Let’s talk about the use of blogs as a learning tool
A blog is many things. A diary, a shared online journal, a soapbox, a news outlet and a collaborative space just to name a few. It is a place to write and share your thoughts and ideas where others can respond in kind. It can be whatever you want it to be.
There are many different types of blogs. These are just a few. Instructional blogs show people how to do something. Informational blogs simply give people information on a topic. Wikipedia is a great example of an informational blog. Review blogs review products or services like cars or shampoo. List blogs are things like the Top 10 Reasons for, or The Top 10 Best whatever. I’m sure you understand what I mean. There are blogs that are simply interviews with someone or Ranting blogs. These are a great way to get something off your chest, stir up controversy and just tell it like it is. The opposite of a Rant blog is an Inspirational blog. It is a great way to motivate others by sharing a success story. There are also profile blogs which tell others about a particular person. These are just a few of the different types of blogs.
There are many popular blog sites that range from social to political to educational. The most popular social site are Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. They allow millions of people all over the world to connect with each other and share thoughts, ideas, pictures and more.
This YouTube video gives you an idea of what Twitter is all about. This is just one type of social networking blog.
The 1st step to creating a blog is to go to a blog creating website like Blogger.com. From there it is quite simple to create your blog. The steps are laid out for you. Once you go the website, click on Create a Blog. If you don’t have a Google account, you will be asked to create one. Once you do that, you will name your blog and then choose a template. From there, you start blogging. You can put in pictures, links to other websites, change fonts and colors and many other things.
This is my blog on abolishing greyhound racing.
So… are blogs useful as a learning tool? Of course they are. The types of blogs alone prove that. There are instructional blogs which shows the learner how to do almost anything from doing math problems to creating blogs. There are informational blogs like Wikipedia that give information on anything and everything. Political blogs give all kinds of information and view points of current affairs in the political community. The list goes on and on. In my opinion, you can learn almost anything from blogs. But you be the judge… BLOG ON!