Lucky me! I have used blogger previously which made module 2 a little easier to get through.
I set up a blog for my Year 3 class in 2009. You can view it at http://excellentblogsite.blogspot.com/
The purpose of the blog was to encourage the students to share their views and knowledge on different subjects. I deliberately didn't make the blog's focus too narrow in order to get them used to using a blog in general. I tried to emphasise the importance of taking pride in how they wrote and also opened them up to the usefulness of blogging as a communication tool.
Topics included 'My Favourite Websites', Favourite Sports, Japan (as I was doing a unit on Japan, I set blogging as a homework task) and Holiday News. I also set up two posts where children could keep in touch with 2 students who had gone overseas for an extended period of time.
I spent some time reflecting on the use of blogs and thought their best uses are as a news broadcasting website or diary system. Being able to share information with a variety of people can be beneficial as physical location is no longer a barrier and the type of responses you can elicit are much broader due to the size and backgrounds of the potential audience.
Finally, using a blog for the purpose of this Web 2.0 course is a great way to stay organised and keep a reasonably permanent record of what has been learnt.
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Hi Andrew, welcome to the course. What do you think of giving each child their own blog to maintain? It could be used as a journal for them to regularly reflect on their learning across a range of KLAs. There are some good tools available (Edublogs, Kidsblog) that give the teacher a level of control over what the students can do.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, thanks for providing the link to your Class Blog. You have provided an excellent summary of the potential use of Blogs. Think about Scott's idea - it has strong possibilities!
ReplyDeleteSounds like the same technique that is being used on me as a web 2.0 participant. It's a good idea Scott.
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome Peter. I'm glad someone is reading! :)