reflection

Christopher D. Sessums just wrote a piece on using weblogs as a source of reflection in teacher education.

I’m very interested to hear Christopher’s thoughts on this topic – we’re working on a project with the Faculty of Education here to develop an ePortfolio/reflection process (heavy on the ePortfolio side – likely using Pachyderm and Drupal – that we’re just in the early stages of putting a proposal/demo together for).

Weblogs offers several key features that I believe can support a constructive, collaborative, reflective environment. For one, it’s convenient. The medium supports self-expression and “voice.” Collaboration and connectivity can be conducted efficiently especially interms of participants’ time or place. You can access and link to a number of appropriate resources. It provides multiple communication channels (e.g., you can write, record and/or cast your thoughts). Publishing your thoughts online forces you to concretize your thoughts.

Collaborative weblogs promote the idea of learners as creators of knowledge, not merely consumers of information. A collaborative environment like the one I’m suggesting can allow peers to be seen as valuable sources of knowledge and ideas; a connection that participants can rely on beyond any formal classroom structure, i.e., collaboration leading to a community of interest.

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