..:: ICT in education ::..

Technology Integration is a term used by educators to describe effective uses of technology by teachers and students in K-12 and university classrooms. Teachers use technology to support instruction in language arts, social studies, science, math, or other content areas. When teachers effectively integrate technology into their classroom practice, learners are empowered to be actively engaged in their learning.
When technology is integrated into the classroom, educators are taking the constructivist approach to learning. The amount of available information is doubling every three years according to statistics. By the time kids graduate from high school, today's students will have been exposed to more information than their grandparents were in a lifetime. It has been claimed that ninety percent of the technology we will use in the next decade has not been invented or currently there is no access to at the moment.

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Blogs (short for Web log) is a relatively new communication tool that integrates technology. This tool has widespread use due to the ease of publishing to the Internet through what is usually free software or a free service, such as Blogger. This availability provides many possible uses in an educational system. One such use is a communication tool between teachers. Given the isolation from other adults most teachers face during the work day, and the time constraints on schedules after school hours; teachers can be hard-pressed to find time to collaborate and share ideas with peers. Having a common place to share ideas has the potential to support an educational system through an online professional learning community. Teachers who post entries on a web log are not limited to a single topic, but can reflect, argue, share opinions and their own experience, as well as read others’ postings to improve the quality of their teaching. This tool take time to use when considering the reading and writing that is involved, which may not be as effective as a face-to-face discussion. However, it does provide the opportunity to share or to learn from others in a virtual environment that does not have limitations to meeting times and place. Online learning communities can include members far beyond the confines of a school’s staff, district or even state or country. Blogging can be beneficial to communicate among colleagues, especially since time is a factor. It is not hard to write a better blog. Simple guidelines helps a lot in developing good blog, no matter what your audience size is. Not only can blogging be beneficial for professionals to collaborate and communicate, it can also be a valuable tool for teachers to use with their students. Students, just as teachers, can post their ideas in a blog, as well as view and comment on other students ideas, creating both a constructivist environment and promoting peer-collaboration. (For instance, a language arts teacher can have students 'journaling' writing themes/ideas in a blog as a brainstorming activity, then at other times, students can view other writing ideas as well as collaborate with each other to further develop their ideas.)
Blogs can be collected in an aggregator to be easily read.