Resource Number 8

URL http://edublogs.org Keywords blog, interaction, writing, social networking

EduBlogs
Category III Blogging Rationale

Web 2.0 is changing the face of the traditional classroom. Blogs are resources available to teachers and students creating an appealing environment for participants to work on common interests. The use of blogs has grown popular in educational spheres and become an important tool for sharing useful information and tips among co-workers, dispersing information to students, or keeping in contact with student. Effectively, teachers can use weblogs to provide an area to point students to useful resources and discuss issues arising as part of a teaching and learning program. The emergence of blogs as a component in the two-way flow of information on the web has opened up exciting new avenues for the educational community. Also, blogs are easily linked and cross-linked to form learning communities. They promote cohesiveness and social interaction. Blogs maintained by individual students or a class enable and learning together and are mechanisms of self-motivation. Description Edublogs is a free WordPress-powered platform specifically designed for teachers, students, librarians, researchers, professors, administrators, corporate trainers and other subject involved in education. EduBlogs can include specific content practiced in the classroom or exemplary lessons that is wished to share with other teachers or regarding any issues in education including classroom management techniques and policies. In this way the blog often acts as a support system for teachers where they can access ideas, tools, and gain support and recognition from other professionals in their field. Some of these blogs have become nationally recognized as useful tools. Blogs are used for multiple reasons: enhancement of classroom instruction among students allowance of editing and adding content at any time increased exposure to other students or educators from around the country or world mechanism of improvement of writing and communication skills function of notice board - important information such as homework, important dates, missed lessons projects, discussion boards can be opened ease of operation and accessibility group projects, peers collaboration platform function of reflective journals for educators and students The use of blogs in education gives students a global perspective. The use of blogs in the classroom embeds technological literacy in children that will help them in adulthood. Teachers and parents can also use blogs in order to communicate with one another. Information can be posted for parents on special events occurring in the classroom such as field trips, celebrations, and presentations. Resources required No special equipment to use this tool is needed. Obligatory resources Desktop computer or laptop with Internet browser and connection Account in Edublogs

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The project Autonomous Personal Learning Networks for Language Teachers has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Cost The platform offers three different types of EduBlogs: 1. EduBlogs Free characterised as Free, easy and basic option, great for students completely free, supported by advertising. 2. EduBlogs Pro stated as The ultimate blog package for individual teachers from $3.33/month (no ads on up to 50 free blogs). 3. EduBlogs Campus Designed for institutions, manage and control as many blogs as you need from a single class to 10,000+ blogs. The page says contact for details (from less than $1/year).

Setup and Configuration To get started requires registration. Users can choose between the mentioned three applications Free, Pro and Campus. Otherwise, the configuration presents no other complications for users. Styling Getting oriented in the websites is reasonably easy enough. The free basic version allows uploading any type of files including docs, PDFs, slideshows, movies. The site provides lots of useful information, e.g. how to use your blog with your students and how to start a conversation using your blog. An ideal site for educators who want to blog with support. Created blogs can be private between student and tutor or tutor and tutors or can be shared with the class. Navigation and operation When effectuating the registration, next steps are intuitive and manageable for everyone. No special level of ICT literacy is required. When you acceded to your space, operating the blog is not a problem.

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The project Autonomous Personal Learning Networks for Language Teachers has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Implementation methodology Setting up a blog is extremely easy. Each teacher and as well each class can have their own blog where they write about their experience related with school, learning, posting their book reviews or similar. Typical of weblogs employed for teaching would include: links to websites as resources observations on learning/teaching content discussion forums learning/ teaching resources syllabus teacher professional development events Teaching/Learning ideas: Storage place for materials and resources: On your blog you can upload or copy and paste materials to be instantly accessible by everyone who is allowed to visit the blog from school and from home. You can easily manage who gets to access the blog through password and plug-in safety measures. Host online discussions: By creating a blog you can also open an online discussion space. Visitors can simply respond to blog posts and comment on topics you have set. Commentators can also sign up to receive emails when their comments are replied to and you can easily manage and edit all responses through the blog's administrative panel. Create a class publication: On Edublog you can add students as contributors, authors and even editors in order to produce an engaging collaborative online publication by your class or your PLN. Replace your newsletter: A blog can be also a space for publishing class information, news, events or recommend links or activities. Encourage students to blog and contribute to class blog Engage with educators in the world: Using an Edublog can turn planning and reflection on classes into a genuinely productive - and even collaborative - experience. Sharing your plans, your reflections, your ideas and your fears with other educators both at your school and around the world using an edublog is a great way to develop as a teacher. Integrate multimedia of all descriptions: It is easy to embed online video, slideshows, presentations and more into an edublog and mix it up with written text to produce an multimedia content. Get feedback from students, educators or parents Create a fully functional website: In fact, you can use your edublog to create a multi-layered, in-depth website with a rich multimedia content.

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The project Autonomous Personal Learning Networks for Language Teachers has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Example of implementation Type of lesson: General English course Level: B1 of CEFR Lesson Title: Culture events of the month - review Age group: Young adults (aged 18 - 21) Number of students involved: 18 Duration: 90 min. Introduction: T presents the content and aim of today lesson to use the blog format for creative writing practice. At the end of session, SS will have produced several contributions referring about some of cultural events taking place in their region. The class blog will act as a recommendation site of cultural events and place to get to know about what is happening in the region. Lead-in: T starts a classroom discussion about different culture festivals, concerts, films or theatre plays which can be attended in the SSs region, their characteristics, venue and dates. Lesson flow: T divides SS into groups of two or three and asks each group to select a cultural event which they have attended and to compose a review. Then they are asked to enter the school blog and upload their review which they can enrich by adding photos or short videos regarding the cultural events. They can add useful tips and recommendation for other SS to take into account when interested in participating in it. Realisation: SS following Ts technical and methodical instructions produce a blog entrance based on the outcome of the preparative stage. They choose photos, videos to accompany the event they would like to present and they type in the blog information about it. Follow-up: As a final step, T evaluates each contribution and opens a discussion about the events presented.

Other issues Blogs may be viewed in public as any other website. Students must be trained on issues regarding access, privacy, security, and free expression. They should be warned about need for carefully consideration the content of postings to avoid anything defamatory or an infringement upon the rights of others. Teachers can create, monitor and edit blogs to ensure that the postings are appropriate and pertain to the classroom.

This Factsheet is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 2.0 License. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/

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The project Autonomous Personal Learning Networks for Language Teachers has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.