Playtesting Technology: Blogs

What is a Blog? A collection of ruminations and personal opinions compiled on a public website. Referred to also as weblog, blog or e-journal. A blog can have several purposes and be a highly subjective medium. The reason being that it is created by one person and sometimes a group with a common goal (the math or science department). The posts are often personal reflections that are shared publicly with the intent to get readers to comment and start a meaningful discourse.  They are informative and can identify your mantra. It can show how easily you may fit into an establishment's culture- akin to a resume.

Similarities among Blogs I playtested several platforms: Blogger, Wix, Weebly, Edublog, and KidBlog. These are free and some open source forums. The blogs have the following common features: themes can be selected easily and applied, the author can select and name a topic to post about, the author can enable visitors to comment, and the author can easily moderate and tag any material to be published to other social media. (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,etc.).

What are Glogs and Vlogs There are Glogs which look like a digital posterboard.

Carbohydrates Glog by 5j2014msconneally.wordpress.com

and vlogs which are essentially the same as a blog but in video format. Just google some popular YouTubers and you will see a great example of a vlog and vlogging.

Differences They differ from discussion boards in that boards allow for multiple voices to be seen in a thread.  Participation is not deemed equal in a blog, hence this is where I can reflect on the affordance of a blog for learning. I am a person that needs some time to think and contemplate. A blog provides me the opportunity to give my perspective and gives me time to interpret deeply the topic at hand without having to fight to get a word in edgewise or feel like the great thought I just had should have come 10 minutes ago. As an author of a blog or as a person that comments on one I feel of greater value to the conversation and topic at hand. Although I may participate in a discussion board, I always feel pressed for the next thing to say and some of my comments may not always make sense in a threaded debate.

Blogs in Science can support students just like me. Moreover, 2nd language learners can greatly benefit and improve their writing and speaking skills. A personal blog post on content taught in science could greatly increase an EL's proficiency level in writing and speaking.  I find that these are the descriptors that offer the biggest challenge to improve yearly. Student work that I might design using a blog would be the following:  Science lesson on a guiding question such as:

1. What is observed when the path of light is changed? (either reflection or refraction)

After a scaffolded lesson on vocabulary for reflection and refraction, the students can participate in a hands-on lab lesson where they observe and identify reflection and refraction. In a group of 4, they can discuss a preplanned High-level question stem such as: How does refraction compare/contrast with reflection? This is the analyze level of Blooms. They would then evaluate by preparing a Flipgrid video. This would justify their learning. The students are thinking, discussing and the genius of adding the affordance of a blog is that the students are then writing their own thoughts to this question. Creating by authoring their own learning. Students can read and comment on classmates blog posts by creating their own High-Level Question with stems. 

TPACK model The content standard,(5.6(C) demonstrate that light travels in a straight line until it strikes an object or travels through one medium to another and demonstrate that light can be reflected such as the use of mirrors or other shiny surfaces and refracted such as the appearance of the object when observed through water) Pedagogy(Constructivism, Scaffolded, Collaborative ), technology  (FlipGrid video, Blogging) support learning and when done often can increase TELPAS level descriptors in writing and speaking.  A necessary accomplishment for English Language Learners. Not to mention academic vocabulary retention since they are repeatedly writing, thinking, discussing and reading about those specific vocabulary terms.  Despite the obstacle of technology maybe lagging or not being available at times.  A personalized blog account that they can be the authors and dictators to can be a direct motivator to write and write some more. 

Affordances of Blogger



The students at my school all have Gmail accounts and creating Blogger accounts would be accomplished easily. Additionally, they would enjoy the themes provided and if started the first week of school they would truly see blogging as a digitized journal for their perspectives and thoughts. This affordance would intrigue even the most skeptical writer because they would be able to see they all have a voice and a platform to be heard. I find that it has a great organization as well. It is easy to post to and I can see being a co-author on it with the rest of the Science Department on my campus connecting all of our 5th-grade students incidentally growing our learning community. The feasibility of keeping all things Google would be a teachers dream since there would be a great support through our technology department.  

Affordances of Wix websites 



 It has a counter to track visits to your blog and this could be a motivator to write insightful material. It is easy to customize the look and header. Adding any type of personal logos, renaming tabs and updating the cover photos are something a 10-year-old (5th grader) or adult (teacher)  can handle with ease. So many color themes, the possibilities??  Additionally, you can connect your twitter handle and create a feed.  I could see a professional development affordance by this being used as a reflective tool and inviting other educators to share those thoughts with you. Adding pages and features is simple. I found myself catching on quickly to the customization of it. 

Affordances of Kidblog



I have had experience with Kidblog. I have a teacher account set up for a previous year's class. The affordance of this blog was student engagement and clarified thinking. Specifically,  I used it as a choice in a menu to complete evidence of their learning. Kid-friendly themes (cats, color extreme).  I could also see students using it as their digital data folder, with their smart goals every 6 weeks. Keeping up with physical data folders would be a thing of the past and digitized updates would be so fast and easy.



Affordances of Weebly

Using Weebly as a class blog would be to allow students to practice digital citizenship.  It is easy as an educator to moderate and students could practice interacting online in the proper way. Students could even give the teacher feedback. Sort of taking the place of the physical suggestion box in the old classroom. Allowing them an opportunity to build character by being a solution creator and not just a complainer. Class blogs would be safe places to have concerns and be heard and work together as a team to find solutions. 

Affordances of Edublog

The Edublog accounts seemed very versatile and easy to use. Moreover, it seemed like monitoring this particular blog from the educator side would be relatively easy. An affordance highly needed in a demanding teacher schedule.