Blogs+and+Wikis

=Blogs and Wikis in the Classroom=

__INTRODUCTIONS__

__PREP TASKS__

We are going to sign up for a blog and wiki space right away as sometimes the email giving you your password can take a few hours!

To sign up for a blog: [] To sign up for a wiki: []

__GETTING STARTED__ - the broader perspective

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__PART A: Students as bloggers__

1. Let's watch what the NSW Education Department says about blogging

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Questions:
 * 1) What does it mean to be a "prosumer"?
 * 2) What does the "read/write web" mean?

2. Let's look at one classes blogging experiences:

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Questions:
 * 1) How does the teacher ensure that students use blogging resources critically?
 * 2) What principles inform the teacher's approach to using blogs?


 * //TASK 1//**

Spend a few minutes looking through that class blog (link below) and note down anything you think is valuable for your own experience. Discussion.

Here is that Sydney classroom’s blog: [|Wormbins]. I especially love their [|class video on worm farms]!!!

Comments about their blog:
 * Parent link - news for parents
 * copyright issue?
 * homework submission
 * interviews
 * organisation
 * filing - tagging, categories
 * breadth
 * surveys
 * interactivity
 * embedding
 * aesthetic, attractive, accessible
 * kudos for kids clearly
 * planning
 * use of multimedia = photos and videos

__PART B: Teachers as bloggers__

A Guided tour of my blog - []

Some points to note:
 * My blog is quasi-professional. In inhabits several spaces - my teaching, my research, my interests as a professional, and the odd personal note. Being a blogger keeps me close to both the formal and informal discourses that surround digital worlds. It many ways, my (three) blogs are artefacts of my own personal journey and cognitive history with respect to the topics I choose to blog about.
 * The blog can be considered in the following ways: thinking out loud, a mind dump, a way to develop my own professional voice, a way to test out thoughts and ideas and get feedback, a way to informally publish some of research, a new way to think about what it is we do as professionals, a way to value my student's work, a way to experiment with new ideas (podcasting, video, audio etc..), a way to develop a professional network of like-minded colleagues, a way to share my work with friends, family, colleagues and even potential employers.

Questions:
 * 1) Do any of these aspects about what blogs can be resonate with what you are wanting to achieve?
 * 2) What elements do you think you'd like to include on your own blog?


 * //TASK 2//**

Below are a series of blogs and wikis that are considered some of the best of the best in education. Spend the next 30 minutes or so wandering around them and making sense of how they work and thinking about what makes them "good". Locate one of your favourites and be ready to share and justify your choice with everybody. Questions you might ask as you tour the blogs include the following:


 * What seems to be the purpose of the blog?
 * What elements are included in the blog post? (images, links, video, audio, text?)
 * Does the blog show evidence of growth, learning, experimentation?
 * How does the blogger (or class of bloggers) create their own personal voice?
 * Are any of the blog posts of interest or benefit to you in your own teaching context, and if so what and how?

[|This link] will take you to the Edublog awards - lists of fantastic blogs (and wikis) voted as the best of the best for educational purposes.

[|Everyday Literacies] [|The English Blog] [|This Teaching Life]...
 * GREAT ENGLISH ORIENTED BLOGS**

Click here and here for fantastic wiki pages created by a 2008 student about blogs in the classroom.
 * STUDENT ASSIGNMENT**

[|Here] is a wiki about wikis being used across a range of classrooms.
 * HOW WE USE WIKIS IN THE CLASSROOMS**

[|A Pod of Poets]
 * PODCASTS**

//Blog Links://

Blogging with Students __[]__ Blogging Across the Curriculum __[]__ Will Richardson’s blogging in the classroom site __[|http://www.weblogg-ed.com]__ Bud the Teacher’s Blog __[|http://budtheteacher.typepad.com]__ Old School News Student Blog __[]__ The Secret Life of Bees Blog __[]__ Grandview Library Student Bloggers __[]__ Digital Anthology of Ms. Angala’s Exceptional Students __[|http://digitalanthology.blogspot.com]__ New York City Teacher Bloggers __[]__ Class Blogmeister__[]__ PS 261 Class 408 Blog __[|http://ps261class408.blogspot.com]__ The Reflective Teacher __[|http://thereflectiveteacher.wordpress.com]__ The Neighborhood School’s Blog __[]__

//Wiki Links://

What’s a Wiki? __[]__ High School Online Collaborative Writing: __[]__ The Neighborhood School wiki: __[]__ Middle School Math Wiki __[|http://dedworthmaths.pbwiki.com]__ Arbor Heights Elementary School Wikis __http://arborheights.wikispaces.com__ Roland Elementary School Wiki __[]__ Wiki in a K-12 Classroom __[]__


 * //TASK 3//**

Head over to [|slideshare] and select one of the powerpoint shows about using blogs and wikis in the classroom. Read through it and be prepared to share back the key points of the presentation.

__PART C: What students are doing outside of school time__

Part of my research has been to explore how teens have been using blogs to write their own fan fiction. Spend the next 15 minutes or so reading the article in your booklets about fictional blogging and jot down anything interesting to share with everybody about what the teens were doing. Links to some of the blogs are at the end of the article if you want to check them out.


 * //TASK 4//**

Time to make your own blog!

A 5 minute intro about edublogs: [] I will do a step by step tutorial with you to set up your blog. Feel free to work ahead of the class if you are confident enough. Once we have the basics started, you should try and write a post or two to experiment.

__PART D: Using Wikis__

What is a wiki?

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Let's watch what some people are doing with wikis in their classrooms:

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A student from earlier in 2009 who did this course has created a wiki project - take a look here !

__PART E: A guided tour of some of my wikis__


 * //TASK 5//**

Time to make your own wiki!


 * //OPTIONAL TASKS//**


 * Take a photo or make a video clip for your blog or wiki and embed it in!
 * Make your own twitter page, and embed the twitter feed into your blog/wiki
 * Make your own youtube channel and embed that in
 * Make your own flickr site to house images

__FINISHING THE DAY__

Let's share!

Please complete the feedback form in your folders to help me in future sessions, thank you!