Conclusion

As shown by the articles presented in this annotated bibliography, through careful preparation and planning, blogs can be used in a variety of methods to encourage student learning.  Transcending the limits of educational levels, blogs are beneficial in all areas of academia and provide not only a foundation for improved communication skills, but a basis for gaining a working knowledge of electronic media, as well.  While compiling this list of annotations, it has come to my attention that although I have a substantial amount of information supporting the use of blogs in middle school grades and college level courses, the support is somewhat lacking in the area of elementary education and high school grades – an oversight which I intend to remedy through further research before presenting my findings in a final paper.

It is my ultimate goal that after the completion of paper, I will build upon my findings here to conduct research on blogs and their uses in providing educational support for English Language Learners, particularly in the areas of reading comprehension and writing skills.  “Adventures in the blogosphere: from blog readers to blog writers" by Lara C. Ducate and Lara L. Lomicka provides excellent documentation of a very well executed study and "Blogging to Improve Instruction in Differentiated Science Classrooms" by Michaela W. Colombo and Paul D. Colombo is filled with suggestions and resources that I think will supply a great deal of support to my future endeavors in this field.