Blogging and commenting: a way to develop your online soft skills

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Blogging has been a big step for me. It did not come easy. I am not a very active social media user. I connect with people easily and I am very communicative in daily life. But posting publicly has always been tough. It is like a stage fright. But with stage fright I personally dealt through getting on stage. I encourage my students to learn to overcome their inner barriers by taking up the challenge. They develop a lot of their soft skills through extracurricular activities. 

This stage fright of mine to write openly to the public is now slowly fading. I guess blogging could be a type of extra-curricular activity I could recommend to my students to develop their soft skills online. Over the past few months, as I have been sharing my thoughts through a blog, apart from this current one, I have created 7 posts, roughly 4100 words, and publicly commented on the blogs of my friends and colleagues. My very first blog post has even gone into archive and is no longer readily visible on the main page.

Here are a few of my comments:

1. Beautifully written, Kamola! I have also read quite a lot on the skepticism about connectivism as a learning theory. Clarà and Barberà (2013) criticise it for inability to explain how knowledge is developed, how new knowledge emerges. It seems as if knowledge simply exists and is transmitted through connectivity. I personally side more with Vygotsky's views on learning. But of course the importance of connectivism as a theory that brings attention to online social connections  enabling knowledge sharing is indispensable. In principle, however, I tend to side with the view of the author you have mentioned (Bell, 2011).

Available from:

Academic librarian's blog (library is not only about books!)

https://kamolalrc.blogspot.com/2022/03/review-of-article-read-and-discussed.html#comment-form

2. Could not agree more. Indeed, the COVID 19 was a major accelerator for the digitalisation of teaching and learning . And even in traditional, face-to-face format we are now more keen to consider "blending". This is finding reflection in literature too. A number of studies have confirmed this. Laterza, Tømte and Pinheiro (2020) for example in the Nordic countries.

Available from:

Islacorner

https://islamovblog.blogspot.com/2022/04/about-choice-of-lms-and-course-details.html#comment-form

3. "As a teacher, I can track how much time my students spent studying the topic at home and in school" I think that's such a great feature! I think this is one of the strengths of online learning tools over conventional face-to-face learning - you have the objective measurement of student engagement with the learning material. It is great if it is used to inform our teaching practice, of course, not for punishment.

Available from:

World of technology 

Science and technology

https://abdulsamiphysics.blogspot.com/2022/04/lms-seneca-learning-online-course.html?showComment=1650117544680#c3120122747974274466

4. Asynchronous is the biggest part of the course of course, as in line with the connectivism theory we as teachers are merely facilitators of the process and students access knowledge largely independently. But the facilitation part is planned through synchronous sessions too. The Calendar and Agenda tools are great on Edmodo to help students navigate independently and connect to the synchronous sessions organized. Synchronous sessions are also extremely important to feel the presence of the social networks you are connecting with, especially for students who meet each other for the first time.

Available from:

Blog on innovating learning and teaching

https://shahzaibilt.blogspot.com/2022/03/edmodo-and-what-it-is-used-for.html?showComment=1650123072966#c8461023601295864676

5. It sounds so great that, thanks to technology, even in mathematics, interactive and engaging activities, like this song activity of yours can be performed. I think this is the best way to engage students in the subject!


Available from:

Welcome to dilfuza's blog
Use of technologies in teaching and learning

https://blogsaboutteachingearlyyears.blogspot.com/2022/04/nline-course-on-google-classroom.html#comments

6. What is your personal judgement, Alisa? Do you agree with Siemens?

Available from:

Sketchpad on virtual education reality

https://alisasketchpad.blogspot.com/2022/03/article-reflection.html#comments


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