Issues in Educational Technology

Blogging is really interesting to me. I can see how it can be fun from an individual's perspective, especially if someone is, say, creating an online journal. It can keep your friends and family up to date on what's going on in your life, and it can keep them informed on stuff that you might not tell them in a phone conversation. For example, my friend Jordan kept a blog while we were in Kenya so his family could find out what was going on with him even when he couldn't talk with them everyday. But creating a blog when it comes to education is something that I kind of struggle wrapping my mind around. What would be the point? I guess it could be a good way to keep the parents informed on what is going on in the classroom (and the kids could have a fun time seeing pictures of themselves on the website), but I almost feel like a teacher's website would be more appropriate for this. Plus, depending on the level of income in a school district, children might not have computers at home, thus the point of having a blog might be totally inadequate. But, maybe the good will weigh out the bad. Even if not every child has a computer at home, many more do. And, if the teacher does not want to have contact with parents every day (which can get very overwhelming), this may be a great way to get parents to settle down on the calls and emails while still keeping them up to date on the classroom (although calls and emails should still be in effect when it comes to individual student needs). I guess I'll have to wait and see if blogs will be a good idea in my classroom, but for now it's still up in the air!