Jamie's Blog #3

A class blog can encourage collaboration because it makes other students accessible to engage in group work or discussion during non-class hours. If students need clarification on an assignment or topic, they can readily turn to their classmates for help (and it is often better to get help from more than one student, just in case). Also, the students can easily communicate with the teacher during non-class hours and vice versa. Teachers can use a class blog to inform students of anything she/he forgot to tell the students in class or to clarify/answer any questions that may have been brought up by the students in their posts. Teachers can also post up assignments or instructions so that students have no excuse of not knowing what to do and teachers can provide links to additional resources that may be helpful for students.

A class blog is also a great way to get participation from everyone- the teacher can post a topic for discussion and have each student contribute their opinions. This way, each student gets the chance to voice their opinions without being interrupted and even the shyer students will feel comfortable since it's not a face-to-face classroom setting. I think that by having a class blog, it will encourage students to interact with other students outside of their cliques and hopefully with this, students will be comfortable enough to work with everyone and be able to openly share ideas without the fear of being ridiculed in the (face-to-face) classroom.