Weblogs in English Classes:
It’s good to see students thinking about applications of technology. I’ve always pushed the opinion that students frequently do more to drive the effective use of technology in education than the faculty…usually because the students understand it better than the faculty! Friday on Kuro5hin high school student wondered “Why not use a weblog in high school english classes?” [link via A Whole Lotta Nothing]
Indeed, Talez, why not? :-) That’s what Schoolblogs is all about. When I was teaching English back in the dark ages (1993), I used collaborative writing tools like Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment (DIWE) or Norton Connect (both LAN-based tools) in precisely the fashion this student suggests.
In fact, the idea for DIWE came out of the Electronic Networks For Interaction (ENFI) project that my colleague, Dr. Trent Batson, did at Gallaudet University (prior to when I worked there). Gallaudet is the university for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. English grammar and usage is a challenge for Deaf students, because many of them don’t have the opportunity to use it colloquially. Trent began using computer-mediated communication back in the eighties to give Deaf students the ability to converse in English via computer networks. Later, I worked with Trent on the Epiphany Project, a two-year grant to develop models for integrating technology into the writing curriculum. Computers and writing are a great mix (and expanded way beyond just Deaf education) because of precisely what Talez alludes to — the more you write, the better you become at it. And computers are great writing tools.