About blogging

About 1 year and a half ago, I started a blog for my French class: mon journal en francais

The way I used it, I would post questions related to our current topic and ask students to comment online. They had to contribute at least once a week.
I made several observations regarding "blogging in French" with students that made me "question" the validity of using of blog for my French students:

1. For some students, it became just another homework, where the teacher checked for participation. So the students' motivation behind their participation wasn't what I had hoped for.

2. Students could only answer my questions, yet I needed a tool that would allow them to be able to read & respond to each others' comments. A blog doesn't allow for this. (a forum might be better)

3. Technical skills: Writing online on the blog, students had to learn how to add accents and other symbols. It was easier for students to write their comment on a word document and then copy/paste their comment onto the blog. Changing the language of the entire keyboard, meant learning to type all over again.

4. Learning and using French in an online blog setting, students became self-conscious about their writing because others could read it. It took away from the spontaneous use of the language to communicate I was hoping for.

5. Writing a journal doesn't help become students more confident about speaking French.

6. time...time...time....

Unfortunately, I haven't gone back to using my classroom blog. I should continue to blog with my students. I have been meaning to do it through the schools' network (myisb). But I have also been researching other tools (ning, moodle, voicethread, podcasts,etc.) that could potentially help my students better. I struggle with time management, and finding the most efficient/relevant tool. The problem is, things change and evolve so quickly, by the time I think I have found a potential tool, there is another one out there that could be better.


(re: Your thoughts on Personal Learning Networks)