This session will outline the potential teaching and learning benefits of using weblogs in schools. It will also address any concerns or questions that delegates might have about weblogs. Subject to wireless connectivity being available, delegates, if they so wish, will also have the opportunity to undertake some live blogging, before, during and after the event.
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Should be good. I am hoping to get to this. With any luck, the stuff Peter says will complement the booklet of case studies I’m compiling. But if it doesn’t, well that could be interesting raw material for debate in itself!
Unfortunately, I shall not be at the conference (shame) but I am dead keen on blogging in schools. I wonder though whether there is any age limit at which pupils can start blogging. Should blogs by pupils be moderated?
Should blogs be moderated? You could argue that this rather spoils the point and spontaneous nature of a Blog but I can understand why this issue is raised.
I beleive that if pupils are taught clearly what the rules are regarding the blog, what is and is not acceptable then to a large extent the blogs could be peer moderated with any abuse of the rules reported to the person (teacher?) nominated to oversee the blogs. Any breach of the rules could then carry consequences - again which could be decided by the class(es) involved.
On a visit to a school in New York I discoverd that this type of peer moderation worked well and that abuses were quicly reported.
So my answer would be yes to a certain extent but involve the pupils in this process.
Thanks for the comments and food for thought. I’m going to take them over to my naaceblog and churn them over there.
http://ford.naaceblogs.org
[...] Douglas Woods I wonder though whether there is any age limit at which pupils can start blogging. Should blogs by pupils be moderated? [...]
Terry Handley..
It is interesting to read of your experiences of how peer moderation worked in New York. From what you say, I get the impression that blogging was just being carried out within a class and by pupils who already knew each other? I see blogging and the potential of blogging as being on a wider scale with pupils from across the country, or across the globe, being able to contribute and collaborate. Where this is the case, it would be necessary for all pupils to have an understanding and acceptance of any rules and the purpose of blogging. This might be more difficult to enforce than in the classroom.
It should also be borne in mind that blogging need not necessarily be carried out from the school but from anywhere that has ICT access, including from home. Here, teachers may not have the moderating influence they have in school.
So perhaps some form of ‘ownership’ or ‘moderation’ might be required simply to oversee the content to monitor against abuse and also, of course, to gauge the learning development of the process.
I do feel though that the educational potential of blogging should not be squashed by fears of its abuse. I believe it is an open and collaborative tool which has great benefit for learning, particularly in sharing knowledge, opinions and experiences.
I asked about the age at which pupils may start blogging as I was wondering whether there is any software which would be simple and would appeal to primary age pupils.
I am aware that there used to be a program called Kidzlog (or similar) but I am not certain whether it is still available.
Just to clarify what I said earlier - the blogging took place not just within a class but also across the whole school.
I find Catherine Parsons comment on Will’s observation the most enlightening:
http://www.weblogg-ed.com/discuss/msgReader$4730?y=2006&m=2&d=21
She maybe answers the ‘age’ question as well: “She [my daughter] has her own password protected blog and podcast in my iWeb account. She is 6. I wonder what her teachers will be trying to take away from her when she is 16.”
If you are interested in looking for ‘Blogs in Education’ www links then I have a long list at
http://www.shambles.net/pages/school/blogs/
This list also links to an online video of Will Richardson (blogvangelist) talking about Blogs ‘Weblogs in education : video’
Also there are other lists for ‘Finding Hosts”, “Blog Filters/Search”, “Video Blogs”, plus more at
http://www.shambles.net/web2/#blog
Hope this helps if you are researching any of these topics.
One request for help … one of the areas is ‘Blogs created by Students’ http://www.shambles.net/pages/students/studblogs/ … it’s quite a new area and not much there … any suggestions would be most welcome.
There is a submission form at the bottom of the page or add to this blog discussion.
Douglas,
We’ve succssfully used Elgg (see http://elgg.net) with Year 6 pupils, within a ‘walled garden’ type setup. One way of addressing child-protection concerns whilst having more openness is to have some form of annonymity, but we wished to preserve a stronger sense of ownership and voice.
Shibboleth federated authentication might make it more viable to share blogs between institutions.
Peter asked: Whose got a blog?
Answer = 7
The Edublogs Awards for students aged 6 - 18 will be held in November. There will be 5 categories of blog with 3 winners in each category.
The website to keep an eye on is:
http://www.incusub.org/awards
There will also be a blogging conference in early June in Waterloo London - keep your eyes peeled for that.
Sorry that URL was :
http://www.incsub.org/awards
No middle U.
Leon
Mike Farmer (father of THE James Farmer) attended the conference. Read his comment on Peter’s session here:
http://mikefarmer.edublogs.org/2006/03/03/back-from-torquay/
[...] Mike Farmer: The NAACE conference is probably like most conferences. It has good bits and bad bits. One of the best bits for me was the pleasant sunny, frosty two mile walk into Torquay from the hotel on Thursday morning. This was made even more pleasant by the company and the realisation that the first mile had taken so long that there was no chance of getting to the first conference session in time. The walk then deviated around the harbour and along the promenade ending at the superb Torquay railway station. This prompted a discusion on different classes of steam locomotive including the School’s class so I suppose it did have some educational relevance. After a pleasant coffee in the buffet room of this Brunelian station we made our way to the conference and listened to probably the best presentation of the conference … We thought Peter Ford’s session was going to be on Blogs. It wasn’t. It was on the much more important subject of teaching and it was brilliant. [...]
Just getting to grips with blogging!