[Year 12 IT Apps] Blogging

[Keith Richardson]

Thank you for the amount of detail you have provided here Russell.
I find it most helpful.
Cheers, Keith


On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 11:47:00 +1100, "Russell Edwards"
<edwards.russell.t at edumail.vic.gov.au> said:
> A belated response to the blogging thread.
> 
> I agree with a couple of others who have noted that a forum is more 
> suited to question-and-answer style communication.
> 
> I am using blogs in my 9/10 IT classes as follows.
> 
>   * There is a class blog where I place a new entry for each topic, with 
> a blurb, a link to a copy of the handout, and any further description of 
> the task, net links etc.
> 
>   * The students each make their own blog. They are encouraged to use it 
> for whatever they like but primarily they are supposed to put a new 
> entry for every topic in the course (Blogs being "Topic 0"), filed under 
> a category corresponding to the subject code. In that entry they say 
> what they did, how they did it and why, and also include a small amount 
> of reflection on the task. Any files they make in the task are meant to 
> go in a standard structure on the network drive, but they should also 
> state where they are in the blog entry. (Attaching to the entry would be 
> best but doesn't work with the system we're using, wordpress.com, except 
> for specified file types.) They also place a trackback to the 
> corresponding class blog entry which (in theory) makes it easier for me 
> to assess.
> 
> This not only gives them a good grounding in the new face of the web, 
> blogs (what's the buzzword again, web2 or something??), it is also a fun 
> and engaging way to start the course, it encourages reflection, and 
> covers quite a few VELS dimensions. It also sits well with VELS in terms 
> of reflection, self- and even peer-assessment, and acts both as a 
> reflective journal and a digital portfolio -- though I haven't decided 
> exactly which dimensions I will assess against yet.
> 
> I have been amazed as a new teacher to see the more troublesome members 
> of the class slowly change their tune as they realised that what they 
> had to do was actually fun.
> 
> An intranet solution (moodle?) would be ideal but couldn't be provided 
> here in time. Wordpress is a great interface but has been painfully slow 
> for my students so I'll look elsewhere next time. Edublogs sounds good.
> 
> HTH
> 
> Russell
> 
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Keith Richardson
ITA List Moderator
Head of ICT, Leibler Yavneh College
Elsternwick
Ph: 03.9528.4911
k.richardson at yavneh.vic.edu.au