Tools for Learning

     There is an abundance of platforms now for students to connect with each other and the outside world. We live in a society that has technology that is constantly updating and improving. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, etc, allow students to connect with peers and others interested in the same type of things and ideas that they are interested in. This form of communication allow students to learn how to communicate with others who are different from them and enhances communication techniques (Zinger & Sinclair, 2013). To get a quick overview of the different social media sites students might use, check out: https://makeawebsitehub.com/social-media-sites/

     Creating blogs allows students to demonstrate their creativity due to the technology and platforms available. Designing a blog tailored to their vision is one of the draws to using this medium. Students can play with the color schemes, layouts, font sizes, and images included in their personal blog (Sackstein, 2015, p.32). They can choose how many pages they would like to include (or a class blog could have a different page for each student). Students are able to utilize tags in their posts to organize their blogs both individually and collectively across the class (Sackstein, 2015, p.33). Students can also link to other blogs/websites as well as share videos. The possibilities are endless to help students create a blog that is a reflection of them while demonstrating the knowledge required of the skill and assignment.

     If we as educators don't keep up with these tools and allow our students to become proficient with technology, we are doing them a disservice.  Ultimately this is a disservice for us too as professionals because with the advances in technology we  can become better teachers, role models, and contribute more to the advancement of our field.


Sackstein, Starr (2015). Blogging for Educators: Writing for Professional Learning.                
     Retrieved February 23, 2018, from https://phoenix.vitalsource.com/#/books/
     9781483377780/cfi/5!/4/4@0.00:4.55

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