I have thoroughly enjoyed using the blog during Summer Institute. It feeds my obsessive compulsive disorder because I can create neat little posts; I even have the option to edit them whenever I notice a small error (I just got finished changing the dates on a few of the posts so that they would all look the same; i.e., 7th instead of 7 or 29th instead of 29). As a new member of the Facebook community, I have encouraged my “friends” to visit my blog website and a few of them have read my posts and viewed my movie. I went to my blog on Saturday when my mom was over for the 4th of July and I proudly showed her my shoe fetish video at Vimeo.com. I also enjoy looking at other people’s posts, learning about what they’ve experienced, seeing their writing styles, and sometimes even looking at the web design they’ve chosen for their blog! Consequently, I would love to use blogs within my writing classroom. I think that students would enjoy sharing their personal journals and even more formal work on the Internet; after all, I—as an adult—loved using the blog, so why wouldn’t they? I am just worried about the unpredictable nature of technology in the classroom, and the headache, worry, and class time that would suffer as a result.
I’m told that the e-portfolio will be more of a permanent fixture and cannot be changed like the blog. I am saddened by this because I want to have the leisure of being able to change something that I’ve posted if I find a mistake—no matter how small. Overall, I think the e-portfolio has been worthwhile and I am, once again, proud of all the pieces I have compiled in it. It’s been awhile since I’ve written creatively, journaled, or really reflected on my teaching. Therefore, I have enjoyed creating this e-portfolio as a professional and personal piece. I don’t really know how I’ll use this professionally other than showing it to my colleagues. I suppose if I ever left the school district, I could use my e-portfolio for an interview. However, I would love to use an e-portfolio in my classroom. I think it would be an easy way to compile the students’ work because it would be accessible to parents (if they have Internet acceses) and I wouldn’t have to worry whether I’ve lost a student’s folder or a piece from the folder. Again, though, the upkeep of a blog and the stress that would accompany it are big negatives for me. I’m afraid of something happening with the technology that I couldn’t fix on my own or even having enough computers for my students to work on. I guess these are problems I’ll just have to work through.
Everything on a blog can be edited pages, posts makes no difference. Ian wants your table of contents to be sort of permanent but even that can be changed if you decide to continue using your blog and want your pieces to show up in our readers.
Thanks for the information. After I wrote the exit slip I wondered whether the e-portfolio was really that permanent. I’ve found out through experience since I wrote the exit slip that you can update the e-portfolio contents because they are all linked to the posts, which, of course, can be edited.