..A World of Nonsense..

Blogs are online journals that many of us who have internet access keep. The minority of blogs a are popular, owned by who we know as 'Online Celebrities'. On the other hand, the vast majority of blogs are kept 'underground', meaning that they get little or no publicity and are kept as diaries to a personal level. On to the topic of whether blogs should be used as a teaching tool for students, the approval of usage of this internet-based tool would definitely be a way of how we, humans, welcome the twentyfirst century.

All blogs are created, maintained and customised on the world wide web, meaning that those deprived of internet access will be denied the ability to blog. Back to the topic, this means that students who are not granted internet accessibility will be unable to embrace this new platform for learning and thus cause them to be at the disadvantage. However, at a local context, we can access the internet with ease, given the magnitude of hotspots available and not to forget the librairies in our neighbourhood. This shows that it would be to no avail to say that using blogging as a teaching tool will be ineffective due to the lag of internet access.

The whole point of having a blog as a teaching tool, i suspect, is the convinience of having the world at your fingertips as you blog. At the end of the day, we will certainly have to hand up the work in which we have completed, so why shouldn't we simply clump our work up on a blog (as i am doing) and publish it as a post? Furthermore, submitting our works on a blog would also enable your teachers, friends and more or less everyone else to view what you have done. This would be where convinience would come into the picture. Posts on blogs are actually rather similar to essays we write on paper filled with potrait horizontal lines. Both allow you to have words on, both allow you to share your work among your friends, and both of them would obviously allow your teacher to go through your work. The only difference is that since majority of us Singaporeans have internet access, including our educators, they will no longer be required to thug a four-inched stack of paper home just to imprint red diagonal lines on. Of course, the use of blogs will also be proved beneficial to the ones being educated. Imagine having to borrow individual scripts from your classmates and compare that to having all your schoolmates' essays on the flat panel screen infront of you. Needless to say, the later would be more convinient.

In conclusion, i feel that it would be wise to use Blogs as a teaching tool and must not be subjected to a personal freedom of choice as we have already moved on to an era where bulky casette tapes have been shrinked to thumb-sized memory chips and we have to learn to adapt to the fact that 'analog' is the past tense of 'digital'. I am in full favour of using blogs as a tool for teaching as it will not only benefit students academically but also create a positive social impact.

-Darryl Ong

BOBBY stepped on your garbage at 5:44 AM

Blog (also known as weblog) are commonly used as an online dairy which you can post your says, videos, pictures and even musics. The actual use of blogs are to let people share their different thoughts and ideas with the others. Its simple and free! Just look up for websites that blogs can be made, sign up, and proof! You had become a blogger. In fact, blogging has become a popular trend. People around the world are sharing their thoughts and ideas now.

Can we put blogs and studies together? Of course! If relevant videos, pictures, and infomation were posted onto a class blog, it will be better for both students and teachers. Students can escape from the punishment of forgetting to bring their homework; they can avoid the losing of their notes. Teachers can save time on chasing and punishing over homeworks; papers can be saved as teachers need not print any notes for students. See, it have become so convenient. Notes can be posted up, homework can be hand in by posting, projects can be summited by posting, friends can work together online without meeting up, ideas can be shared among from posting of new infomations or from commenting. It is also another way of saving the earth by not using so much papers.

But blogs may also be a disadvantage. Why? Anonymous criticizing starts. Yes! Blogs were used to share thoughts and ideas, but is criticizing one of sharing thoughts, or ideas? In order to blog, internet access is needed. Although life has become better day by day because of new technology, there is still people without internet access. This had pulled them away from blogging. Although technology are so advance nowadays, there is still some mistake. Computer lags, internet lags, websites error. These made us unable to reach the blogs.

But i do not think this would affect us much. If there is a problem with the internet or computer, think of the library, internet cafe or even a friend who can help. In any situation, there is will always be a way to solve it. So there is no excuse for not reaching the blog.

In conclusion, i think using blogs as a tool of studying is really a great idea. Technologies are improving everyday, life is improving everyday, so why not use this great invention that can save us so much trouble.

BenjaminOoi stepped on your garbage at 7:35 PM

Blogging is now a trend in youngster. There are thousands of blogs, millions of posts and hundred of comments daily. In Singapore itself, 70% of teenagers have their own blogs. Blog are used for dairies. People post their daily experiences or interests.

People could also upload videos or music into their blog. It may be useful for a tool of studying. We can just upload some relevant information regarding study subjects and let others read it. Teacher might also let the students to practice writing in the blog daily. This could plant a habit of writing in the students.

However, many of us do not know or not like blogging. Study has proven that 30% of the blogger will turn to become less social. They are too concentrated about their blog as it is a competition between bloggers. They spend their time to improve their blog so that more people will visit it.

I also think that blogging is an alternative to avoid direct conversation. I would prefer to talk face-to-face to exchange thoughts rather than secretly criticizing people.

Blogging my by good as tool of studying for certain people but not for me. I choose the old-fashion and everything in this world is made for reasons; the reason why paper is produced is for us to write on; it should not be changed with computer.

Guitarist Storm stepped on your garbage at 12:00 AM

I think blogging is an interesting idea for us to express our views about anything. I doubt anyone can do anything about it. I've seen a phrase on the Internet, "whats on the Internet, stays on the Internet." I guess it means we can't change the Internet or what we've seen on the Internet.

In my view, i think blogging is a very good way, for me, to relieve stress. We can say anything we want- from venting our anger to crying our hearts out. It can also be a form of leisure and entertainment, although I'm not quite sure how it can be a form of entertainment.

Blogging has its own effects on each and everyone. Trying to list them all would be like trying to cram primary, secondary and tertiary education into one year, which is possible but takes a very long time. There are different types of blogging, mainly for personal exposure(more on this side) and information sharing. Many teens blog because it is an easy way to release themselves from everything kept in them, start fresh every morning and release everything done/felt throughout the day by blogging. For others, they just want to share whatever they think others should know.

Let me share my perspective on using blogs as a study tools. I do not think blogging is a good way to study, as it is usually used as a form of expression, so people tend to use their lingo, like "singlish", to express themselves. Using proper English to blog, in many teens view, would be like writing an essay on your feelings, it doesn't show the true feelings, which are hidden by perfection of writing. But then again, many other people tend to think otherwise. Everyone has their own perspective, its whether our ideas are alike or not.

~juPENG~

juPENG aka DARren stepped on your garbage at 11:38 PM