(Williams, P., 2013)

Learning has changed drastically over the years and students are being asked to learn and problem solve in a different manner. Learners are becoming ready for the real world. The diagram above visually explains what New Learning looks like. Students are engaged in learning through the internet, tablets, laptops, and mobile devices. (Williams, P., 2013)

One of the many powerful forms of learning is through computer-mediated environments. Thinking about how this can be implemented at a primary aged level can be troublesome. I have not personally used blogging in my classroom, but I have seen the benefits of using this form of learning. In the midst of blogging many teachers are choosing to use Kid Blog http://kidblog.org/home/. Kidblog is an extremely safe environment for children to interact with the teacher and their peers. As a new user to Kid Blog I found it rather user friendly. The sign up process is painless and there are informative video tutorials on YouTube for those who may be struggling with the process.

When starting any new program with students one may come across some challenges. In the primary grades the students may struggle with reading and spelling. In kindergarten and 1^st grade students are beginning to learn. Teachers must think about this challenge before implementing Kidblog. My coworker and I would love to integrate blogging into our classrooms. We have brainstormed some ways for our above level learners to assist our below level learners. One way to go about this is by having students work in groups of two, where they can assist each other with reading and responding to posts. Another challenge is time management. Teachers are being asked to teach so much content in one day and little time is allotted for educational resources outside the curriculum. This is where teachers must be creative and provide blogging as part of the curriculum, where students are responding to stories they have read or expanding their knowledge on a topic. Kidblog is a great supplement to the curriculum and a fantastic way to post daily questions or thoughts.

How and why does Kidblog work? When going to the main homepage of Kidblog, one can find the benefits of this program and why it works. Kidblog was created and is currently used by teachers. Kidblog has one main mission: "To empower teachers to embrace the benefits of the coming digital revolution in education. As students become creators - not just consumers - of information, we recognize the crucial role of teachers as discussion moderators and content curators in the classroom" (Hardy, M., Kidblog). The students are learning the writing process while engaging in a meaningful, safe environment.

http://kidblog.org/MrsRobertsClass-18/

The photo above shows you what students would see if they were to write or comment on a post. To create a post the teacher must navigate into his or her Dashboard and select New Post. Students can then have the freedom to respond to the post and comment on others. The teacher has access to all blogging activity, including recent posts, comments, and pending posts. To create a safe environment, the teacher can change the privacy settings to insure that the teacher reads and checks posts before the posts are live to the students.

Kidblog challenges students from the very beginning. They are being asked to become better problem solvers and to think critically to respond to posts. Students may have to research, investigate, and dig deeper to respond to a post. Information is valued because their peers are reading and responding to their posts. In this environment, many teachers state that their students provide posts that are meaningful, because their peers are the ones judging them. The learning that occurs through this resource is student-student interaction with the aid of a teacher to initiate discussion and guide students in the right direction.

(Hardy, M., Kid Blog)

Kidblog is a computer mediated learning environment that will take time and practice for students to learn, but once they learn the environment they will become familiar with the program and use it with ease.

Student-student, teacher-student, and student-resource interaction occur every day when using Kidblog. The student is interacting with their peers and teachers in an online resource forum with the use of a computer. The teacher and student have the role of facilitator, where individuals are leading and/or engaging in meaningful discussions. Learning is ubiquitous (anywhere, anytime) and students use online resources (photos, videos, research, etc.) to support their point of view. The teacher may post a daily or weekly question or comment, and students may be required to respond an allotted amount of times. The learning in Kidblog is self-paced, which means that learners can respond to posts at any time. Learning is meaningful, creative, and knowledge-based. Teachers have the ability to monitor student’s comments before they are made public to the class, to insure they are appropriate. Student’s comments in Kidblog are positive and valued by their peers. Interaction occurs daily with the teacher and students through the use of the online learning community, Kid Blog (resource).

(Hardy, M., Kidblog)

(Kalantzis, M. & Cope, B., 2008)

Many people may be thinking this is great, but what about assessment? How can you be sure that students are learning what they should? There are many ways to assess students:

1. Formative Assessment

• Verbal- Students can use their voice to explain their thinking with the use of apps, such as, Educreations and Draw and Tell. Students can voice record themselves thinking about what they may write in a post and why.
  
• These recordings can be used as posts to show other students how to think about thinking (metacognition).
  
• Teachers can check in with students weekly about their comments, posts, and reflect on their thinking.
  
• Teachers can simply review their posts and record their score on a Blogging Rubric.
  

(Cassidy, K., 2013)

I have provided an example of a Blogging Rubric created by Mark Sample from The Chronicle of Higher Education blog:

Rating	Characteristics
4	"Exceptional. The blog post is focused and coherently integrates examples with explanations or analysis. The post demonstrates awareness of its own limitations or implications, and it considers multiple perspectives when appropriate. The entry reflects in-depth engagement with the topic."
3	"Satisfactory. The blog post is reasonably focused, and explanations or analysis are mostly based on examples or other evidence. Fewer connections are made between ideas, and though new insights are offered, they are not fully developed. The post reflects moderate engagement with the topic."
2	"Underdeveloped. The blog post is mostly description or summary, without consideration of alternative perspectives, and few connections are made between ideas. The post reflects passing engagement with the topic."
1	"Limited. The blog post is unfocused, or simply rehashes previous comments, and displays no evidence of student engagement with the topic."
0	"No Credit. The blog post is missing or consists of one or two disconnected sentences."

(Sample, M., 2010).

2. Summative Assessment

• A final assessment where students demonstrate the information they shared with their peers and new ideas (this can be in the form of video or audio).
• Students know ahead of time that this is used as a final assessment.

3. No Assessment

• There may not be a necessity for assessment because blogging is not part of the curriculum.

(Cassidy, S., 2013)

Kidblog is a form of e-learning where students are engaged through blogging on computers. This engagement can also develop into classroom discussions. The Social Development Theory is where blogging first takes its roots. Lev Vygotsky, the theorist behind the Social Development Theory states that students want to have an active role in their learning. Vygotsky includes the importance of social interaction having an effect on meaning. With this Vygotsky also uses the Zone of Proximal Development, which is the ability for the student to engage in a task individually or with a peer, or teacher guidance. Many of the tasks being problem solving, higher order tasks. (Walsh, B., 2010)

Lev Vygotsky laid the framework for interacting to occur and his theory of Social Development has many teachers engaging their students more. Kidblog is a great portrayal of this theory for many reasons:

1. Students are responding to posts from the teacher (teacher-student interaction)
2. Students respond to posts and comments by their peers (student-student interaction)
3. Comments and posts are positive and related
4. Students can make post in groups
5. Multiple perspectives are portrayed
   

(http://onyxdigital.co.za/2012/06/web-comics-a-sign-of-our-modern-times/web-comic-kid-blog/)

(Onyx Digital Team, 2012)

The Constructivist Theory from the study of Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, & et al. states that:

"Learning is not the result of development."

"Disequilibrium facilitates learning."

"Reflective abstraction is the driving force of learning."

"Dialogue within a community engenders further thinking."

"Learning is the result of activity and self organization and proceeds towards the development of structures."

(Fosnott, C. T. and Perry, R. S., 1996, pg. 22)

Many of the main components mentioned above from the constructivist theory apply in the computer mediated learning environment Kidblog. Students are required to generate questions, comments, and defend their opinions with support. Teachers present meaningful questions where students must use critical and deep thinking to answer. The learning environment is reflective and positive. Students are given time to think about their thinking. I believe the close correlation to the theory of constructivism was taken into consideration when creating Kidblog. (Fosnott, C. T. and Perry, R. S., 1996) Kidblog has students engaged and part of all aspects of the learning environment.

Blogging in general is a program which is becoming more widely available and implemented in schools across the United States. When entering into the Kidblog homepage visitors can see the many benefits of the program, which I have listed below.

1. Safe- Ad free, privacy settings set by teachers
   
2. Simple- easy log-in pages for students
3. Students learn the writing process
4. Students engage in the digital world
5. Ubiquitous learning- anywhere, anytime
6. Authentic audience
7. Can be followed or liked on Facebook, Twitter, Google +
8. It is free!
9. "COPPA compliant terms of service for students under 13" (Hardy, M., Kid Blog)
10. Students create e-portfolios

(Hardy, M., Kid Blog)

To better understand what blogs are and how they have changed from the 20th century to the 21st century take a moment to watch this short clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI&feature=player_embedded.

(LeFever, L. & LeFever, S.)

What is the research and study behind blogging? How did blogs come about? Some say that blogs came about after September 11, 2001 when our world faced a horrific event. Before this event blogging was known as more of a personal journal with little interaction. With the events of September 11 people wanted to feel that they could have their say and feel as a part of the community. Some may argue with this point. (Downes, S., 2004) I found this extremely interesting because I would have never made the connection between the two. In EDUCAUSE Stephen Downes discusses how political and media sites began to develop into areas where the public can comment on the news, sometimes in a criticizing way. (Downes, S., 2004)

Henry Farwell, political scientist discusses the "five major uses for blogs in education:" (Downes, S., 2004)

1. "Teachers use blogs to replace the standard class Web Page" (Downes, S., 2004)
2. "Instructors begin to link to Internet items that relate to their course" (Downes, S., 2004)
3. "Blogs are used to organize in-class discussion" (Downes, S., 2004)
4. "Some class instructors are using blogs to organize class seminars and to provide summaries of readings" (Downes, S., 2004)
5. "Students may be asked to write their own blogs as part of their course grade" (Downes, S., 2004)

Many schools have been using blogs in their classrooms for a couple years. Principal Mario Asselin in Quebec City at St-Joseph School had his students go to three types of classroom: traditional classrooms, project based classrooms, and computer mediated classrooms. Asselin describes the third classroom as "a virtual extension of the classroom" (Downes, S., 2004). One student, Dominic Quellet-Tremblay, from the school talks about his use of blogs in the computer mediated classroom:

"The blogs give us a chance to communicate between us and motivate us to write more. When we publish on our blog, people from the entire world can repond by using the comments link...they can ask questions or simply tell us what they like...By reading these comments, we can know weaknesses and our talents. Blogging is an opportunity to exchange our point of view with the rest of the world not just people in our immediate environment" (Downes, S., 2004)

Teachers should become familiar with blogging and start out small. There is an array of research and support on the positive effects of blogging for teachers and students. One study done at a large Midwestern university with undergraduate upper-level students in a nonrequired course, looked at social impacts with the integration of blogging. Students were required to complete 6 assignments: three written hard paper copies and three blog entries. The following graph below demonstrates the results.

(Ellison, N.B. & Wu, Y. 2008)

(Ellison, N.B. & Wu, Y. 2008)

As one can see the highest results are reading students’ blogs and the lowest written assignments. Participants in the study found that they learned more and were more engaged in reading their peers blog posts. Some mentioned their technical concerns with using blogging. Participants experienced the fear that their assignments were not received. This is partly due to the unfamiliarity of this new form of learning. A couple participants voiced their concern with their peers not putting much thought into their posts and a lack of new ideas. For the most part participants’ experienced new perspectives, used their own voice, and engaged in open-ended questions and comments. (Ellison, N.B. & Wu, Y., 2008) One participant stated “I like the fact that we had to comment on others blogs. It’s cool to get some feedback on what I’ve written” and “I felt it was really cool when one of the people actually cited what I said in my blog on someone else’s blog. I thought that brought everything together” (Ellison, N. B. & Wu, Y., 2008).

Kidblog and other blogging resources are a great way to have students interacting and learning how to support their thoughts and comments. After looking into blogging more and the use of Kidblog in the classroom, I am going to get on board and have my 1st grade class use Kidblog!

When teaching in an e-learning environment, such as Kidblog, where the main form of interaction is through computers there can be many positives, but also some drawbacks as well. Below is a table of the strengths and weaknesses people may come across using Kidblog.

(Burton, O. V., et al., 2003)

When looking at the table one can see that the strengths outweigh the weaknesses. This is what should be taken into account when thinking about using Kidblog or other e-learning environments. Students are being challenged and thinking about thinking, instead of rushing through work and not putting much effort into their assignments. Kidblog engages and excites students about learning. Instead of always opening their book to a page number and reading the text together, they are interacting with their peers by asking questions and commenting on posts.

The world is a continuously changing place. Everyday new technology and learning devices are being created and we are being asked to become familiar with these. What better of a place to get children learning about the computer based resources available to them than at school in the early years? I have seen the positive effects of children learning and progressing in academics through the use of online resources. In our classroom, the students use Starfall, Story Maker, and online Reading websites to engage in learning and become better readers and writers. The programs that I have used in the past do not entirely include the students as knowledge producers. I want to make this change and have my students creating questions, comments, and making connections on their own. Kidblog is a wonderful resource to use for creating a safe, fun, engaging, inclusive learning environment. Interaction between students and teachers takes place, and students are building e-portfolios, which will follow them through their years. What a great resource to display to parents!

When looking into any new program or old program (but new to you), you must encounter the challenges. I have not put Kidblog into place in my classroom, but I have created an account to start integrating it into the classroom. Some of the challenges I see now may not be challenges later after I become more familiar with Kidblog. I would love for Kidblog to have an area where the students could create works, other classmates could review their works, and then students could work on final drafts. This would help students with understanding the writing process and become better writers. Students are allowed to make and comment on posts, but there is not an area for projects to be turned in and students to review them. Teachers could instruct their students to provide constructive feedback to posts in the comments section, but I can see how this could create unorganized and less meaningful posts (if students are correcting spelling and grammar errors). Teachers must find the happy medium.

Kidblog is prevalent in schools and I encourage teachers to check out the benefits that this program can have with their students!

1. Burton, O. V., Binnington, I., Herr, D. F., amd Cheney, M. (2008, February 6). American Historical Association. Computer Mediated Learning Environments: How Useful Are They? Retrieved from http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/2003/0301/0301not1.cfm
2. Cassidy, K. (2013, May 30). Powerful Learning Practice: Assessing Student Progress Using Blog-Based Portfolios [Web Log Comment]. Retrieved from http://plpnetwork.com/2013/05/30/digital-porfolios-thinking-assessment/
3. Downes, S. (September/October 2004). Educational Blogginh. EDUCAUSE, 39 (5), 14-26. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/educational-blogging
4. Ellison, N.B. & Wu, Y. (2008). Blogging in the Classroom: a Preliminary Exploration of Student Attitudes and Impact on Comprehension. Jl. of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 17 (1), 99-122. Retrieved from http://newmedia-research.wikispaces.com/file/view/Wu%20Article.pdf/270558984/Wu%20Article.pdf
5. Fosnot, C. T., & Perry, R. S. (1996). Constructivism: A psychological theory of learning. Constructivism: Theory, perspectives, and practice, 8-33. Retrieved September 27, 2013 from http://rsperry.com/fosnotandperry.pdf
6. Hardy, Matt (Co-founder and CEO). KidBlog. Retrieved September 29, 2013 from http://kidblog.org/home/
7. Kalantzis, M. & Cope, B. (2008). New Learning: Elements of a Science of Education. New York: Cambridge University Press.
8. LeFever, L. & LeFever, S. [Common Craft]. Blogs in Plain English [Web Log Comment]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI&feature=player_embedded
9. Onyx Digital Team. (2012, August 6). Web Comic Kid Blog [Web Log Comment]. Retrieved from http://onyxdigital.co.za/2012/06/web-comics-a-sign-of-our-modern-times/web-comic-kid-blog/
10. Sample, Mark. (2010, September 27). The Chronicle of Higher Education: A Rubric for Evaluating Student Blogs [Web Log Comment]. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/a-rubric-for-evaluating-student-blogs/27196
11. Walsh, Brandi. (2013, August 31). Classroom Discourse: Whole Group vs. Small Group Learning. Retrieved September 27, 2013 from https://cgscholar.com/community/cg_community/profiles/brandi-walsh/publications/19746
12. Williams, Paula. (2013). Blended Learning Environment (BLE) [Web Log Comment]. Retrieved from http://time2learn.wikispaces.com/Blended+Learning+Environment+%28BLE%29