8. Blogs in education

For now, take a breather.

This task is all about sharing and discovery. Based on the activities you have been through already, post a comment here (and on your own blog if you have one) about any blog which you have found useful in education. This can be from the point of view of getting ideas from other professionals, or those blogs you have seen in action linked to a classroom or students.

Post a comment below on those you have found, and indicate why they are inspiring. Or, comment on what your discoveries have lead you to think about doing with your blog, your class or your Web 2.0 learning journey. Feel free to make as many separate comments as you like.

## Haven’t discovered any blogs yet? Then try looking at suggestions from teachers participating in a discussion on EdNa’s Blogging Corner, giving their favourite blogs. Or go back to the page about example blogs to see what you have discovered there.

3. Examples of blogs and their uses – ABCD!

One of the best ways of understanding blogging is to review some examples of blogs in action…

Uses of blogs - using http://wordle.net

Hopefully, you have the chance to read the article ‘Uses of Blogs’ (found in Staff Public / 15 Things ) which provides examples suggested in Will Richardson’s book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other powerful Web tools for classrooms. Some of these activities are reflected in the Wordle image above. Another option is to look at several examples listed below.

(Copies of the book also available in the Senior School Library)

A. Professional learning/sharing blogs

Always Learning, http://mscofino.edublogs.org/ Professional learning blog of Kim Cofino, a literacy specialist in an international school in Thailand

The Thinking Stick, http://www.thethinkingstick.com/ Jeff Utetch, Elementary Technology & Learning Coordinator, International School of Bangkok, 2008 – Present.

My Other Blog, http://johnp.wordpress.com/ Blog of a Victorian educational consultant, previously a primary school teacher. Includes lots of up-to-date information and useful tutorials

B. Teachers’ reflective blogs

Brave New World, http://tsheko.wordpress.com/ This blog was originally created to record my progress in a Web 2.0 program run by the School Library of Victoria in 2008. It soon took on a life of its own, allowing reflection, sharing of ideas and information, and social networking.

iThought, http://gwegner.edublogs.org/ An Aussie primary school educator involved in technology leadership at his school, always looking to learn and discuss breaking issues.

C. Class activity blogs

Senior K’s Goss Sessions 2008, http://seniorkgoss08.globalstudent.org.au/ This is the place to find all types of information about people, animals, events, places, weird ideas…anything that may spring to mind.

Wormbins, http://wormbins.edublogs.org/ Blog detailing classroom activities, including student work.

D. Discussion of reading/classwork

Grandslam, http://grandslam.edublogs.org/ Site for discussion of class SET book, students reflecting on what they have read and supposed before they began.

storylines, http://storylines.edublogs.org/ Blog discussing current literature and related activities in the school library

Extra addition:

A recent blog I have been watching is one which involves an international blogging competition – contributors are from across the globe and they are all students! Teachers are welcome to comment, and to encourage the blogging process, but most of the online content is from students – sharing across the globe. Have a look at:

Technology in Our Classroom, http://wyatt67.edublogs.org/ where Sue Wyatt challenges students internationally to take on the world of blogging.

#Exercise

Comment on which type of blog you would like to set up and what its main focus could be.

2a. Further hints on setting up a blog

Here are some areas worth checking when you first set up your blog. Depending on the purpose of your blog, you can have different privacy needs and variation in the details that you might put on your blog. Consider when setting up a school related blog how you might be modelling for students.

How much information is too much? What sort of footprint are you leaving online? How much do you need to reveal online and in your blog? After considering these questions run through the following options.

1. Privacy

There are 2 main areas where you could consider privacy settings:

1. whether or not you want your blog searchable on Google, Edublogs etc.
2. whether or not you will allow comments to go up automatically or wait to be approved (by you)

The first can be set when you sign up (by clicking on the option to not have your blog visible in search engines). After set-up, you can go to Settings/ Privacy and opt to have your blog visible or not on the Edublogs site.

Comments. It is also a good idea to moderate comments. This means that you can approve/ edit/ or delete comments as they come to your blog. Moderation helps avoid spam and inappropriate comments being added automatically to your blog.

To do this go to:

• Settings/ Discussion and tick all boxes except ‘Comment author must have a previously approved comment’
• N.B. you can also opt here to click on  ‘Don’t show avatars’

2. Edit Your Profile

In Users/ Your Profile you can:

• Edit your personal details
• Ensure you are using the visual editor
• Change your email address for notifications, etc.
• Change your password
• Only your username remains uneditable

 

3. Change Settings

In Settings/ General you can change just about anything listed – blog title, time zone, calendar, etc. Just be sure to Save all changes you have made. This applies to all changes made on your blog at any time.

By clicking on the Settings/ Reading tabs, you can opt to have a particular page as a static front page. This is the way that ’15 Things’ has been set up, so that updated links are easily available. Many blogs, however, will have posts in chronological order, so that the newest post is the first post you will see. This allows you to see updates when you visit each time – this is also the default setting if you don’t make changes here.

(You may wish to use a static page to simulate a regular web site. Just update and provide links on the front page.)

 

4. Other settings

All other variables on the blog (e.g Design) will become familiar as you play with them. There are lots of videos (though sometimes slow to load) and helpful hints available from the Edublogs web site. There is also a Forum for questions, including FAQs at Edublogs, and the Edublogger provides lots of advice.

We will also develop an FAQ page here for questions that come up during the course. Look for the FAQ page in the sidebar.

# Exercise

Consider some of the questions posed at the beginning of this post. You could  add a comment either here, or on your blog – if appropriate.

2. Setting up a blog

Edublogs is one of many options which can be used to set up a blog for educational purposes. It is used here to demonstrate ‘how’, and also because it has many interesting and appealing options within its structure, without being too difficult for beginners.

N.B. Further update (October 17).

WordPress also has a similar setup, so it can be another option, following the steps shown here. You can try out WordPress, and then focus on Edublogs, or the school intranet options once you are ready to release things to students. (Useful since Edublogs is being upgraded at the moment!! early Oct!! grrr!! and still experiencing problems, October 17)

How-to guide begins here

1. Begin at http://edublogs.org (Or you can select the linkbox to the right.) Or login to WordPress mentioned above.
2. Select  your username (this becomes part of the blog address i.e http://name.edublogs.org). This cannot be changed, so be creative and careful with your choice.
3. You can select a blog title (can be changed later)
4. Blog type – select ‘Teacher’ from the options and enter your details.
5. You will receive an email to verify your blog, as long as the username is not already in use.
6. From this email, click on the link provided to activate the account. (## Note down your username and password. Your username stays the same, you can change your password later.)
7. Then login to your newly created blog – from the email link. At other times, you can login by typing in the blog address, and locating the login box (usually in the right hand sidebar.)

When you first login, you get the generic look with lots of tips and links/videos to help with the set up of your blog. (Alternatively, use the step-by-step guide located in Staff Public.) From the Dashboard, you can:

• change its look (Design)
• edit your personal details (Users)
• change your password (Users/ Your Profile) and
• set all sorts of privacy settings (Settings).

You can also change the standard setting to reflect our place in the world (e.g. time and calendar settings).

It is a good idea when first starting with a blog to have things set so that discussion on your posts is moderated (i.e. you see comments and approve/delete them before they are posted to the blog – this is how this blog works). Then you are able to guard against spam ruining your blog. However, you probably don’t want things totally private, as half the fun of a blog is getting unexpected visits from people you don’t know.

 

Design and creation on your blog

The Dashboard is where you begin. It has both tabs and hyperlinks to get around.

 

 

When you login, Dashboard indicates the latest activity occurring on the blog and enables you to change or update your blog.

# See the next post for some hints about posts, privacy settings, comments and categories. 

 

# Exercise

1. Follow the instructions above to set up a blog. Then create your first post, by either commenting on how you might use this blog or simply just introduce yourself. (Don’t forget to remove the generic greeting from Edublogs – otherwise all the blogs will be the same!)

2. Send a link to Linda, or post a comment here with your blog address, and we will generate a blogroll for ’15 Things’. (Don’t be shy – it’s all about sharing…)

 

# Extra

Weeks, L . Parts of a Blog. Available in: Staff Public/15 Things folder (Also accessible through ecampus/MyDocuments)

Weeks, L. Steps in setting up. Available in: Staff Public/15 Things folder (Also accessible through ecampus/MyDocuments)

Lefever, L. Blogs in Plain English. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN2I1pWXjXI

Betcher, C. Getting kids to blog, http://betch.edublogs.org/2008/09/29/getting-kids-to-blog/ An Australian teacher provides insights into blogging with Year 4 students.