Huffaker's Article

Hello!

For someone who never had a blog account before or even posted in one, I was surprised to read from Huffaker’s article that out of the four million published weblogs, almost 53% are created by children between thirteen and nineteen years old. Our young children’s motivation to communicate with other people on the web, by posting their thoughts on varied issues that interest them, shows how the internet or the web plays an important role in this so-called technological age. If the chalkboard was the “technological wonder” introduced to the classrooms in the 1800s that would prove to have a strong impact on teaching and learning, today’s generation has the web, the blogs, among others --- all promising technologies that could help both the teachers and the students enhance classroom learning and instruction.

But how about those who do not want to use the blog due to privacy issues? If the blog is required in the curriculum, how would that affect a student’s interest to come to class? Although some school web servers can be completely in-house and students’ identities can be kept private, Huffaker argues that it would be difficult to generate feedback and further develop communication with the other bloggers if the blogs are kept private. After reading the article, I look at blogging as a wonderful medium for students to express their thoughts and ideas as well as engage in an ongoing conversation about other people’s ideas in a non-traditional way. When used wisely, the blog can enhance learning by developing interest to read and write using the web. It is a wonderful way for students to develop their writing and reading skills, communicate their thoughts, as well as develop understanding and respect for other people’s opinion.