Tech Talk Tuesdays: A Guided Tour of Blogging part 2

When: Tuesday October 23rd, Melbourne, Australia time (gmt+11)

About the session: Blogging is an essential digital literacy in the 21st century. This session will be an extension of the recent “Guided Tour of  Blogging”. This session will be structured to suit the needs of the participants but the following may be covered:

• why is blogging an essential digital literacy?
• the importance of categories and tags in blogging
• how to add those wonderful widgets to the sidebar eg clustrmaps, weather, google translate, countdown etc
• the importance of commenting, appropriate commenting
• establishing an audience
• how to expand a blog’s readership
• how to create digital portfolios through blogging
• tips and hints for successful blogging
• where to find out more

Click on this link to listen to the recording. Please come along with your questions, experience, expertise and join in the conversations.

Tech Talk Tuesdays: A Guided Tour of Blogging!

When: Tuesday, October 9th, 2012 4-5pm, Melbourne, Australia time gmt+11 (Please note that we have now entered daylight saving time).

About this session: Blogging is an essential 21st Century Literacy. This week’s session will step through the world of blogging and take you on a guided tour of the following:-

1. Registering for a blog
2. Adding a post
3. Pages – adding a page
4. The importance of and how to use categories and tags
5. Adding widgets – some great widgets to add
6. Taking blogging to the next level

Please join us, bring your questions and share in the conversations.

Here is the  link to the recording of this session. This session will be recorded. Do you have any questions or issues you would like resolved? If so, please add as a comment below.

Tech Talk Tuesday: Little Smarties – Blogging with the Early Years

Stefanie’s great blog header

When: Tuesday, August 14th 4-5pm, Melbourne, Australia time (gmt+10)

About this session: Stefanie Galvin will be our guest presenter.  ”The Little Smarties“ in room 16 is the title of her class blog with grade prep/ones. Stefanie will  share how she started blogging with the Preps last year (as part of The Victorian DEECD’s Contemporary Literacy Practices in the Early Years research project), how she uses it in her classroom, the participation and support from school and the local community, and how it’s shaping their school environment.

Please join us and share in the conversations. Here is the link to the recording.

The Phenomenon that is Blogging

Several weeks ago, I was interviewed via skype by some teachers from Kerala, India about the reasons for blogging. My friend, Sebastian Panakal setup this videoconference. That same day I caught up on my overdue reading of the Edublogger and noticed this post on Help Student Answer Questions on Blogging. Here is my response to the questions posed in that post. 

How long have you been blogging with your students?

I started blogging with students in 2007 –  5 years ago. At this time it was relatively new in schools. There was much fear in educational circles, leadership teams and parents about the potential consequences of public sharing.  However, I had been awarded a small grant to pursue podcasting and one of the conditions of that grant were to use of web2.0 tools. Blogging sounded interesting and what better way to document our e-Journey.

At the same time, the Victorian Education Department had purchased an edublogs campus. We registered  and soon my students and I started blogging with Heather Blakey a professional blogger from Soul Food Cafe as my great mentor. We set up teacher, student and class blogs. Since then, this campus has become global2

How has the educational experience for your students been transformed since you’ve been blogging with them?

Blogging has transformed teaching and learning for me. There is an authentic audience – a global audience – one that is willing to connect, share, challenge, discuss and communicate with us. This audience can provide further information, opinions, suggest resources, seek answers to questions etc which pushes the blogging further. Blogging develops a learning network. Exercise books etc need not be pushed and crumpled in school lockers only to be placed in the rubbish bins at the end of the school year, but student work is out there for their school lives. Students take pride in having an online space and attempt to keep work accurate and pleasing to the eye. It extends their learning beyond the classrooms and increases their exposure to other teachers across the globe eg the Student Blogging Challenge, Flat Classroom Projects. It gives an insight into the complexity of the students – their likes, dislikes, what they do outside school etc. I have got to know and understand students better by reading their posts. Students are no longer confined to their class groupings or teachers within a classroom.

Do you believe that blogs have benefited the education system?

Blogs are of high benefit to the education system. Blogs:

• are personalized and customized online spaces and a source of pride.
• enable a full range of media to be used catering for the diversity of student learning styles.
• are a necessary 21st century digital skill and teaches many digital literacy skills
• can be used to learn in a practical manner the following:- cyber safety, netiquette and digital citizenship
• provide an online space for further interaction, conversations, connection and communication with others from across the globe.
• become a digital portfolio with all their associated benefits. See Skippy, Rachael, Allanah, Kirsty as examples
•  extends learning to anywhere and any time  to ie 24/7, supporting a flipped classroom approach
• facilitates a network that is global

Do you believe that blogs will become a common way of educating people in the future?

As the uptake of technology and online tools increase, blogging will become of increasing importance but how common they will become for educating people is uncertain as MOOCs, tools such as mightybell, learning management systems eg moodle take on greater uptake. I personally believe that blogging will play a crucial role in the next decade at least.

Why has the way of teaching through technology grown dramatically?

• It caters for a wide range of learning abilities and introduces a range of media that give added impact eg the use of video tutorials as compared to text, using images/cartoons instead of chunks of text for those who struggle with literacy.
• if a student is struggling with learning from their own classroom teacher, they can find other educators or resources online to help them with their understanding See An uprising of learning at the grass roots.
• technology allows learning to become accessible from any region – the remotest areas of earth, isolated rural and outback areas, hospitals, cross countries etc
•  learning becomes efficient eg teacher professional development can be undertaken without the cost of travel, accommodation, hire of buildings etc.
•  networking is enabled on a global scale and the collective ideas, resources,established or innovative units of teaching/learning, experiences from a combined ‘global brain’ that will push the learning and teaching to more powerful levels.
• But most of all – it just makes sense. Our students use technology constantly outside school, so why shouldn’t we tap into that teachnology for learning within and beyond the classroom.

What is your opinion of blogging? Has it transformed learning?

I am passionate about blogging. It has transformed learning for me and my classes.

Learning to Blog

“Learning to Blog” is a workshop that Britt Gow and I will conduct tomorrow at Warrnambool College with interested staff. Here is a google doc for you to ask any questions that you might have.

Let’s get started:-

1. Go to global2 and sign up for your own blog. Make sure you are a Victorian teacher in a government or Catholic school. Use your edumail email address.
2. Login to your email account, click on the link sent from global2 and activate your blog.
3. Change your password and ensure you remember your blog address and password
4. Write a short post – holiday/festive greetings, how you hope to use this blog.
5. Change the appearance and customize to your own liking.
6. Add widgets to your sidebar, including the meta

Following are some resources for those who are interested in starting to blog or extending their blogging.

1. Why Blog? 20 reasons why should students blog? (and teachers)
2. Blogging is a 21st Century Literacy
3. Types of blogs that we use in our school- teacher blogs, individual student blogs, class blogs, our school blog and special purpose blogs
4. Victorian government teachers may use the DEECD edublogs campus Global2
5. Need to be comfortable with posts, pages, widgets, dashboard, comments etc

Some great resources

1. The Edublogs Teacher Challenge Kick Start your Blogging,
2. the Global2 Challenge
3. The Edublogger
4. The edublogs awards nominees and winners of the Edublogs Awards 2011
5. The Student Blogging Challenge
6. Top widgets for the sidebar of your blog
7. Something fun for this time of the year: DIY decorating for any holiday season
8. See skippy and chloe for sample student blogs. Note how they have customized them.

What suggestions do you have or what are your favourite resources?

Tech Talk Tuesdays and eT@lking: this week’s webinars

Tech Talk Tuesdays: What have you been up 2.0?

When: Tuesday, July 19th from 4 to 5pm, Melbourne Australia time (gmt +10)

About the session: This will be an informal session where participants will be given the opportunity to share favourite websites, new or tried web 2.0 tools, projects that require help etc. Please come along and share in the conversations.

Here is the link to the recording

eT@lking: Blogging++

When: Wednesday July 20th, 8 to 9pm, Melbourne Australia time (gmt+10)

About the session: Sue Wyatt, (@tasteach) organiser of the global Blogging Challenge will talk about her new blog Mr Devil, setup so that it is written through the eyes of a Tasmanian Devil soon to travel across the world with her. After 35 years of teaching, with the latter four years experimenting with technoolgy in the classroom and beyond, Sue is about to retire and travel, meeting many of her global blogging connections in her global travels. Sue will share how how she  set up the blog, what features have been included, web 2.0 tools to be used and how she has used global collaboration in its creation. The recent blogging challenge and some its amazing outcomes will also be shared.

Here is the link to the recording.

 

Tech Talk Tuesdays and eT@lking: this week’s sessions

Add some bling to your Blogs

Tech Talk Tuesdays: Blogging with Bling

When: Tuesday, June 21st from 4 to 5 pm, Melbourne, Australia time

About the session:  Mel Cashen will be our guest presenter, talking about some her favourite technology tools that she uses in the classroom. Mel will demonstrate

• How she got into blogging.
• How the way she  uses blogging has changed (kids taking more responsibilities). See her class blog
• The web 2.0 tools she likes to use on it
• How students are introduced to  blogging

Please join us and share in the conversations. Here is the link to the recording

eT@lking: Evernote – Ever Popular

When: Wednesday, June 22nd, 8 -9pm, Melbourne Australia time (gmt+10)

About the session:- Evernote allows you to make one note or 500,000. It is a popular online tool that is free and allows you to take notes, clip web pages, snap photos, grab screenshots and then stores it all.

Join us for this webinar, where Graham Clark will demonstrate how it works and why it is one of his favourite online tools. Please join us and share in the conversations.

Here is the link to the recording

Rules for Blogging

The second challenge in the advanced Edublogs “Blogging with Students” challenged bloggers to write a post on “My Blog Rules”! Upon reflection here are the guidelines that I ask my students to follow.

1. Enjoy blogging and the benefits it brings! Develop a great digital footprint!
2. Use appropriate language at all times – no swearing, slang, words of dubious nature or double meanings. Show you are a good digital citizen
3. Stay safe at all times: Keep your personal information private eg no last names, phone numbers, addresses etc
4. Always use complete English ie no Instant Messaging (IM) or txt language. Online translators cannot translate IM.
5. Use a spell checker.
6. Global communication: remember different age groups and people from different cultures may read your blog. As your blogs are online, you may be writing for anyone and everyone around the globe!
7. Take care with images:- do not identify any children, obtain permission to use others’ images, where possible take your own photos, make sure images are appropriate etc
8. Always reply to any comments: read what commentor is blogging about, respond with a comment on their blog or email them, thank the commentor,ask them a question to keep the conversation going
9. If in doubt, just do not do it! Once it is online it is can always be found somewhere online.

What have I missed? I need a 10th rule to round this off. What would you add? Have you set up a set of rules for your students when blogging? Do you think the same rules apply for both adults and students?

eT@lking summary: Talking about Blogging

This informal discussion on blogging had a broad range of participants from many sectors of education, included non-teachers. This made for rich conversations.

The video camera was used to good effect with Graham showing a Writing magazine that he had picked up from a newsagent with two great articles on blogging. The whiteboard and chat were used for interactivity and application sharing allowed some blogging sites to be demonstrated. Here is the link to the recording.

From the chat

• Use the #tag comments4kids when wanting others to comment on student blogs
• Blogs shared Graham Clark, macgirl19l, ccoffa, hihelen18, coach carole’s family history blog, Epsomps, jjash365
• Blogs every new teacher should read
• gravatars
• Great tips and resources at the Kick Start Your Blog Challenge with Edublogs
• How to increase blog readership for beginner bloggers and for advanced bloggers
• post to blogger from your phone using blogPress
• Graham recommended this book on blogging “Content Rules”
• Use google analytics to see if your blog is being read
• What is the secret to tags? should they be individual words, groups of words separated by underscores or just groups of words
• Some tags for blogs #edchat #ebshare #comments4kids (This one use to ask people to comment on student blogs)
• try OhLife as a reminder blog system

Below are the whiteboard screen dumps:-

Ideas for Building Readership

This Week’s Tech Talk Tuesdays and eT@lking

Tech Talk Tuesdays: Challenge Based Learning

Date/Time: Tuesday March 8th 4-5pm Melbourne Australia time (gmt+11)

What is Challenge Based Learning and why should you use it?

Challenge Based Learning is an approach which has -

• A multiple entry point strategy and varied and multiple possible solutions
• A focus on universal challenges with local solutions
• An authentic connection with multiple disciplines
• An opportunity to develop 21st century skills
• The purposeful use of Web 2.0 tools for organizing, collaborating, and publishing
• The opportunity for students to do something rather than just learn about something
• The documentation of the learning experience from challenge to solution
• 24/7 access to up-to-date technology tools and resources so students can do their work

from Challenge Based Learning: Take action and make a difference [Apple 2009] p.2

Find out how Challenge Based Learning was used with Primary and Middle Years students, by someone who has actually taught it! This session will be presented by Mark Richardson.

About Mark:- Mark Richardson has taught in primary schools for many years. For the past decade he has been ICT Coordinator at Williamstown Primary School, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia. He also has extensive experience planning and delivering professional learning to teachers in ICT / eLearning. His current interests are Web 2.0 technologies in schools, multimedia, using Web Conferencing as a teaching tool, Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy, Moodle / Ultranet, Challenge Based Learning, 1 to 1 Classrooms and anything on a Macintosh.

Mark has an article on CBL which has just been published in Education Technology Solutions #41

Here is thelink to join the session. Please note the room will open at 3:30pm. This session will be recorded

eT@lking: Talking about Blogging

Date/Time: Wednesday March 9th, 8-9pm, Australia time (gmt +11)

Continuing on with our theme on blogging, this session is a general sharing  amongst participants where you can ask questions about blogging eg where to begin, how to write posts, tag, add categories, what to write about etc through to questions on advanced blogging, what makes an effective blog, what place does blogging have in eLearning etc? Come along,share your blogs, your questions and join in the conversations.
Here is the link to the session