Encountering E-Learning Education

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Throughout my readings, viewings and mult-media discoveries I have been exposed to numerous blogging websites. I thought it would worthwhile looking at how some of these websites perceive and define blogging. Consequently I have listed below a couple of extracts from online blogging websites: Salon Blogs

Salon Blogs:

What’s a blog?”A blog, or weblog, is a personal Web site updated frequently with links, commentary and anything else you like. New items go on top and older items flow down the page. Blogs can be political journals and/or personal diaries; they can focus on one narrow subject or range across a universe of topics. The blog form is unique to the Web — and highly addictive.”

http://www.salon.com/blogs/index.html

Blogmeister:

About Blogmeister

Perhaps one of the most fascinating tools that has emerged from the Internet cloud in recent years is the Blog. A shortening of the term Web log, the Blog is an online publishing tool that enables people to easily publish their loves, passions, dislikes, peeves, discoveries, and insights.

Thousands of teachers have discovered the value of classroom blogging, both as an avenue for their communications, but also as a tool for giving voice to what their students are learning and how they are learning.

Class Blogmeister is one of several blogging engines that have been developed specifically for classroom use. You are welcome to explore the writings of teachers and students alike.

http://classblogmeister.com/

Blogbeat:

About The Blog Beat
The Blog Beat is a site dedicated to the art of blogging. While we’ll focus on all parts of blogging such as writing and monetizing, there will be an emphasis on marketing and promotion. Many sites breach the subject of marketing & promotion, but few really delve deeply into the subject and I think we can provide killer detail and information in that area. We love comments, questions and input from our readers so please let your voice be heard!

http://theblogbeat.com/

Blogniscient:

Everyone has heard the buzz about blogs, but finding the best information is a real challenge without the right tools.

That’s where Blogniscient comes in. We categorize and rank blog articles and blogs in real time, providing up-to-date information on the hottest blog entries.

Blogniscient…
your portal to the Blogosphere

http://www.blogniscient.com/

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blogging-a-bigger-picture.mp3

This is a podcast I created as a summary of my thoughts on blogging. Enjoy!

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This posting is another description of a useful online teaching tool. Del.icio.us is a website of social bookmarking where people use tags or bookmarks to organise and categories Internet sites. In this way Internet sites are collated in folders and sites can be tagged as frequently as desired.

The home page for the website states that as del.icio.us “all your bookmarks are in one place” you can “bookmark things for yourself and friends” and “check out what other people are bookmarking”. Users can be used to tag sites including articles, blogs, music, reviews, recipes and podcasts. It can be used for online collaboration with friends, family, co-workers and other networks.Social booking marking using del.icio.us has the following advantages:

• Bookmarks can be found from any location such as home, university, work, library or holidaying overseas.
• Bookmarks can be shared publicly so people you know or the wider Internet community can view them.
• You can use del.icio.us to search and browse internet sites other people have bookmarked.

This valuable resource has immense power in pooling resources and sharing ideas. Throughout my readings and viewing of podcasts and vodcassts I have observed del.icio.us being used within primary education. Allanah King and Kathy Cassidy both use del.icio.us as part of their class Weblog to direct students to educational websites linking to their classroom work. I perceive del.icio.us as an invaluable teaching resource which can be used seamlessly and effectively alongside class blogging.

It was interesting to read Amy Jobson’s blog comment about Allanah King’s video on teaching using technology. I recently viewed this video as well as wrote an extended reflection on Allanah’s teaching strategies and approaches as a static blog page entitled Social Software.

Like Amy I was inspired by Allanah’s use of technology in the classroom. Amy reflects on how Allanah uses a class blog as a tool to assist other curriculum work. Amy also picked up on how Allanah spent time at home understanding Weblogs before integrating them into the classroom. Amy also commented on how children at Appleby School have contact with schools globally through blogging. She stated:

“The children at Appleby have contact with other schools around the world. One being in Wales and the other in New Yorkwhich is an incredible learning experience for all the children involved. The children according to Allanah King get excited when they see how many people are watching their blogs globally.”

Amy’s concluding remarks were:

“The important thing is that everyone has a go. There are challenges along the way, however the rewards are GREAT!!!”  

I was similarly inspired by Allanah’s work with her year 4/5 class. It was encouraging to see how online tools such as Weblogs can be used in such innovative, creative and effective ways. For me Amy really highlighted the importance of risk taking in teaching technology by having a go and being excited by the challenges this presents.

Download Video: Posted by AllanahK at TeacherTube.com.

Allanah King’s Yr 4 / 5 NZ class. Use of social software. http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=93fe8abcfe3ce2003e5c

Image accessed from: http://www.sbg.ac.at/zfl/eTeaching_Skills/eTeaching_Weblogs/bloglogos2.jpg

I thought this a useful and interesting image in conveying the multiplicity of e-teaching Internet resources available online.

Download Video: Posted by rachelboyd at TeacherTube.com.

This vodcast is a beautiful short clip which gives us an insight into what some six and seven year old students at Nelson Central School in New Zealand think about weblogs. A number of students answer two questions firstly “what is a blog” and “why do you enjoy having a blog”. I found this blogspot particularly insightful and useful in hearing the voice of young students and their attitudes towards blogs. Their responses can be viewed below.

What is a blog?

“A blog is an internet site which tells something about people.”

“A blog is something that we do writing on for people to look at, it is on the internet.”

“It’s something you can write on and take pictures.”

“It’s a type of internet where you can write stuff and look at classrooms or you could make one at your house with your computer.”

“I think it’s a website you can go and have a look at stuff on like what we’re doing in our classroom.”

“It’s a type of internet site and you can use it at home and at school.” “It’s in the internet where people can do pictures, writing and photos and other people can leave comments so that people can look at it.”

“It’s on the internet and you can send it to anywhere in the world.”

“It’s somewhere you can store all your pictures and photos on the internet.”

Why do you like having a blog?

“You can do lots of cool writing on it and lots of people can visit it on the computer and you can get lots and lots of comments on it.”

“Because we enjoy showing other people what we have learned and it is also cool to put stuff on the internet.” “

Because you can put pictures on it and you can write stories on there.”

“You can look at your stuff that you’re doing and it will be really fun and my parents can look at stuff we’ve been doing in the classroom and we can look at it.”

“Because people can look at us and we might be famous.”

I also visited the students’ class blogspot. This was a wonderful experience as it provided me with a real and tangible learning context of students using weblogs as part of their primary education. This class weblog included class exercises such as descriptive poetry, photos, class videos, camp reflections, class podcasts on global issues and much more.

When I was browsing the blogspot I viewed a number of students’ podcasts done in December last year. This was a class exercise where students recorded a written piece of work entitled “The Lorax Speaks for…” Following this I entered the comments section which corresponded to these blog postings. I was simply amazed at the diversity of comments. This really highlighted to me the great advantage of weblogs in providing students with a global audience with whom they can share their work. Certainly I could anticipate the genuine excitement a student would have knowing that a teacher in New York, Australia or Sweden has viewed their work and left a written response! I have copied some of the comments left for the students at Central School in New Zealand below:

“The Lorax Speaks for… (7)”

3 Comments – WritePostCollapsor(); Show Original Post WriteCommentsCollapsor(); Collapse comments

Jane said…

Sam, Great video! I really enjoyed it. I am a teacher in New York City (can you find it on a map?), and I was looking to examples of student blogs to show some other teachers. They will all see you video this week. Thank you so much. I will check back to see if you and your class to more videos. Best, jane13 January, 2008

tasteach said…

G’day Sam. I am just about to start videoing and blogging with the students in my grade 6/7 class in Tasmania, Australia. How long did it take you to put together your video and what software program did you use?19 January, 2008

vi1b said…

Hello!
We are a class in Sweden. Our ages are 7 and 8. We have a blog, but we write in Swedish.07 February, 2008

References 

Boyd, R (Producer and Presenter). (2007). 6 & 7 Year Olds and BLOGS! March 3, 2008, from: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=601b9f31bf04019c8593

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“I think it’s the most beautiful tool of the world and it allows us the most magic thing…”—Florence Dassylva-Simard, fifth-grade student”.

This reflection upon children’s use of technology in primary education is primarily focused on Stephen Downes’ article entitled “Educational Blogging”. I have written more extensively on this article as part of my static pages. However, I found the article so insightful and intersesting that I thought it worthwhile commenting in my blog posting for other students to respond to.

The article describes online weblogs used by students at the Institute St Joseph in Quebec City as “a virtual extension of the classroom”. At St Joseph students’ use weblogs in numerous ways such as a classroom web space, site of announcement, posting for work, communication zone, reflective sphere and private personal space.

A fifth grade student at St Joseph commented:”The blogs give us a chance to communicate between us and motivate us to write more. When we publish on our blog, people from the entire world can respond by using the comments link. This way, they can ask questions or simply tell us what they like. We can then know if people like what we write and this indicates to us what to do better. By reading these comments, we can know our weaknesses and our talents. Blogging is an opportunity to exchange our point of view with the rest of the world not just people in our immediate environment.” (Downes, 2004)

I discovered that weblogs are an invaluable tool for promoting educational reflective analysis as well as developing the “emergence of a learning community that goes beyond the school walls” (Asserlin cited in Downes, 2004). Blogs used to “archive and publish student work, learn with far-flung collaborators, and manage the knowledge that members of the school community create.” (Richardson cited in Downes 2004). This learning technology can also be used by school communities as a source of information and communication.

Weblogs could be perceived as primarily consisting of a series of personal comments and observations. But Downes illustrates how this is a very restrictive and limited understanding of weblogs.  Weblogs must be recognised as more than an online journal. Weblogs have an immense capacity to link to resources as well as offering a space for personal reflection. Therefore blogs could be viewed in their simplest form as forum for “personal publishing” (Downes, 2004). This concept of weblogs has significant implication for education.  On a basic level a primary advantage of weblogs is the way they encourage students to become competent writers. As Rosalie Brochu, a student at St-Joseph, observes: “The impact of the blogs on my day to day life is that I write a lot more and a lot longer than the previous years. I also pay more attention when I write in my blog (especially my spelling) since I know anybody can read my posts.”

I found this reading very informative and worthwhile in widening my perspective on weblogs and their use in the classroom. I’m particularly looking forward to developing my understanding of weblogs as an online learning tool and using them to their greatest capacity within primary education.

Reference 

Downes, S. (2004). Educational blogging. EDUCAUSE Review, 39(5), 14–26.

This is a short video I sourced from YouTube by Kath Cassidy on primary teaching using information communication technologies. This short video was created for Terry Freedman who is the editor of “Coming of Age”. Kath contributed to this piece of educational literature by discussing how young children can use web tools to learning. Even as young as age six can use blogs, wikis, podcasts to communicate their thoughts despite the fact that they’re only  just learning to express their thoughts. The internet is a powerful learning tool for these young children as they can learn from other children and adults from around the world being a part of the global conversation.

I was intrigued to learn that these young children were blogging as part of their learning with several classes around the world. They were also using wikis to learn about “traditions”. The children were also interacting with a class of university students who were currently studying how to teach writing to primary aged children. To make this interactivity even more exciting and valuable the children met the university students though Skype. For the primary school students, their blogging had greater depth and importance because they knew that older students would be regularly reading and commenting on their work.

This short video is a testimony to the deep value of ICTs in primary classrooms. The scope of learning is unending and restricted only by the teacher’s fears and inhibitions. I can see how imperative a risk-taking approach is to teaching using ICTs in order to really open up the many teaching opportunities the internet provides.

I found a useful a news, information and resource blog for teachers in the UK called Primary Teacher UK. On this blogging page I found a useful entry entitled Me and My Movie. This CBBC program is a unique film-making initiative inspiring and enabling children to make movies and tell their own stories. The website provides fun, interactive film-making tutorials and a safe space where children can upload, share and rate each other’s films. Students can enjoy publishing and tagging one another’s movies on the web. I watched a movie called The Worst Present by 12 year old Catherine. It was a short video of two girls miming. The scene was based around two girls exchanging a present. I thought it was lovely that these two young students were provided with an opportunity to publish and perform their piece of mime to a world wide audience online. The free Me and My Movie film-maker’s pack for children is also available to download from the site in the How To section. This looks like a really interesting and interactive site which would be useful in the classroom. It is visually really appealing to children and easy to navigate.