How might I use a blog in teaching?

"A blog will only be effective for students in their learning (and for your teaching) if it is relevant to the learning context being provided or developed. From a student's point of view the most pragmatic way in which this is understood is in terms of assessment - if a blog is used but contributes nothing to their final result, then it can be very hard to encourage students to use a blog."

Sebastian Fiedler, Seblogging
Link to the rest of the text.

Using blogs to integrate technology in the classroom
The link below includes some good information about blogs as well as links to additional references.
Link to Teaching Today

How do I get started?

First, you need to create a blog. There are several organizations that offer free services:

http://www.blogger.com (in four steps you're a blogger)

http://www.livejournal.com/

http://beblog.com