Blogs: a technology tool that promotes the development of students' literacy skills

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Blogs: a technology tool that promotes the development of students' literacy skills

Engaging students in the process of writing and keeping a blog promotes the development of both their literacy and technology skills. Literacy researchers have long proposed the idea that students' writing activities support the development of their cognitive skills. In writing, students are engaged in the process of actively selecting and organizing a range of information, ideas and opinions.

Developing mastery of the writing process impacts both the quality of students' writing and the quality of their thinking. When students are encouraged to practice and develop facility with a variety of literary genres, they are at the same time developing the kinds of thinking skills associated with that particular writing genre.

For example, when students' engage in argumentative and persuasive writing, there is a concomitant development in their analytical thinking. That is, practicing writing in the genre promotes their ability to distinguish among different types of information, and to evaluate and rank information sources. When students construct a written argument or produce a piece of persuasive writing, they are also learning another thinking skill, they are learning how to synthesize information. They are learning how to combine or recombine facts, opinion and data to produce an original perspective, stance or approach.

Online blogging supports the development of students' writing and thinking skills by giving them the ability to quickly and easily create new writing products and to easily review and edit their writing. Blogs are also an accessible location where students can collect and store their writing. Because blogs can be maintained over extended periods of time, students can see the development of their writing style and writing skills over time. Blogs also allow teachers to quickly and easily monitor students' writing, check assignment completion and review the development of students' writing skills over time.

Finally, blogs promote the development of students' digital literacy skills by providing them with opportunities to set up an online blog, use online editing tools and incorporate multimedia elements in their writing.

The videos below show how your students can set up a free blog with Google Blogger. It is recommended that setting up students' blogger accounts be accomplished as a class activity with your students. Regular check-ins on students' blogs can be carried out by teachers independently, and also as a class activity to maintain student engagement with the writing process.

Please note: Students will need to set up a Google account before being able to set up a Google blog.

Video: How to set up a Google Blogger account