Posted on July 13, 2008 by ictied
The best use of a blog is for an individual seeking feedback – this could be an individual student or an individual teacher. We love blogs because they promote interaction between author and reader, however it is the author that determines the content/discussion focus – not the reader. Therefore, this option works very well when an individual (or even a group of individuals posting to the same blog) are seeking feedback or comments on their ideas and thoughts. |
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entries posted in consecutive order, newest on top |
- comments from readers extend classroom learning
- personal learning journal
Ideas for classroom blogging:
- a teacher blog to share learning with parents and resources with students
- a classroom blog where all students can contribute but there is one blog to maintain
- individual student blogs linked to a teacher blog to allow individual reflection
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Posted on July 13, 2008 by ictied
It is a metaphor obviously but perhaps it helps thinking therough the idea of catering for large group blogging
The thing to remember with any toolbox is that you need to know what you want to accomplish before you choose your tool. I find lots of teachers often try to make one tool fit many purposes because that’s the tool they’re comfortable with, or that’s the tool they hear other teachers talking about. The most important feature of the toolbox is picking the right tool for the job at hand. |
Given that there are so many tools available, I made a basic web 2.0 comparison chart to help determine the right tool for the task: |
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There is a specific tool for every job, but you might be able to make a different tool work if you tinker enough. |
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You might require several tools to complete a larger task. |
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You should always have a small selection of tools at your disposal in case of emergency. |
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If a new tool is invented that does the job better/faster/easier, a professional would use that one. |
| You only get the full effectiveness out of some tools if use them together (like a hammer and a chisel |
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Posted on July 13, 2008 by ictied
This is like going back to the discussion board not sucha great idea – no ownership of blog as a motivator
Having a classroom blog set up for students to publish their creativity is an incredible way to generate excitement and quality content. But what about when you have hundreds of students or a group of younger students that aren’t quite ready for writing their own articles? Kate from Wisconsin sent in a excellent tip for dealing with such an occasion(in her case 600+ young students). |
Managing 600 young students would be a nightmare when it came time for reading 600 articles or even setting up that many accounts(especially if they don’t have email accounts). To offset this, Kate recommends creating a teacher blog and writing the articles yourself. Students would be required to do the responding. If done correctly there could be many possibilities for teachable moments. |
- How to comment and discuss effectively
- How to participate in an online community in a safe environment
- Critical thinking about how your comments match the questions at hand
- How to respond civilly to criticism.
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Posted on July 13, 2008 by ictied
the priorities for a PLE are different for a tertiary student, a university
administrator, an instructor, a working professional, or an adult who persues an
eclectic path of lifelong learning. Metaphorically, an individual may engage in
a learning process that is either more acquisitional or participatory |
| a Personal Learning Environment is a facility for an individual to access, aggregate, configure and manipulate digital artefacts of their ongoing learning experiences. |
A PLE integrates with the digital services to which the individual currently subscribes. These could be the university VLE, the workplace LMS or a collection of so-called Web 2.0 services like social bookmarking or photo sharing.
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Posted on July 13, 2008 by ictied
I think we should differentiate between:
- ePortfolios — that are documents, full stop
- ePorfolio authoring systems — the tools used by the author
- ePortfolio management systems — that are tools used by
institutions
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let’s take the discussion about “assessment ePortfolios” that some claim alter
the “true nature” of ePortfolios — and I’m always a bit wary when
people refer to the “true nature” of man made things! One one side, there would
be the “good portfolio,” that belongs entirely to the individual, who manages it
from start to finish (until death do us part) and, on the other side, the “evil
portfolio”, owned by the institution who uses it as support to the grading
system. What I claim is that this is like comparing pears and a stove then claim
that all stoves are evil as they can be used to transform pears into “Poire
Belle Hélène” — I agree that chocolate can be evil!
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Posted on July 13, 2008 by ictied
bennet on what you need to do to get Web 2 aspcts into eportfolios
In implementing portfolios, artifacts are selected by students to tell the story
of their learning. The portfolio is maintained throughout a class, term or
program. The portfolio and artifacts are reviewed with the learner and used to
provide feedback to improve learning. The primary audience for a formative
portfolio is the student and often their parents in student-led conferences. The
focus is on formative assessment. What are the learning needs in the future? How
has the learner improved over previous work? When used for formative assessment,
these types of portfolios have the potential to improve student self-esteem |
it will be important to do more than replicate their paper-based predecessors or
adopt a database-type portfolio system that only allows students to fill in
blanks on a Web-based form. Where is the individuality, creativity, and
ownership |
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Posted on July 13, 2008 by ictied
The dekita blog has a similar expectation that old fashioned extrinsic rewards of blogging for assessment and homework
few teachers adhere to either one of these two approaches exclusively; most,
rather, are striving to find some sort of middle ground that works for their
particular situations. In my own practice, for example, although I resonate with
the qualitative approach philosophically, I can see that certain elements of the
‘crack the whip’ approach, like structured homework assignments, are necessary
to induce my learners into the blogging process, positioning them in such a way
that makes the second approach possible. After twelve years of being exposed to
authoritative methods of heavy testing, rote memorization, and deference to
superiors, it is virtually impossible for most of my students to view the act of
blogging as being anything other than part of the only kind of schooling they
have ever come to know. |
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Posted on July 13, 2008 by ictied
This is the way that I think most of use would first use blogging or even the way I use online discussion. I am not sure how much students respond to blogging on its novelty value and whether a return to this old fashioned exxtrinsic method will be needed
getting students to blog is through extrinsic factors of quantitative evaluation
and accountability. Students are given blogging assignments at consistent
intervals, and the teacher tracks the quantity of student posts and comments,
considers the quality of writing and effort, and finally assigns points or
grades accordingly. This ‘crack the whip’ method coerces students to post to
their blogs, read other posts, and comment on them. In doing so, students will
read, write, and post; and if they don’t, they either receive a lower grade or,
depending on the assigned value of blogging in the curriculum, fail altogether.
In the end, students will have most likely improved their reading and writing
skills, gotten some insightful feedback from others to consider, and have even
exercised their reflective and critical skills. Whether or not students will
enjoy blogging, see the potential value of it, and continue blogging on their
own after the course is finished is secondary |
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Posted on July 13, 2008 by ictied
This method is more open and it will be listed first here the standard method is extrinsic reward and that will be in the clip above this one
The second approach involves drawing upon the factors of motivation intrinsic to
each student. In this case, the teacher takes a qualitative approach to getting
students to blog, encouraging them to write about their interests, use social
networking tools to meet new people, post photos and sound files, etc. An
important aspect of this approach is to see the act of blogging as something
fun, expressive, enjoyable, conversational, and poetic. The blog can and should
be anything the student wants it to be. The teacher sees herself as a
facilitator of a process of creation, not as an enforcer of behavior. She makes
no demands on quantity and does everything she can to inspire her students to
blog through her own examples, stories, enthusiasm, and passion. Qualitative and
reflective self and peer evaluation are both encouraged |
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Posted on July 13, 2008 by ictied
This is a blog that uses the wordpress software employed at Edublogs.
You will also need to get started, but you might want to choose other options for blogging like blogger or live journal or wordpress the one that edublogs is based on but there are many more.
There are stacks of other great blogging software environments around like blogger and wordpress. Take time to view introductory videos, read through Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) or stop by The Edublogs Forums to chat with other edubloggers.
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