Blogs

Blogs; hmmm with my limited experience but enthusiam about Blogs, I trust students would jump at the chance to have their own personal Blog. Having limited access to computers and time of course in schools, it may be a little difficult and knowing that not all students have access to a computer and the internet at home is another stumbling step.
First students would need to be aware of ethical and legal issues surrounding the internet and the copyright aspect when using images, music, videos etc from the internet or from home, an introduction to sites the Creative Commons agreement site and then list some of the sites that are loyalty free and freee from copyright.

The way I believe would be a great way for students to begin once they have set up a Blog page and it is only visible to the Teacher and other school staff and students, I would begin with them giving an introduction of themselves, possibly a backgound look at them as a person, uploading a photo of themselves and family if they wish and then writing a reflective goals outlook of where they want to go, how they would get there and what they would need to do to reach that goal.

Once they are familiar with their way around their blog and can comment on others, using it again a as a reflective tool on what they have learnt today in class, why, what was interesting and what was not, and how it could be better next time, and possibly some new questions they would like answered. What a great way for a teacher to get a perspective on where each particular student is at and where they need to go to keep them engaged.

A Blog could also be used as an information dump for assessments and other authentic tasks. Placing their views and researched information about a particular subject (like; ANZAC day), add some photos of real ANZACs or possibly someone from their family. Then students could comment and check out each others to see what they have found and this could be then used as a collaborative learning tool. These particular posts could also be publicised for access to other schools and educators also. Possibly two or more schools around the state, country or world could possibly link up to use their Blogs as a learning tool of what is happening in their area and school and their views on particular topics etc it is endless of what could be done.

I think there are many ways to use a Blog as I am discovering myself. One day we hope to have all students within access of a computer and the internet in the classroom more and more.
Wendy.