• What is the educational value of blogs and blogging to the 21st century learner?

As a campus leader my thoughts on how to teach the 21st century learner is quite open-minded. I see these students in class daily force to swallow and regurgitate informational facts that are out of date or that have no future creditability. What I am mean is that we are preparing a future world of students for the unknown. We have no idea what jobs await them but I do know they aren’t the traditional everyday jobs that we seek in current unemployment offices. I envision future jobs being very innovative and the employer seeking a technological savvy person to fill it. In that truth, I cringe almost every time I see a hand written book report, or observe a teacher in her attempt to educate with white chalk on a blackboard. It is vital that we support our students’ education by allowing them the opportunity to become independent learners, strong problem solvers and effective designers. This is one advantage that students will have if we introduce blogging to our students. I think that blogging will serve as a great educational value to students by providing several of ways to generate and communicate information.
Blogs and wiki are the next step in the technology and digital classrooms. Blogs and blogging can be extremely beneficial to the 21st century learner. Not only do blogs offer parents, administrators, students, and other educators a glimpse into the classroom, they also allow teachers to use them as a tool to support teaching and foster the development of a learning community. By giving students a wider audience, blogs allow the author and others to share experiences, offer commentary, offer support, and answer questions. If a student knows the world is watching, this may also motivate them to work harder and give their best work. By gaining different perspectives to their blogs, students are able to see their work in a different perspective, which could produce greater results. Blogging also promotes social, written communication, and digital literacy skills. Blogs are ideal for classroom management, collaboration, discussions, and student profiles. They definitely add value to education.