This student blogging program was founded to address several issues:
1. Kids want to share their work with a real, authentic audience.
They end up with lots of writing and artwork that gets stuffed into folders in their desk. There needs to be a better way of quickly and efficiently sharing their work with their parents, relatives, peers, present and former teachers, and principals. Kids will be motivated to write when they know their work is being valued and appreciated, and blogs enable this to happen.
2. Kids need to learn how to write and present their work in an organized fashion.
3. Kids need to learn how to use the internet and become digital citizens. They need to know how to submit work online, do internet research and create word documents and multi-media presentations. Online coursework is part of the college experience and the quicker they learn these skills, the more prepared they'll be.
5. Kids benefit from creating organized work portfolios that they can easily access from a variety of locations.
6. Writing is a higher order thinking skill, as it requires the author to synthesize information and thoughts and present it in a coherent fashion.
7. Teachers need to give students timely and meaningful input on their work, but that's hard to do when the work is all handed in at the same time. Blogs enable the teacher to access the student's writings and art work at any time on their mobile devices, laptops, or desktops. The teacher can then add praise and constructive comments on the student's blog, and the student can read the input on a mobile device, laptop, or desktop at home. It's real-time work submission, review, and teacher input.
8. Busy parents can read their children's work at their convenience, offer praise, and share it with relatives and friends.
9. Kids can share their work with their peers and comment on their peer's work. They can read their peer's work as soon as it's created, when school is not in session, such as on the weekends, after school, and during vacations. They can also submit comments to the blog moderator (the teacher and/or parent), and these comments will be visible to the author if and when they are approved by the moderator.
