if you could give me one piece of advice – what would it be?
I have figured out (roughly) how to use Wordpress MultiUser and am about to introduce my high school to ‘blogging’. There seems a multitude of options and I know I have to focus it a little to get us started. I am interested in the notion of kids ”blogging about their “educational journey” until they graduate“ although am concerned that without careful thought, I may be in danger of “the abomination of “blogs as on-line diaries” (or)… “blogs as the new way to turn in homework” “.
My simple idea is this, using the blog as a way to showcase pupil work and life in the Design and Technology Department/School.
Have it as ‘pupil-run’ as possible.
I like the idea of bringing other people into our learning. Stuart Meldrum posted this simple question a few months back as did Don Ledingham with his ‘Leadership Dilemas’ and both generated response related to their own learning. In a similiar way I would like to bring the learning of others into our classroom. On the otherhand, I don’t want the blog to turn into another method in which to hand out assignments.
I will leave it like that at the moment. Any bright ideas, or uses of technology would be greatly appreciated. Acceptable user policies? Best year group to start off with? What has been done to death? What becomes dull and boring? Why have you kept that blog in your feed reader? How can I engage the kids in putting their work/thoughts/learning online?
What do you like to look at when reading/interacting with a class blog?
November 12th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Remind the bloggers that what they write can be seen by the whole world.
Writing something in the heat of the moment when tempers are frayed can cause ill feelings amongst friends; make use of the draft feature in WordPress to check posts when things have calmed down before posting.
One thing I don’t like when reading blogs is images that have a massive file size. Resizing the images will mean faster loading times and the blogs readers won’t get bored waiting for the pictures to show.
November 12th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Thanks for joining the conversation (and the link
). I just got to work, but I’ll add two more cents.
1. Students will have a hard time figuring out that blogging is not like writing painful school papers. Writing is aversive to them because they think they have to make it always long, voiceless, formal, revised to death. So getting them to start and write regularly at all is the first challenge. It’s a weird balance, trying not to “schoolify” it by “assigning” it, on the one hand, and on the other, trying to get them to simply start writing their ways into real writing. So my current attempted fix for those who aren’t writing at all is to “assign” at least three short pieces a week – short, short, short. The hope is that, once they start seeing their own space filling with content, color, and life – Creative Commons-licensed pictures from Flickr do wonders to add that – they’ll actually come to like the creativity. (If you’re hosting your own WPMU, adding as many themes as possible will help them enjoy unique looks and styles, their own “branding”). And that slow stage of actually becoming attracted to your own writing space will bring you back to write more.
Since you’ve linked to my post, I imagine you’ve seen the most recent ones wrestling with all of this, so I’ll just point to my second point by saying I think it makes all the difference if students are led, before blogging, to create a vision for what sorts of connections and networks it will bring. It makes writing a project, rather than a random, aimless activity – and makes it authentic, in the best cases, as your own, and my own, experience of this world.
Good luck!
November 12th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
I’d also play to the built in strengths of blogs… the ability to add pictures and links (especially)…
Teach them how to tag/categorize as soon as possible, and get them to show you the really cool things they’ve found.
Don’t be too dismissive of the blog as online jotter! If handled well, you will be helping the pupils create a potentially valuable online portfolio that could stand them in good stead in the future (ie: an online presence they can show the world!)
Teach the class how to deal with spam sensibly… you will get it… (make sure your spam filter is switched on by default everytime you set up a new blog!)
Set up a tab on Netvibes for every class you have blogging, and also take a feed from their comments as well as their posts! Much easier to follow who is saying what to whom and when…)
As to the right class to start with… pick a class that are going to give you the fewest ‘abuse’ problems as a first step! Then enjoy…
PS: My third years are turning into reasonable writers if you have an equivalent age-group you fancy linking to…)
November 13th, 2007 at 3:34 am
Above all, is th ability to post half-finished (half-baked?) work and get feedback on how they could do it better. Do this, though, you will have needed to teach the class the basics of formative assessment (learning intention and 2 stars and a wish type feedback loops). It’s not natural for kids to do this unless they have been taught it. Taught and not caught, as it were.
November 13th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Have you asked any pupils for their views? This could throw up some interesting ideas and challenges for you!
November 14th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
thankyou everyone
Everyone of you has given me food for thought and reminded me of things I had forgotten about (file size of pictures and using netvives/tags) and told me of things I hadn’t thought of – asking the pupils! It sounds so obvious now!
Also, I think I often fall into the trap of only putting up polished pieces of work onto the wall, and it is far more interesting for everyone to see the in creation process, even if it is just half finished (thanks Ewan).
I really hope that I can make it an enjoyable thing for the kids and that they want to do it.
Again, thankyou to everyone and if you have anything else to add please comment