Feb 18 2008
Blog On!
As my blog grows with the experiences I am participating in and the readings I have been doing, I have decided to stop for a moment and consider the practice of blogging itself. I have been looking at a variety of sites and taken note of some of the helpful tips that have been posted. Some of these will become the basis of later postings as I put the ideas into practice.
There are a number of ways to implement the use of blogs in the classroom. I like the idea of introducing the students to blogging via a class blog which all students may participate in. This allows students to gain a basic understanding of the uses of the blog before initiating their own space online. The development of individual blogs requires the teaching and implementing of online rules to provide students with a safe, firm grounding. Students are keen to have their voices heard, but they need to learn how to do it safely eg moderating students postings and using screen names.
Students love to be creative and to be both individuals and to work with others at the same time. In order to foster this, I would be keen to initiate Al Upton’s miniLegend program of structured blogging I have come across that has been developed from the 31 Day Blogging Project. It looks at improving an individual’s blog in a collaborative atmosphere where participants can comment and share ideas and tips about the daily additions. It becomes a skill building exercise that extends students skills and gives them more responsibility in the development of their personal space. This year, bloggers are being encouraged to buddy up as mentors with students and look in on them throughout the year and leave an encouraging comment about their development.
I think this will be a fabulous opportunity for all concerned and lead to the creation of some quality sites. The value of this to the students is that they are able to broaden their experience of technology and maintain a record of their efforts that can be returned to in the future when they are working on something else. I also think that this is a project that would work very well within the LAMS framework. Hopefully it will open some new doors that will inspire students to participate in a variety of engaging activities in their leisure time.
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[...] am very keen on the promotion of the 31 days to a better blog idea that I posted earlier, so I thought that I would begin it. I plan to work towards improving my blog one day at a [...]