[Year 12 IT Apps] Blogging

[Russell Edwards]

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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