The majority of our students have set up their own blog space. A little risque as some of you might ask. After all some are only in years 4,5 and 6 and the even riskier end is year 9 and 10 teenagers. Well, so far so good.
Some have tried to put images on posts, to give their stamp of personality but this has led me to talk to them about public perception, cultural impact and plagarism. Most students have immediately complied and removed possible offensive material.
Cyber safety is constantly being addressed and talked about. Most have created their own avatars and are in the process of adding them to their blogs and their comments.
Much of the time it is student directed learning as they work out what they might need and the image they wish to project. eg Many started creating a personalized header image, using the panoramic option in irfanview.
Some have added posts for Chinese (mandarin Chinese is our LOTE). The principal and various members of staff have commented on the posts, and comments from overseas are starting to come in. (A clustr map widget exists in edublogs now.)
A meeting was held with grades 4-6 parents and part of that time was spent outlining our goals with student use of web2.0, including blogging. (See the slideshare below for the content). One parent commented from the floor that her 11 year old boy no longer wanted to play game……the staff who were present held their breath for the next comment……(as there had been rumblings as to the need for any technology at their age)……. but the next comment delighted us all…………..he only wants to blog now!!!!
Some are using it as journal entries about their daily acitivites with others adding any school work that they are proud of producing.Below is the presentation given to parents, using pedagogy to justify the use of web2.0 and predominantly blogging.
Great comments. My school has allowed me to use a class web site to host children’s work, and post information. Students can write their stories and poems. They can also post podcasts, vodcasts, pics and slideshows. I can post information, such as timetables and work programs. I am in the process of putting information about Maths and English, as well as linking up to great free interactive websites. I use Apple iweb. The kids can use iweb to create their own ejournals, and at the end of the year, burn their websites to a cd or dvd (note that their webs needn’t be on the web). Using web browser software compresses huge amounts of data, and it is great for the students to learn about hyperlinks, and can also transfer the information to MS Office programs. If you want to see exciting things, visit Coburg High School. All the best. Tony,
http://web.mac.com./kingswarrnambool
Phew,
I’m relieved to read the pedagogy to justify student blogs in Aust. The parent info slides were most useful to me also. I teach grade 5 and have recently set up a class blog and student blogs (16 so far at various stages) via edublogs. Much of what I’m doing is in my own time with much to discover. I’m seeking a little feedback from colleagues regarding our blog, it’s structure, aesthetic and some useful ideas as to how best to optimize use for student benefit. Please look us up at http://altan.edublogs.org or click my name under the global teachers sidebar to the right. Regards,
Altan 🙂
Great guidance for teachers embarking on this journey.