Action Research on Blogging by Blogging

Action Research on Blogging by Blogging

by Meg Ormiston

Blogging has been on my “to do” list for months. Real life got in the way until I recently became a blogger, now I am hooked! I have created a blog to help track my action research about rolling out handhelds in classrooms. My blog is not a “final product” instead a work in progress. A place to record when I learn something, test it out, reflect and refine.

I was afraid to start blogging, sharing this on my first public post:

Well, I thought it was about time to jump in and give blogging a try. Over the past few months I have been researching how blogs can be used in the classroom to promote active learning. Time to jump in and try it myself, so I can share my experiences with other educators.
I see great power in communicating through blogs to reach a broader audience. Yet many educators I have talked with are afraid blogs will turn into nothing but rumor mills and sites for gossip. I will continue to research to see if this is happening.
I have put off starting a blog. One fear is I will not be able to keep up with my blog and keep it fresh. Another reason was I wanted to host my Blog on my own site http://www.techteachers.com/ but I tried repeatedly and I just don’t have the programming knowledge to pull this off. Another push back for me was my need for an editor. Publishing two books helped me to see the power of a good editor! It wasn’t until I read a blog (will search for the link) that blogging is more about the process of writing and not the final product.

So here I am with the thousands of other bloggers exploring, learning and experimenting with what a see as a powerful communication tool! More about blogging in education when I return!

After my first few posts I took a break to spend time with the kids and wrap up an action packed summer. Revisiting my blog I had a sort of running record of what I had researched and discovered (and quickly forgot!).

This reflection is the critical piece, one of the reasons I see blogs as a powerful teaching and learning tool. The handheld computers have dropped in price making one to one computing a possibility in many schools. As I work and research I can’t stop thinking about the possibilities in the classroom elementary through adult learners.

As the school year ramps up I am looking for classroom teachers ready to embrace this new communication tool. I know they are out there, check my blog http://megoblog.blogspot.com/ and e-mail me if you are interested in joining the journey. Through my blog I will share our successes, setbacks and discoveries.

Blogging Just Hitting Mainstream

I wrestled with the concept of blogging for a long time, not seeing the value for education. Many of the blogs I discovered through research were the personal blogs. Details of people’s lives I just didn’t care to explore. Lots of twenty some kids; lamenting about there pets, friends, take-out and not much of anything else.

I did not really change my mind until I was researching the power of rss feeds in education (article is still I draft, resources collected found http://www.techteachers.com/rss.htm ). I stumbled across the Shifted Librarian blog found online at http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/ Through my news aggregator I started reading Jenny’s blog and I was hooked.

Although I come from the classroom as an elementary teacher, reading a blog about public libraries was still a little strange for me, yet I learned so much! Her writing style is so easy to read and so many of her comments made me want to learn more. One of her comments drew my attention when it mentioned Burr Ridge and the Suburban Library System. Suddenly I realized she worked in the town next to mine, we have kids about the same age, and I actually learned what a moblog was by looking at pictures from her vacation. I missed Jenny when she took a break from blogging (traveling baseball I believe) she is back and I am looking forward to catching up.

Don’t worry about the confusion between rss and blogging. More to come in other articles. Basically I figured out that a blog can be converted to an rss or ATOM feed and people can subscribe to your blog by subscribing to the feed. This is how I met the Shifted Librarian.

Today August 31, 2004 marks the 5^th year for Blogger (www.blogger.com) not the only blogging site, but a very easy to use FREE site. I clearly understand I am just one of millions that have discovered blogging, but I hope I can spread the word and help others see this practice as a reflective teaching tool that engages students in higher level thinking through good questioning and reading and responding to others. I look forward to using my blog to reflect on my research and share what I have learned with others.