Not convinced using a classroom blog is a good thing?

More than likely you arrived at this post because you need to understand or you need someone else to understand what is the benefit of blogging and how classroom blogging will help students in the classroom. If you are looking for the answers yourself, then my advice ( after reading the list that follows) is to start blogging. Use a free blogging service like Blogger or WordPress and test drive the concept of online sharing and collaboration through journal writing online. Take a look at Blogging for beginners and attend this free Blogging for Beginners webinar on Wed March 31, 2010

levenslangleren.info blog has a great list of points to use if you need to debate or support your new found joy in blogging.

1. It provides your students with a “live” audience.

Normally assignments will have only one reader: The Teacher. By asking your students to contribute on the blog, they will increase the interactivity with other readers (fellow students or the millions of internet users all over the globe).

2. The focus will be more on content (as opposed to form)

3. It provide extra reading practice for students.
This reading can be produced by the teacher, other students in the same class, or, in the case of comments posted to a blog, by people from all over the world.

4. Blogs can be used as online student learner journals
The value of using learner journals has been well documented. Usually they are private channels between teacher and student. Using a blog as a learner journal can increase the audience.

5. To guide students to online resources appropriate for their level.
The Internet has a bewildering array of resources that are potentially useful for your students. The problem is finding and directing your learners to them. For this reason, you can use your tutor blog as a portal for your learners.

6. Blogs can increase the sense of community in a class.
A class blog can help foster a feeling of community between the members of a class, especially if learners are sharing information about themselves and their hobbies, and are responding to what other students are writing.

7. To encourage shy students to participate.
There is evidence to suggest that students who are quiet in class can find their voice when given the opportunity to express themselves in a blog.
To stimulate out-of-class discussion.

8. To create a space for pre-class or post-class discussion.
And what students write about in the blog can also be used to promote discussion in class.

9. To encourage a process-writing approach.
Because students are writing for publication, they are usually more concerned about getting things right, and usually understand the value of rewriting more than if the only audience for their written work is the teacher.

10. As an online portfolio or even an archive of student written work.
There is much to be gained from students keeping a portfolio of their work. One example is the ease at which learners can return to previous written work and evaluate the progress they have made during a course.

11. To help build a closer relationship between students in large classes.
Sometimes students in large classes can spend all year studying with the same people without getting to know them well. A blog is another tool that can help bring students together.

I know that all sounds terrific but I know that there will still be people who will focus on the negative and their concerns will have merit. This is an extensive look at the issues that surround classroom blogs.

Take a look at this resource from teacherFirst.com for positive ideas about how to use classroom blogs

Earthcast 2010

Plans and preparations for EarthCast 2010 are on the way for 2010.

On Saturday March 26, 2010 Matt Montagne, Sheila Adams and Jose Rodriguez will be joining Classroom 20 Live show hosts Kim Caise, Lorna Costantini and Peggy George to feature the activities being planned for this year’s earthcast. The Session is scheduled for Saturday March 26, 2010 at 12:00 noon EST (GMT-4)
Convert your time.
The show is held in Elluminate. Please join us using this link http://tinyurl.com/cr20live

Earthbridges aims to initiate, enable, and aggregate global community conversations where participants share, collaborate and take action on the issues that will (bring us closer to) make environmental sustainability a reality. Earthcast is a 24-hour webcast located at Earthbridges. It is will begin this year on April 22 at 0:00 GMT . For information about participating in the Earth Day event or ongoing ‘Earthcast Echoes’, please visit the planning wiki .

Please post your ideas and comments on how you plan to spend earthday on this voice thread.

Kudos to the k21online 2009 Conference convenors * ETT* Kim Cofino Keynote

The k12online 2009 conference conveners have used free streaming services to provide professional development for teachers. Unless you participate in an event in this fashion, you cannot appreciate how well they have used technology to engage an audience of over 126 viewers. They used the ETT studio to permit the viewers to connect with each other via IRC chat and at the same time watch Kim’s prerecorded keynote address together using Ustream Tv. and sharing the desktop. This short video clip demonstrates the user experience. Sheila Adams used her Webcastacademy skills to stream the show.

The rest of the presentation can be found here.
Here is a link to the k12online conference schedule
This screencapture was created using Screenflow for the Mac.
Please refer to Streaming media for information about using ustream and your mac.

Please refer to

Caduceus featured on Classroom 2.0 Live Sat Dec 6, 2009

Please join us on Dec 6 at 12:00 PM (EST) (GMT-5) as we welcome Alec Chishom and Wade Munday. The topic for the show will be about;

CADUCEUS: Teaching Students About Scientific Inquiry Through Games
To demystify the complexities of pediatric medical research so kids can better understand the scientific process, researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have likened what they do in their labs and in the field to how players advance through digital games — what’s experienced and learned at one level, informs, empowers, and enables what players do in subsequent levels. Join us for a special presentation of Caduceus, the online puzzle adventure game that Children’s Hospital has developed with the MIT Education Arcade, Learning Games Network, and FableVision to see how you can use this valuable tool and accompanying lesson plans and classroom activities to excite and engage students in Grades 4-8 around science and math. Caduceus and accompanying “In the Classroom” materials are free and available through Generation Cures, a kid-friendly, parent- and teacher-enabled community committed to helping Children’s Hospital Boston doctors and researchers find cures for the most devastating childhood illnesses. Visit generationcures.org for more information.

Link to show: live.classroom 20.com

K12 Online starts today with Keynote by Kim Cofino

I had the pleasure to listen to Kim’s presentation Going Global: Culture Shock, Convergence and the Future of Education. A terrific demonstration of the ways we can stagnate in our own culture and fail to awaken to the reality of a world which is diverse and proactive in forging a new road way in education. You will enjoy the comments of students and teachers around the world.

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