Introducing the world of blogging
This page is written for Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers wanting to know more about blogging. You will learn how blogging can benefit children’s learning.
What is blogging, and what are the benefits for Early Childhood Education?
A weblog is an online space for sharing and learning. You can sign up to a blog provider and you are given your own web page on which to log your thoughts and ideas.
A blog, as it is now commonly called, allows you to publish directly and easily onto the World Wide Web. On your blog you create ‘posts’ which can incorporate text, images, video and/or audio. These are listed in reverse chronological order, with the newest entry at the top. They are written in a simple form and published with the click of a button. Readers of your posts can respond to you by leaving comments.
There are many blogs on the web, and they include personal diaries, travel journals, photographic memoirs, or educational reflections. They may be open to the public or may be private, with only selected viewers allowed. You can control many of these settings on your blog; there are numerous sites that can help you as you learn to blog.
A blog's versatility is ideally suited to young children's contributions
In early childhood education, children can blog to share their learning with their families. Early childhood blogs may contain digital photographs of children’s learning experiences. Accompanying text can tell the stories behind the images, either from the teacher’s perspective or in the children’s own words. Children can also create and upload their own movies to their blogs. They may record their own words to accompany the videos, reflecting on and assessing their learning.
Children enjoy blogging about achieving personal goals. For instance, when trying new challenges on the monkey bars, children who have been involved in their early childhood blog frequently say, "can we blog about this?". Children begin to understand that, through their blog, they have a direct link to home from their early childhood centre. In one centre, a 3 ½ yr old who was settling in was overheard saying, "I want to put this picture on the blog so it can go to my mother’s computer".
Blogs, along with other Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), support children’s learning. Blogs help children and teachers communicate with families about everyday learning experiences taking place in the centre, such as physical play, art, music, carpentry, and even sensory and dramatic play. With teacher support, children's learning and development can be recorded and then shared with families and friends on a blog.
There are many opportunities for authentic and reciprocal communication as children and families become familiar with blogging
Blogs can be viewed (ideally) on any computer with a broadband internet connection, allowing parents to keep up to date with their children’s learning and the early childhood centre’s activities. Family, whanau and friends can view a blog from home or office and provide feedback to their children by adding blog comments. Contributing comments is one of the most exciting features of a blog. As part of each blog, post there is the facility to leave a comment.
When children blog about their learning experiences, parents are able to respond with encouraging comments, thus fostering confidence and support their learning processes.
"Feedback to children on their learning and development should enhance their sense of themselves as capable people and competent learners."
Te Whariki (p 30)
An example of a blog comment that put this into practice in an authentic and powerful way follows:
Niall blogs about fishing with his family. His father then offers to come to the centre to demonstrate filleting fish. Niall plans and then reflects on the day. He publishes his story of the day on the centre blog. His family responds:
"What a fantastic movie you have made about the fish Niall. I am so glad mat time went to plan, as you had really thought hard about how you wanted to show the fish and crayfish at mat time. Your movie is amazing, how you have described in great detail all the parts of the fish: the liver, gills, roe and the guts. I can see and hear that you have learned a lot by sitting on the filleting table watching Daddy fillet. We are very proud of you, Niall. Love Mum, Dad, Liam and Ceara."
Blogging builds learning relationships
A central feature of a blog is the ability for the writer to actively engage their audience. Blogs, therefore, are powerful educational tools. In line with Te Whariki, blogs support families to contribute to, and share in, children’s learning and development. Their comments help assess and evaluate the curriculum. Partnerships are strengthened through communication, and relationships are strengthened within the early childhood centre.
Blogs to explore
ECE blogs
- Manaia Kindergarten
- Kidspace Quality Early Learning Centre
- Mangere Bridge Kindergarten
Professional blogs
- Derek Wenmoth
- ICT in Early Learning
- ICT U Can!
Further Links
Teachers talking about blogging in ECE contexts (videos)
- Tania Coutts
- Sue Genefaas
Questions for team discussions
- How could blogging benefit your community?
- What are the pros and cons of public/private blogs? Which will work best for your community?
- What strategies will you use to include parents in the decision making about starting and building your centre blog?
- What will you support parents to learn how to blog?
- How will encourage parents to leave comments on your blog?