Blogs: Skills For Subject Specialists

Blogs: skills for subject specialists

Course information 3

Learning outcomes 3

Course schedule 4

Introduction 4

The reflective cycle 5

Introducing ourselves through a blog 5

Introducing blogs 6

Guide 7

Discussion 7

E-safety when using blogs 7

Discussion 10

Exploring classroom blogs 11

Finding relevant examples and generating ideas 15

Discussion 16

Planning to use a blog 16

Edublogs 17

Blogger 17

Setting up and using the blog for teaching and learning 18

Reflect, evaluate and share with others 19

Discussion 20

Shared learning 21

Evaluation and certification 21

References 22

Acknowledgements 24

Course information

You will need access to:

· a computer with a web browser

· a class/group of students – groups could be within classes, whole classes, or groups across classes (e.g. clubs) and schools (e.g. clusters of schools or in collaborative projects).

Duration of the course: 20 hours over eight weeks

· Online total: 12 hours

· Offline total: 8 hours

o face-to-face: none

o workplace: 8 hours (setting up and using blogs with learners, making and recording observations about their use)

Learning outcomes

Professional and reflective practitioner skills

At the completion of this course, you should be able to:

· identify opportunities for the effective use of blog supported learning activities linked to your curriculum plans

· reflect on, and discuss, the impact of the use of a blog on learning.

Practical skills

At the completion of this course, you should be able to:

· set up a blog including options for comments and syndicating feeds

· publish a blog entry and comment on other blogs

· incorporate text and other media on a blog page

· manage users (authors, reviewers etc) of a blog.

Knowledge and understanding

At the completion of this course, you should be able to demonstrate an understanding of:

· the issues involved in selecting the appropriate blog tool for your context and intended learning purpose

· key copyright and e-safety issues when creating and sharing content on a blog.

Cognitive skills

At the completion of this course, you should be able to:

· critically review the use of blogs in educational contexts and share these reviews with others

· discuss different ways in which blogs might be used in learning contexts in schools.

Course schedule

Week / Course Activities / Type / Approx time needed /
1 / Activity 1 Getting to know others on the course / Online / 45 minutes
Activity 2 What are blogs and why use them? / Online / 45 minutes
Activity 3 Blogs and e-safety / Online / 45 minutes
Activity 4 Caring about copyright / Online / 45 minutes
1-2 / Activity 5 Online field trip / Online / 2 hours
Activity 6 Using other Web 2.0 technologies with blogs / Online / 30 minutes
2-3 / Activity 7 Finding relevant examples / Online / 1 hour
Activity 8 How might you use blogs? / Online/workplace / 2 hours
Activity 9 Selecting a blog tool / Online / 1 hour
4-7 / Activity 10 Setting up your classroom blog / Workplace / 1 hour
Activity 11 Using the blog with your students / Workplace / 5 hours
8 / Activity 12 Reflecting and reporting back / Online/workplace / 2 hours
Activity 13 TDA Professional Standards / Online / 30 minutes
Activity 14 Extracting our shared learning / Online / 1 hour
Activity 15 Course evaluation and certification / Online / 1 hour
Total / 20 hours

Introduction

The course takes a reflective practice model to look at how blogs allow for individual and shared reflection online. You will be introduced to some theory and practice of how blogs are used in schools, plan for their use in your school and reflect and discuss their use in learning and teaching

The course begins by looking at existing blogs with an emphasis on those used in educational contexts.

You will discuss the issues raised by the use of blogs in terms of e-safety and learning and teaching.

The course will provide guidance on creating and usingblogs and you will set up your own and trial it with some students, either using a blog on your school’s learning platform or, if this is not available, on one of the free online blog services.

Throughout the course, and especially after you have used your blog with pupils, you will share experiences with other participants.

The reflective cycle

Vital courses are based on a cycle of professional reflective practice as shown in the diagram below.

This cycle draws on, and develops, personal and professional knowledge bases. The latter may be seen in the literature, resources, policies and other materials that are used to inform practice.

Throughout the course small icons will indicate the stage of the cycle being addressed.

NB Prof/Pers KB = Professional/Personal knowledge base

Introducing ourselves through a blog

In this part of the course we will introduce ourselves and find out about blogs by using the course blog. We will clarify our understanding of what a blog is and why you might use a blog in teaching and learning. Now let's find out who else is on the course.

Activity 1 Getting to know others on the course

45 minutes during the first week of the course.

The objectives of this course activity are to:

· get to know the other participants on this course

· begin to clarify your ideas about blogs, through using one.

1.1 Go to the course blog and introduce yourself, telling the other course members what you hope to get out of the course.

1.2 Go to the course blog and read what others have posted. Use the 'comment' option to respond to others that are already there.

End of activity.

Introducing blogs

Most people have heard of blogs and many will have read them, although not always realising that is what they are doing. The term 'blog' is shortened from the term 'weblog' and can be thought of as a website with a set of tools that make to easy to publish. They are called ‘logs’ because the posts are organised chronologically like a diary.

Often, blogs are maintained by an individual person who posts a message, maybe with images etc, online. Others can comment on these posts as you did in the previous activity. Alternatively, multiple users can publish content in shared blogs or a collection of individual blogs can be 'pulled together' (aggregated) to make it easier to manage group communications.

Don't worry if this sounds a bit complicated, as you progress through the course and see the different types of blogs and you will get to understand how the world of blogging works.

Activity 2 What are blogs and why use them?

45 minutes over the first week of the course (online)

The objectives of this course activity are to:

· develop your understanding of what a blog is

· develop a rationale for including blogs in your teaching.

Watch this video (3 minutes) from Commoncraft for a brief introduction to blogs.

Blogs in plain English

If the video does not appear then there may be firewall/filtering issues. The video is less than five minutes long and you are advised to watch it on a machine that is not filtered if possible, or read the alternative description linked below.

For an alternative description of a blog please see this Becta (2010a) resource.

Now read Stephen Downes’ blog post, Blogs in Education. He provides a useful introduction to blogs and the benefits of using them in education.

Guide

You will find information on the use of forums in this Forum guide

Go to the course forum and share your initial thoughts and experiences of using blogs. Can you see any opportunities or benefits of using blogs within your teaching?

Discussion

Want to find out more? (optional activity)

Anne Davis provides a useful rationale behind using blogs in education. This blog post has received over 140 comments from educators around the world!

End of discussion

End of activity.

E-safety when using blogs

E-safety is a topic of common concern with children using the internet. In this part of the course you will think about how a blog can be used safely and ethically. You will identify e-safety issues related to the use of blogs in schools and share your thoughts with others. You will have an opportunity to reflect on the responsibilities of authors and how to ethically use content developed by others.

Activity 3 Blogs and e-safety

45 minutes (online/private study) during the first week of the course.

The objective of this course activity is to begin to understand some of the options you have to ensure safe and ethical use of a blog.

Visit and read the links to resources provided below and share your thoughts on the course forum.

Read Byron Sets Boundaries, a Guardian article by Julie Nightingale (2008). This report commissioned by the government talks about tackling internet and gaming safety for children and young people. It has implications for all UK schools. The report recommends that Ofstead makes e-safety a separate criterion.

Now look at the e-safety section on the Becta site. What would you do as a teacher to enhance the safe and ethical use of blogs in your classroom? Share your thoughts on the course forum. Some safety tips are listed below.

End of activity.

Safety tips for students and teachers when using blogs (adapted from Next Generation Learning’s Safeguarding section (2010b)):

Students:

· are responsible for anything that they post

· should not include personal information about themselves (including photos and videos), other pupils, staff or family members that can allow someone to be identified or located geographically

· should always use appropriate language and respect other peoples' opinions when writing or responding to a post

· should check with others before posting videos or photos of other students or staff

· need to know what to do if they are being bullied online. Who do they need to inform at your school? Where can they go online for help?

Teachers:

· should be clear as to the purpose of their blog, and the intended audience

· consider what password restrictions are needed – there is usually an option to password protect a blog so that access is restricted to specified users

· consider whether you want to allow comments to posts and if you want to moderate or approve comments before they are visible

· consider the use of anti-spam tools if they are available in the blogging software.

Teacher voice

I gave the class a serious talking to about internet safety. One student then dryly queried if it was wrong of him to have posted his mothers ...details ...on a website and I realised that I was being a bit heavy handed, that they knew far more than I had been banking on and would be fine. They spontaneously used random images for profile pictures rather than real pics which is something I would ask a class to copy in the future

Amanda Monk Peak, Dover Grammar School for Boys

Want to find out more? (optional activities)

Acceptable Use Policy

If using a blog at school, it is a important that it is covered by the schools acceptable use policy (AUP). You might want to refer to your schools AUP. What does it say about the use of self-authoring tools such as blogs? Does it need to be amended in light of this activity? Who might you need to talk to at your school about this?

If your school doesn't have a relevant AUP you might want to inform the person responsible about this Becta (2009a) publication AUPs in Context: Establishing Safe and Responsible Online Behaviours. This resource provides a number of prompts and action points to help schools to develop effective AUPs.

e-Safety in your local area

Your local authority will include information about e-safety. Visit the National Education Network to see what is happening in your area.

Connecting with other e-safety educators

Safetynet is a community for anyone who wants to discuss and share information to support the development of e-safety good practice within the education sector.

Curriculum Links

Becta (2007) Signposts to safety. This booklet contains background information, advice and guidance for secondary teachers relating to e-safety issues. It signposts appropriate opportunities to embed e-safety within the curriculum and relevant resources.

Lively discussions on forums, such as John Connell's blog demonstrate that some teachers are still struggling with issues related to copyright and plagiarism. John's blog provides several practical examples of how a teacher might introduce copyright to their students.

It's good practice when authoring content to provide details about what rights are attached to your work or a shared website, such as a blog. This makes it clear to others, what they can and can not do with this content.

Most schools include a copyright statement on their school website, which is useful. However if staff and students at your school believe that content (that they have created), should be shared freely, remixed and re-used with others within the school and wider community, then you might also want to use a copyright license.There are several copyright licences that are suitable for school use but one of the most popular is Creative Commons.