This is a guest post from Victorian teacher and blogger, Kathleen Morris.
All teachers and students in DET schools have free access to Global2. This is a network to create blogs or websites that has been established for over a decade. It’s powered by CampusPress which is the sister service of Edublogs. Global2 is based on WordPress and is designed for education with 24/7 email support.
You’re invited to learn about blogging while making global connections through the next Student Blogging Challenge. It begins on March 3, 2019!
What Is The Student Blogging Challenge?
The challenge is made up of a series of 10 weekly tasks all designed to improve blogging and commenting skills, while connecting students with a global audience. The teacher doesn’t have to be the expert or bring the ideas and connections. It’s all done for you!
Since 2008, the Student Blogging Challenge has run twice yearly, beginning each March and October.
The next challenge begins March 3, 2019. It’s totally free, it’s flexible, and it’s fun. I’ll be hosting the challenge for the second time and registrations are now open.
Quick Student Blogging Challenge Links
- Find out more about the Student Blogging Challenge
- Register to take part as a class (This is if you want to have a class blog and have the whole class work together. Teachers should fill out this registration form)
- Register to take part as a student (This is if you want to have your students publish their activities on their own blogs. Teachers or students can fill out the registration form)
- Volunteer as a commenter
Read on to find out more about who the challenge is for and why you might want to add it to your calendar now.
How Can I Get A Global2 Blog?
You’ll find the link to create on a blog on the sidebar of this blog. Click here to get started creating a Global2 blog.
Snapshot of Global2
- It’s free for all DET staff and students
- Set up as many blogs as you need
- Control your privacy settings and moderation settings to suit you and your school
- 24/7 email support
- Uses WordPress. Did you know over one-third of the whole web is powered by WordPress? What authentic technology for students (and teachers!) to learn to use!
Who Can Join The Challenge?
The challenge is totally free and open to students or classes from all over the world. Last time, we had students representing 27 different countries.
While we’ve had participants from K-12 take part, the tasks are ideal for students around the ages of 8-16. Sometimes older students take part if they’re learning English as a second language.
Why Join The Challenge?
There’s a lot to be gained from joining the challenge! Of course, students and teachers will learn how to blog and there are SO many benefits of blogging.
You never know what sort of learning can take place when you start building connections and finding an authentic audience for students’ work. There is a lot of power in amplifying learning!
Here is a video where some of our 2018 participants reflected on the challenge.
Check out this post to explore 8 reasons why you should take part in the Student Blogging Challenge.
Students who join the challenge will have access to a badge for their blog and certificate too!
How Does It Work Each Week?
Every week on a Sunday, I will publish a new post on the Student Blogging Challenge website. You’ll get an email to let you know about the weekly topic and task when you join our mailing list.
There will be a different topic each week.
- Some topics will be blog skills — like commenting (the first few weeks will focus mainly on essential blogging skills). Some topics will be important digital literacy skills like images and copyright.
- Other topics focus on global collaboration — like learning about holidays and celebrations.
- Some topics will focus on fun and creativity too!
After reading through some information and examples, you’ll be presented with a number of options for tasks to complete. The task might be writing a blog post or page, trying out a free online tool, trying an online activity, completing some research, visiting other blogs and leaving comments etc. You choose.
You can read more about the weekly process here.
Email List
Sign up to our mailing list to stay in the loop with all the challenge news! This isn’t a registration form but you’ll receive updates about the challenge and notifications of the weekly posts once it begins.
More Questions?
Check out the PDF of challenge FAQs below. Click here to download a copy.
If you have questions you’d like me to clarify anything, please just leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you!
Alternatively, you can contact me via this form.
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