Participants in WebTools4Educators are really moving forward on the tasks this week about blogging. In the forum and on their blogs, participants have asked for some ideas on how to get students more involved in their class blogs.
I wanted to share some ideas that have worked in my classes. First, the blog should be an integral part of the course. Also, the posts should be interesting and use a variety of media (photos, audio, text, etc.). If possible, use the class blog as a place to make connections and start conversations with people outside of the classroom. In this flowgram, I've narrated a few examples from my class' blogs. I know that other teachers have other ideas and other examples, so please share them! Looking forward to sharing more ideas on how to get students more involved in the class blog!
Update: Unfortunately, Flowgram is no longer online and I lost the data for this presentation.)
Showing posts with label webtools4educators. Show all posts
Showing posts with label webtools4educators. Show all posts
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Thursday, October 02, 2008
WebTools4Educators: Blogging
This week I am a guest in Carla Arena's WebTools4Educators online course. This week the group is exploring educational blogging, and I'm thrilled at the chance to interact with everyone.
One of the assignments for this week is for the participants to create a class blog on Blogger and to write their first post. Carla has asked everyone to make a good first impression by including a picture or embedding a video.
In fact, I am setting up a new blog titled English I Computer Lab Blog for my first year writing class that meets in the computer lab every other week for 90 minutes. Since I've been thinking a lot about the 2007 LwC Cartoon Festival, I was inspired to use the topic of friendship again and to ask students to use the dVolver movie maker. My first two posts are related to this idea.
In the Friendship post, I wanted students to discuss their definition of friendship and also to explore the ups and downs of friendship. In order to catch their interest, I included a picture of one of my best friends and me. The blog is a perfect place for me to share a more personal side of myself and to encourage students to do the same. This post not only opens up the channels of communication, but also engages learners with the material we are working on in class which just happens to be writing definitions!
In the Review a Cartoon post (inspired by Carla R) I wanted students to look at some cartoons that previous students made about friendship using dVolver movie maker. I embedded these into the post and asked students to make a comment. In the future, they will be making their own cartoon, so this preview may get them excited about the project, and will give them a chance to develop multiliteracies.
One of the assignments for this week is for the participants to create a class blog on Blogger and to write their first post. Carla has asked everyone to make a good first impression by including a picture or embedding a video.
In fact, I am setting up a new blog titled English I Computer Lab Blog for my first year writing class that meets in the computer lab every other week for 90 minutes. Since I've been thinking a lot about the 2007 LwC Cartoon Festival, I was inspired to use the topic of friendship again and to ask students to use the dVolver movie maker. My first two posts are related to this idea.
In the Friendship post, I wanted students to discuss their definition of friendship and also to explore the ups and downs of friendship. In order to catch their interest, I included a picture of one of my best friends and me. The blog is a perfect place for me to share a more personal side of myself and to encourage students to do the same. This post not only opens up the channels of communication, but also engages learners with the material we are working on in class which just happens to be writing definitions!
In the Review a Cartoon post (inspired by Carla R) I wanted students to look at some cartoons that previous students made about friendship using dVolver movie maker. I embedded these into the post and asked students to make a comment. In the future, they will be making their own cartoon, so this preview may get them excited about the project, and will give them a chance to develop multiliteracies.
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