On the post before the last one I said that I would investigate:

whether the use of co-existing online communities enhances and/or changes the offline context of my classroom

Since beginning blogging with classes, I’ve always thought it strange that what happens ‘online’ is not (obviously) transferred to the ‘offline’ classroom context. For example, if I comment on a post, it’s (usually) never mentioned in the ‘offline’ classroom situation.

Miss Law , our B’Ed student, has also been leaving comments on the pupils’ individual blogs – and she agrees with me that there appears to be a divide between the ‘online’ and ‘offline’ communities.

She mentioned a comment left on one of her posts by a pupil. He showed another side to her when he complimented her teaching…………. this isn’t something that he would have done in the everyday classroom situation.

I think, however, that the lesson contents do change as a result of the online communications. Tomorrow, for example, we are holding our first ‘Book Appreciation Group’ meeting. This came about due to the number of pupils who posted about their love of reading on their individual blogs.