Blog Reviews

• Brief description of each blog, including frequency of posts and timeliness
• Summary of the type of content provided, including one to two examples of topics and how these are relevant to your audience
• Level of engagement from audience members: Does the blog invite comments? What types of content are blog followers contributing? Are they asking questions? Are they adding to or advancing the dialogue?
• Assessment of credibility and reliability of the blog: What are some indicators that this blog is reputable?
• Reputation: How does a blog's content affect the blogger's online reputation? How do a reader's comments to a blog affect his or her online reputation?

1. Lampinin, Michelle. (2013, May 13). Blogging in the 21st Century Classroom. Retrieved from:http://www.edutopia.org/blog/blogging-in-21st-century-classroom-michelle-lampinen

This blog is created by a NBST in English and is set around the premise of how to bring Web2.0 into the classroom, and aligning with 21st Century Common Core standards. It  has over 22K shares and at the time I read it it had 61 comments posted. She does pose the question about blogging in the classroom and asks for feedback and examples. There is a sign in through Twitter to apply feedback. Her credentials alone as a Nationally Board Certified Teacher makes the site credible and gives her advice relevance. 

2.Pappas, Christopher. (2013, September 23). How to use Blogs in your Classroom. Retrieved from:https://elearningindustry.com/how-to-use-blogs-in-the-classroom

This blog is created  by an contributor for ECampus Learning. This writer has 49 comments. The information shared is about how to once again engage students while aligning to the common core standards. he has no distinguinshing credentials, but seems to write as an affluent educator. He integrates videos to make the Blog more engaging. He also has a place at the bottom to sign in through Twitter to engage in comments. He also offers a few sites to get the novice teacher started with Blogging.

3.Landry, Marni. (2016, April 16) Mrs. Landry's Travel Blog. Retrieved from:http://mrslandrytravel.blogspot.com

This blog was created form a Teacher at my school who received the Presidential Teachers Award, and also is a Glogal Educator. her credentials make her educational blog highly reliable. This blog was especially interesting to me as I had my students follow it during the spring as we awaited her recipes she would be sharing for my students to create. It doesnt list anywhere to comment as I can see, but it is very colorful and engaging and my students love to watch her daily post. So what this blog lacks is engagement, as it was more of visual diary. The reason for this was partially because of the lack of internet resources for her to respond to. It really is engaging, but I used it as a tool to start up conversation in my own classroom. 

4.Blog, Alison. Free Online Course in Mulimedia for Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from:http://www.advancelearning.com/free-online-courses-in-multimedia-for-teaching-and-learning/

This blog is extremely well done. It starts out with:

Which shows the importance of collaboration about the topic at hand. There is no discussion about the writers background yet  seems well versed in the importance of collaboration. The importance visual brainstorming, and online collaboration seem to be the foundation of the blog, that is really an advertisement for an online free tutorial. There are multiple forums to sign up for comments including, Google, Twitter, and Pinterest, as well as to follow the blog. 

5.Samual, Leslie. (2016, January 7). How to Use Blogging to Advance your Career. Retrieved from:http://www.becomeablogger.com/22694/blogging-to-advance-your-career/

This was a great blog that can be used by anyone who is looking to advance their career. I loved the intro graphic. I was simple and summed up what the content was to follow.

The writer spells out his credentials early and claims how he was the computer "Nerd" who was always doing research. The most engaging statement about himself as that he was always the guy helping others in class, before he actually started his own work. He has a PhD in Biology, that he claims is research based and that was really his passion, research. His dream of being a University Professor was outweighed to be a Biology Blogger. It is a bit complicated but offered many interesting graphics and engaging visuals.

He offers many opportunities for comments, although not many have been posted, with only 32 shares. 

Here is his infographic: