BloggingGetting Started

What is a Blog? Web log – “a website where entries are

written in chronological order and displayed in a reverse chronological order.”

Attributes: Commentary/news on a subject Personal (more diary-like) Combines text, images, links to other

blogs/sites Readers can leave comments (interactive)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog

Why Blog? (Personal)

Quick and easy way of communicating with family, friends

Global audience for thoughts, rants, ideas

Post photos, movies Travel experiences Repository for other blogs, websites

you like

Why blog? (Education)

Up-to-date communication with parents

Encourages kids to write and reflect Voice to entire class

Shy kids, all abilities Honest responses, discussions

Global audience

Example: Room 12 Student Blogs

Interesting Facts

120,000 new blogs created every day One new blog every 1.4 seconds In 2004, 8 million adults created blogs 1.5 million posts per day -17 posts per

second 2004 – 62% internet users didn’t know what

a blog was Japanese = #1 blogging language

(37%), 2)English = 33%, 3) Chinese = 8%

Growth of Blogging

Blogging Tools

Blogger http://blogger.com Popular, easy, powerful

Learnerblogs http://learnerblogs.org Offers free Wordpress-based blogs for students

Class Blogmeister http://classblogmeister.com Free classroom blog tool – teacher moderates student-posted content

Blogger

Easy to create and update One of most popular blogging tools Word-like WYSIWYG formatting

tools Customize with template, add

media, widgets

Learnerblog

WordPress (powerful) blog tool just for education Customizable look – large selection of templates Comment span protection

Blogmeister

Free, classroom focused Teacher can evaluate, comment on,

publish student posts Controlled environment

Blogging Tutorials

Atomic Learning http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/blogging

Blog Basics http://www.blogbasics.com/blog-tutorial-1-1.php

Blogger Tour http://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g

Weblogg-ed – resource/infohttp://www.weblogg-ed.com/

Blogs = for Conversations

Comments from within class (students, teachers)

Invite global comments

Blogging Tips

Kids only use first name, no personal identifying details

Use education blogging sites or private, members-only sites

Develop guides for acceptable blogging, review Acceptable Use Policy