

Hall, M. (2013, November 27). Using Blogging as a Learning Tool. Retrieved February 23,
     2018, from https://ii.library.jhu.edu/2013/11/27/using-blogging-as-a-learning-tool/ 

Zinger, L., & Sinclair, A. (2013). Using Blogs to Enhance Student Engagement and Learning
     in the Health Sciences. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 6(3), 349.
     doi:10.19030/cier.v6i3.7907