blogging for teaching and learning-a tutorial
DESCRIPTION
This learning object e-torial is in draft and has been created for the subject advisors ICT training. It is an individual learning object for self study (Not as a presentation) with the idea that everybody can take it and link up their own favourites and pass it on... The actual powerpoint will be loaded onto the Thutong portal for download and use.TRANSCRIPT
Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate
Why do we need to blog?
BlogWhat? Why?
Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate
What is a blog and why should we blog?
By the end of this e-torial, you will:
Know what a blog is
Understand the benefits and challenges of
blogging
Have an action plan for effective
educational blogging!
This e-torial make use of the following
programmes or tools:
A Browser ( Internet explorer/ Firefox…)
Online blogging tools (Wordpress/ Blogger/
Typepad/ Edublogger/iblog…)
Outcomes
Tools
Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate
What is a blog?
„A weblog is kind of a continual tour, with a
human guide who you get to know. There
are many guides to choose from, each
develops an audience, and there‟s also
comraderie and politics between the
people who run weblogs, they point to
each other, in all kinds of structures,
graphs, loops, etc.‟ Source
Wikipedia: A blog (short for web log) is a user-generated website where entries
are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order. A typical
blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media
related to its topic. Blogs also provide readers with the option to leave comments,
which makes it possible to start a discussion around a blog post
Problogger (a blogger) has blogged about what a blog is in his blogpost…
“What is a blog” in reference to other bloggers defining
blogging…..
So what is a Blog, Blogger, Blogpost, Blogging, blogoshere…..?
Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate
Why do people blog?
I use my blog like a website as I do not have to host it
anywhere and it is so easy to update on the fly!
I use my blog to organise and link workshop materials
See Maggie’s blog
I use my blog to share and link my lesson plans and resource materials.
See Pam’s blog
I use my blog to publish school news, comment on educational articles, policies and happenings
I use my blog to reflect on my teaching practice
See Tom’s Blog
I can even blog straight from my cell phone!!!!
Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate
Why are blogs so popular?
It is searchable
If you mentioned
ANYTHING
ANYWHERE
it will show up in
your blog search
More reasons………
It is free
It is quick and easy to update and
maintain
It allows for feedback
You do not have to be a “techie” to
create and maintain it!
You can personalise it with funky easy-
to-apply themes…
Which results in professional looking
sites
It builds community
It builds brand (teachers/schools need a
better profile…!)
For a full report on the state of the blogosphere, see Technorati
Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate
Why are blogs so popular? Interactivity
What is RSS and widgets?
It allows for easy
subscription using
RSS & e-mail
You can “dolly it up”
and make it
interactive using
widgets (snippets of
code that brings
video, feeds, photos,
anything really…into
your blog
AUTOMATICALLY)
Share it everywhere
As part of a follow-on learning pathway you will learn how to
use RSS and widgets to make your blog more interactive!
Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate
To blog or not to blog……
Creating a blog without a clear
idea of why you want to do it,
is like writing a book without a
topic.
Ps we won’t read it!
Do blog … Don’t blog…
Everyone is doing it!
So I should too…..?
With a purpose
For fun
To educate
To learn
To share
To collaborate
To advocate
To inform
If you are not prepared
to commit time…..
If you are not an
innovator
If you are a quitter
If you do not want to be
in the 21st century!
For more reasons and discussion, click here
Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate
Blogging action plan
In order for us to achieve our
outcome of creating and
maintaining an effective blog, we
need to ….
Decide what the purpose
(theme/niche) of our blog is
going to be
Brainstorm some ideas that
will support our purpose and
create an ideas folder
Create our blog
Maintain our blog
Post regularly
Reply to feedback
Collaborate with others in
our field
Purpose
•What is your blog going to be about?
•School? Personal? Organisational?
•Who is your audience? Learners? Parents
Ideas
•What posts have to be included?
•Ideas Folder
•Look for opportunities.
Create
•Where are you going to create it?
•Choose a theme
•Insert feeds, widgets, interactivity
Maintain
•Update regularly
•Look after comments
Find a blog-buddie to do this with you, so that you can support one another!
Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate
Ideas 4 blogging 4 teachers
Blogging is a great tool for critical thinking, enhancing writing skills and peer
assessment. Why not let your learners blog?
Post daily homework tasks
Reflect on the days teaching
Post educational tutorials
Embed videos and slideshows that
you want the class to watch and post
comment on. (peer review maybe?)
Post newsletters and parent notes
Post sport results and event
calendars
Post a photo gallery
Weekly class report
Comment on current educational
issues
Inspiration
Embed a school radio station
…………?
I ACTIVITY
1. Read some of the teachers blogs (click on the links to the right) and make a note of how they used their blog
2. Make a list of things that YOU can blog about
Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate
Ideas 4 blogging 4 Subject advisors
You have so many roles to full fill, how can blogging help you to cope? How can
your blog keep your teachers informed, resourced and motivated?
Post weekly list of new teacher
resources from Thutong ;-)
Reflect and comment on educational
policies and new curriculum
implementation issues
Post lesson plans for teachers
Post educational tutorials
Embed videos and slideshows that
could assist teachers in their teaching
practice
Post newsletters with news from the
district
Post notices and summaries of
meetings
Organise workshops and links
…………?
ACTIVITY
As a subject advisor you have to be a policy implementer, subject specialist, teacher supporter, lifelong learner, assessor, trainer, facilitator and administrator. Bearing this in mind, make a list of all the things that you would like to blog about in support of all your roles. Be specific.
I
Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate
School Blogging ideas
Snap fundraising idea: Get your school blog sponsored!
It is easy to post collaboratively to a school
blog and it is therefore effortless to maintain
The school can post:
Daily notices for learners and parents
Sport results as they happen
School photo gallery
Events calendar
Newsletters
Comment on educational issues
Advice for parents, learners
Grade reports
Class happenings (embed a video)
School radio station (embed podcasts)
…………..
A school blog can showcase the spirit of learning in a school
Picture source: Crestoncollege
Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate
Personal Blogging ideas
Reflect on daily/weekly happenings
Blog about your interests, hobbies and
passions (eg gardening, recipes,
sport…)
Use it as a newsletter for friends and
family
Inspirational quotes
Post photo albums
Post important information
I cut and paste “really” funny jokes or PowerPointsthat people send me via e-
mail into my blog
I must Read:10 good
reasons to blog
Something that made you cry
Something that made you laugh
(a must read!)
Create a radio station
Whinge about the crime rate (or
anything else accept your boss!)
Talk about REAL issues!
Create a blog page for all the links that
you want to get to quickly
Post your CV……..
What about privacy in a personal blog?
Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate
The challenges you will face
It can be time consuming
Allocate a daily/weekly
timeslot depending on your
purpose.
It takes time to built an audience
base (If you are going to do a
personal/learning/organisational
blog)
You do not always get feedback
and comments
Don‟t worry, lurkers also
count
Blog for yourself and your
own learning pathway!
The majority of bloggers recognize the positive impact that blogging has on their
personal and professional lives Technorati Report
Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate
Activity: Action plan
Complete the first 2 steps of
your action plan
The majority of bloggers recognize the positive impact that blogging has on their
personal and professional lives Technorati Report
Purpose
•What is your blog going to be about?
•School? Personal? Organisational?
•Who is your audience? Learners? Parents
Ideas
•What posts have to be included?
•Ideas Folder
•Look for opportunities.
Create
•Where are you going to create it?
•Choose a theme
•Insert feeds, widgets, interactivity
Maintain
•Update regularly
•Look after comments
I ACTIVITY
DownloadAction plan
Template
This e-torial was developed by
maggiev for the Department of
Education for use by subject
advisors, teachers and learners
All e-turials can be found on the
Thutong portal:
www.thutong.org.za
It forms part of a learning pathway
Blog: What? Why?
Creating a blog
Making your blog look good
Making your blog interactive
with widgets and RSS
Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate
Presentation information