Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age

Week 1 and week 2:  Why Blog? Some pitfalls and some examples

My Introduction to Blogging PowerPoint: Download the zipped file: Save File: Blogging Intro.zip (or download from here:  http://drop.io/MarynaBadenhorst#)

 

• What is a blog?

• Why blog?  Social Revolution: http://marynabadenhorst.global2.vic.edu.au/2009/09/18/social-media-revolution/

 

• What is part of a blog?

Resources for your blogs:

• General info on blogs in Victoria: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/teacher/blogs.htm
• Globalteacher site: http://global2.vic.edu.au/
• Globalteacher projects: http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsh/pr/
• Get a Globalteacher blog: http://global2.vic.edu.au/wp-signup.php?new
• How to start your Globalstudent blog (from http://globalstudent.org.au/help/)

 

• How to instructional videos for edublogs:  http://edublogs.org/videos/
• Tips and Tricks with GlobalTeacher (Word doc from http://globalstudent.org.au/help/)

Other blog info

• It is important to get permission from parents to create student blogs and publish student work or pictures to the internet.  Permission documents:  http://marynabadenhorst.global2.vic.edu.au/blogging-what-how/
• Royalty Free stuff for your blogs: http://marynabadenhorst.global2.vic.edu.au/royalty-free-stuff/
• Staying safe online: Students should also be clear that personal information such as full names or addresses should never be published on the web and should be aware of their ‘digital footprint’. Some safety tips are provided on Emily P’s blog.
• You can also view videos and explore lesson plans and online activities related to online safety in Working with the Web. It is critical that you are fully aware of your professional responsibilities in an online environment.
• What other schools are doing: 
  • Hawkesdale P-12 school with has really taken off with blogs – check out their clustr maps to see how many visits they get. Looking at a few examples you can see the different kinds of blogs that can be used in a school environment – whole school, teacher, class and student.
  • Our own backyard is a school blog where student work and events are shared with the community
  • ejourney with technokids is the professional blog of Anne Mirtschin. It also has great examples of the online challenges she is setting for her students. Links on the right of the page take you to other teacher and student blogs
  • Skippy is one of the students at Hawkesdale P-12 schools personal blogs. It is full of ideas, writing and fun applications such as Voki. It is also a great example of a student keeping themselves safe online by not publishing too much personal information.

Other great blogs:

• Bright Ideas by the School Library Association Victoria (SLAV) showcases great resources and uses of technology by Victorian Schools
• Readers Cup – a blog also by SLAV to support the Premier’s Reading Challenge
• Connect highlights fantastic online resources for teachers and students. Use as a tool to encourage your students to ‘comment’ in a responsible way (comments are checked before they appear)
• Explore exciting book blogs including Fict.it.ious, The Reading Room, Book Stars, Barker Books and and the MPSC Reading Cafe.

Web 2.0 tools for every classroom

• Livebinders http://www.livebinders.com/
• SimplyBox http://simplybox.com/ 
• http://toobla.com/  Toobla: Looks great way to store bookmarks – similar to simplybox.  Everyone loves finding great content on the web—music videos, hilarious photos, Flash games—and we love to share it with our friends, family, coworkers. But remembering where we saw that funny cat video a month ago is a massive pain. Toobla provides a way to hold onto the web content you want to keep in a useful visual library. (Toobla Tour http://toobla.com/tour)
• Voicethread http://marynabadenhorst.global2.vic.edu.au/2009/09/18/voicethread/
• Blabberize http://marynabadenhorst.global2.vic.edu.au/2009/09/12/blabberize/
• Mixbook http://www.mixbook.com/# http://web20-guru.blogspot.com/2009/10/mixbook-sample.html

 

 

Blogging with Globalstudent.org.au from Darrel Branson on Vimeo.