Assignment three with Diego Hernández

Choosing a new educational tool

When I found out that the first assignment was to work on a new electronic tool, I got very nervous because I didn´t have experience working whit this new tool. Our instructor Tim talked to us about several options and suggested choosing from one of the following new tools: Google doc, the wiki (learning or in moodle), PBworks and the blog.After analyzing all the options, I chose the blog because this tool is one of the most popular applications on the web and students are very familiar with it, this makes the creation and the mission of the educational space easier.

My experience on educational blog
Working in an educational blog is very different from working on Google docs for example, because the blog is faster and more interactive, we can read many opinions about some topic and learn different points of view. But, to create a fluid communication we need to be very organized and carefully manage the blog.

When I stared with the blog I had no idea how it worked, so I investigated in different web sites. These pages talked about the multiple functions of the blog, for example scientific publications and editorial publishing, diaries and of course, school activities. I also learned about the management of the blog, how to add gadgets and about the configuration of the blog.

I am really very happy to have worked with the blog because it has allowed me to update my knowledge of educational tools, as well as identify new areas of learning.

Likewise, I can say that I also learned from the work of all fellow students, as they showed me how they can work and adapt the tools to the learning needs that we have. Overall I am very satisfied with the work done, however there are some details I did not take into account when carrying out the activity of the blog and that was commented by my colleague Namrata Jaitli, expressing I need to add a description of the way to work in a blog because order of appearance of the posts presented in the blog is from the newest to the eldest, and this situation is not mentioned anywhere. I appreciate her comment very much, because this will help me not to make the same mistake in the future.


The blog
This blog is hosted on the domain of Blogger, and it was created by my partner Arturo Llaca and me. The general public has access to all the posts in the blog, but if someone wants to comment on the post, he or she needs to have a Gmail or Yahoo email account. The blog has some gadgets; one of them is for searching information, language translation and surveys. The rest were added and make the blog more interesting and enjoyable.

Among the contents we added some examples of educational use of blogs, as well as a video which describes how an educational blog is organized (see below).


Reflection
As a conclusion I want to comment that this experience has enriched my professional and personal experience; I learned that there are a large number of technological tools that enhance the educational experience of students and at the same time facilitates the task of the teacher. However it is also true that these tools are just one way to learn but the true essence of education is the work that the teacher does in class. The teacher also has the responsibility to show the way to students, encouraging participation and interaction and, finally, creating an appropriate learning environment.

Let´s make the best effort to provide a better education…¡¡¡¡ (がんばろう..¡¡¡)