Reflection #3: Compare Three Blog Platforms

Blogger 

I have been using Blogger for 10 years now and love it for the most part. It offers a lot of customization which can only be said for people who are experienced using HTML or CSS--So a con would be that customization can be hard if you aren't experience with the program. In my opinion, blogger tends to look a little bit less professional, but that also plays into the lack of experience with the website.

WordPress

  

To me, Wordpress tends to look a lot more professional in comparison to Blogger. A big downfall to me is that Wordpress is that it is really hard to customize. If you want to edit the HTML or CSS of the templates, you have to pay a pretty penny, which I do not like. To me, the best part about Wordpress is the level of professionalism contained within the free-templates. If I had to create a blog for work, I would probably use WordPress.

Wix

Wix is very fun to use and customization is great and can be very easy for those who are inexperienced! You are limited to the gadgets and widgets you can use by having a free account, but I still have had a lot of fun using this domain for blogging. The templates are great and look professional, with some exceptions. There's not much in the way of ability to comment on posts though, which I don't love. I feel like this would be a great domain for a personal website but not as much for educational purposes.

Most Useful for Educators?

I choose blogger out of the three I reviewed. This may be because I've had the most experience with this program, but I feel as though from the student's side of things, it is the easiest to work with, as well as from an educator perspective. It offers all the necessary features that a blog would need for a teacher. You can also adjust it to fit the feel of your class and whatever mood you would like the blog to contain through it's some-what easy customization.

Reflections Post #2: Best Practices for Blogs

1. Make sure that the privacy or publicity of your blog is appropriate with the content you are posting.

Reason: 

I found it a little bit strange in some cases that some teacher bloggers post photos of their students, as well as their names, and had their blogs set to public. I understand if a parent is sharing photos of their own family and children, but someone else doing it? I don't necessarily agree with -- unless proper permission was given from the parents, which very well may have been the case with several of the blogs I viewed for Reflection #1. However, in some cases, having a public blog is great and doesn't put anyone at any risk.

2. Using an Anonymous or Disguised Name when discussing sensitive content or content that could result in negative consequences.

Reason: 

Many people use blogs to post about their unfiltered personal feelings towards certain topics. For example, a person who works within a company that has interesting coworkers, or doesn't agree with how the management is led, this person may post experiences they have within the work place that may be negative. By remaining anonymous and not disclosing the true name of their workplace or coworkers, this blogger is able to discuss their unfiltered thoughts without damaging the reputation of the company.

3. Moderating Comments on your Blog.

Reason:

Comments can be minefields for spammers, advertisers, vulgarity etc...It is important to moderate comments within a blog to make sure that those who are visiting your blog are having the experience as intended for them. Another reason, is that your blog post comments are not a place for free advertising. Having been involved with social media on a large scale within my job and different volunteer organizations, some people will utilize a social media venue that has a lot of followers to try and advertise for their own cause. Advertising is great, but there is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it. Also, if you are wanting your comments to exclude vulgar comments or certain types of language, moderating comments is necessary.

Source: http://digitalethics.org/resources/best-practices-for-bloggers-dimensions-for-consideration/

Reflections Post #1: Compare 3 Educational Blogs

http://mscassidysclass.edublogs.org

Ms. Cassidy's Class was a blog created by a first grade teacher to document what her students were learning, primarily for parents to understand what was going on in the classroom. Ms. Cassidy felt that by blogging, students were more motivated to be engaged in class room activities--knowing that what they were doing would be documented. She also, at times, lets her students directly post comments on the blog so that they can experience being "authors". I believe that multimedia features within the blog are very useful for Ms. Cassidy. She uses many pictures throughout her blog posts and occasionally videos. Along the right sidebar, there is a live twitter feed of the class that is featured, showing comments the children have said in regards to the material in class. Not only does the teacher post on her own blog, but there is a link to each of the children in the class to document what they are learning personally. 

http://www.sciencefix.com

This blog was created as a resource to provide middle school science teachers with material and videos to present in class. He used a lot of great videos that explained scientific concepts that at times can be hard to just verbally teach without a visual. For this blogger, using the imbed video feature (from YouTube) within a post was very useful! All of his videos were available on YouTube, which made it possible for him to embed the content. Not only is this a great resource for teachers to use his material, but for students who are seeking a more visual lesson in science. 

http://excusememrsc.blogspot.com

This blog focuses mainly on teaching strategies for first and second graders. This blogger also found the multimedia features essential to having a productive blog. She provided clear and easy instructions to many different educational activities that first/second graders could enjoy. She utilized the blogs template to ensure a simple design, which made the information easier to take in (not many distractions, or ads on the sidebars). 

It seems as though teachers used blogs to enhance their learning in several ways. Some of the ways I took note of are as follows:

1. Posting students content to give them a sense of ownership for their work.

2. Providing resources for other teachers of successful learning activities.

3. Opening up discussions by posting a certain article and allowing students to post comments below.

4. Posting content and study resources that would be helpful for students.

How I might use blogs in my future career:

As you can see with the blog I created, it's a rough template of something that could be used within my future career. I am majoring in community health, and am passionate about the well-being of those around me. I could use this blog to provide resources for people on a nation or world wide scale to help people learn to better balance their life and increase their health. While I would not use a blog as my primary income, by the use of advertisements and sponsorships, it could become a source of income alongside whatever other career ventures I choose.