Here is goes!

Hi there ... welcome to my very first blog! My name is Sarah McCune and this is for the Communication and Technology module of my 1st professional semester. This is my 5th year at the University of Lethbridge and I am excited to be starting education after finishing my music degree. It is my goal to one day teach band or choir in a middle school!

Blogs can be incorporated into a classroom in many different ways. They can act as a journal, a publication tool or an administrative tool. They can be used to access links, photos, videos and audio file. For an English 30 class, a teacher could set up a blog for the students to discuss their opinions on character relationships in "Death of a Salesman". Students could have to set up a blog for their CALM 10 course to discuss personal choices. A teacher could set up a blog to provide course information and additional resources for their Biology 20 class. Its format, convenience and accessibility make it an open-ended tool for the classroom.

However, there are also many drawbacks to this form of technology. A major issue can be privacy and personal security. And although the students can be warned of these dangers, they are still many dangers in making one’s life public. Internet predators can be deceptively non-threatening. There are also concerns of release of inappropriate or confidential information. As a teacher, you have so much responsibility for your students that these dangers can be worrisome.

I believe that if students are educated in all aspects of blogging and the use of it is regularly monitored by the teacher, that blogging can be a useful supplement to other teaching methods. It is something that I will incorporate into my class in the future.