The Pro and Con of Wikipedias

Read the following statement from a professor who publishes about herpetology, and comment by offering your own thoughts about wikipedias.

I have had several questions of late regarding pigmentation and chromatophores. There is a lot of information out on the misinformation super highway about chromatophores, but it is highly confusing. (...) The point is that the misinformation super highway (MiSH - not to confuse with MSH which is melanophore (melanocyte) stimulating hormone) is full of people that do not do the proper research and do not fully understand the subject they are writing about. Some in the misinformation super highway's drunk lane (abbreviated 'wikipedia') do much more than confuse the issues, they actually write things that are incorrect and when it is corrected, change it back to the incorrect information (see the wikipedia article on leucism that a colleague of mine at another college tried to correct and wound up getting his stuff changed back to the incorrect information and told that he did not offer credible citations when he used research papers, peer reviewed literature and expert's text books as references).

 http://vetherppath.hubpages.com/hub/Understanding-Reptile-Color-and-Correct-Color-Terminology

Blogging as an Educational Tool

In his article, “Blogging as Pedagogic Practice: Artefact and Ecology,” Marcus O’Donnell from the University of Wollongong, Australia cites the experience of a teacher who "fell out of love with blogging" as follows:

I have discovered that my honeymoon with blogs is over, mostly because
there really is no room for spirited interaction between my students and
myself in the blogs. Yes, I can require that they respond to another person’s
blog, but one student said that, compared to a discussion forum, leaving
responses to blogs felt more like leaving a note for someone who is out. The
discussion forum, she said, felt more like an ongoing conversation which was
more fun. (Remmell 2004)

Please post a short comment (100-200 words) of what you think about this argument, and whether you think this can/will keep you as a teacher from using blogs in your classes. Are blogs interactive enough? Do they foster communication between students, and/or students and teacher? What dangers would you see with blogging? Would you consider a class blog a valuable teaching tool, or an unnecessary technological burden?

The 5-Paragraph Essay

Dear all,

Below, please post your personal experiences with the 5-paragraph essay, your likes/dislikes, and whether or not you want to teach it.

Personal Introductions

Welcome, future English teachers!!!

Below, please post a short personal introduction to yourself.