<div>Margaret is right, you need to give them some thinking time in the classroom to do this. I often specify a word limit (min ~5 sentences per post). This should not be an excuse for more homework although students need soem scope to explore their posts away from the lab.
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<div>Paul Chandler has done some very interesting things with an introductory course for year 7 students to blogging and digital portfolios using ELGG. This is certainly worth exploring. I notice that there is a single sign-on module that can be used with Drupal and Elgg/Moodle.
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<div>Regards Roland<br> </div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 23/08/07, <b class="gmail_sendername"><a href="mailto:margaret.lawson@konstantkaos.net">margaret.lawson@konstantkaos.net</a></b> <<a href="mailto:margaret.lawson@konstantkaos.net">margaret.lawson@konstantkaos.net
</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">A few years back (in a previous school) we ran a pilot group with a Year 9<br>English class where they used
<a href="http://www.livejournal.com">www.livejournal.com</a> as the vehicle for doing<br>book reviews. This blogging environment allowed the kids to create a blog<br>entry on the books that they were reading and post it to the class site.
<br>They could also keep a private blog on the side if they wanted to.<br><br>We found that it only really worked well if it was weaved into the<br>assessment of the subject. We slowly worked the kids upto complex entries.
<br>For example: first entry was a simple 50 word reflection, then the next<br>entry had to target something, then when they finished the book they had<br>to compare and contrast their experience with another book review. By the
<br>end of the unit the kids were commenting on each others work and that<br>"reflective" environment was very much in existance.<br><br>Blogs work well if the kids are given time to do them in class. They tend<br>
not work as well if you leave it upto the kids to do it all for homework.<br><br>In IT classes, the application could be similar. The equivalent of keeping<br>a "learning journal" of the programming experience they are having in each
<br>class. For the ESL kids, they can create their blog entry in word and<br>copy/paste over after they have checked their work.<br><br>I found livejournal to be one of the better environments as I could a)<br>create a community group for the class and b) restrict who could read that
<br>group (ie. it wasn't open to the world).<br><br>Hope taht this helps<br><br>Regards<br><br>Margaret<br><br>On Mon, August 20, 2007 3:25 pm, Russell Edwards wrote:<br>><br><br>><br>> On 20/08/2007, at 3:03 PM, Kerrie A Hammond wrote:
<br>><br>>><br>>> I keep hearing a lot about blogging yet have no idea how to use it<br>>> in my classroom. I would be greatful if any list contributors, who are<br>>> currently using blogging, could give me some hints on where to start.
<br>><br>> Hi Kerrie,<br>><br>><br>> I use blogs in two ways in my Year 9/10 classes<br>><br>><br>> 1) For each class, I make a "class blog", where each unit of work is<br>> listed and full handouts placed for viewing or download
<br>><br>> 2) Each student makes their own blog. At the end of each unit of work<br>> (typically 2 weeks long), they write a reflective entry on the work<br>> they have done, where possible uploading the actual product or an
<br>> image/screenshot. This forms part of the VELS ICT for Communicating<br>> assessment, and where the product is adequately displayed I will often do<br>> the assessment of that (for the other dimensions) just by looking at their
<br>> blog. Also, some units of work give them some specific questions, which<br>> they answer in a blog entry for assessment in either or both of the other<br>> two ICT dimensions. Their blog entries are also meant to include a
<br>> "trackback" link to the<br>> corresponding entry of the class blog, however I have found that these<br>> often inexplicably fail to work (on <a href="http://wordpress.com">wordpress.com</a> blogs).
<br>><br>> I think this has great potential, but as with everything else, it<br>> often founders on the shoals of student disengagement...<br>><br>> HTH<br>><br>><br>> Russell<br>><br>><br>>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College<br><a href="http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au">http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au</a><br><br>"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead