Educational BlogsA Way to Reach the Digital Native

Wando High School

Presentation Outline

• Pew Research Data

• How do I set up a blog?

• What are blogs?

• Why blog?

• Do kids blog?

• Who is my audience?

• What do I put on my blog?

• Will my kids use my blog?

Pew Research

• 85% of teens ages 12-17 engage at least occasionally in some form of electronic personal communication

• 86% of teens believe good writing is important to success in life

• 94% of black parents say that good writing skills are more important now than in the past, compared with 82% of white parents and 79% of English-speaking Hispanic parents.

Source: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/808/writing-technology-and-teens

Pew Research

• Teens said they are motivated to write when they can select topics that are relevant to their lives and interests, and report greater enjoyment of school writing when they have the opportunity to write creatively. Having teachers or other adults who challenge them, present them with interesting curricula and give them detailed feedback also serves as a motivator for teens. Teens also report writing for an audience motivates them to write and write well.

Source: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/808/writing-technology-and-teens

Pew Research

• Teens are motivated to write by relevant topics, high expectations, an interested audience and opportunities to write creatively.

Source: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/808/writing-technology-and-teens

Pew Research

• Good News: 50% of teens say their school work requires writing every day

• Bad News: 82% of teens report that their typical school writing assignment is a paragraph to one page in length.

• Teens believe that the writing instruction they receive in school could be improved.

• 78% feel their teachers using computer-based writing tools would improve their writing abilities

Source: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/808/writing-technology-and-teens

Pew Research

• Non-school writing, while less common than school writing, is still widespread among teens

• 47% of black teens write in a journal

• 37% of black teens write music or lyrics

• 49% of girls keep a journal; 20% of boys do

Source: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/808/writing-technology-and-teens

Pew Research

• Multi-channel teens and gadget owners do not write any more -- or less --than their counterparts, but bloggers are more prolific.

• 47% of teen bloggers write outside of school for personal reasons several times a week or more compared with 33% of teens without blogs.

• 65% of teen bloggers believe that writing is essential to later success in life; 53% of non-bloggers say the same.

Source: http://pewresearch.org/pubs/808/writing-technology-and-teens

What are blogs?

• Short for “web log”

• Used to be “Bulletin Boards”

• Chronological Writings arranged in reverse order

• Journals

Why Blog?

• To provide extra reading practice for students.

• As online student learner journals that can be read by their peers.

• To guide students to online resources appropriate for their level.

• To increase the sense of community in a class.

• To encourage shy students to participate.

Why Blog?

• To stimulate out-of-class discussion.

• To encourage a process-writing approach.

• As an online portfolio of student written work.

• To help build a closer relationship between students in large classes.

Do kids blog?

• 32% say that they have created or worked on webpages or blogs

• 19% of online teens keep a blog

• 38% of online teens read blogs.

Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project - http://www.pewinternet.org/index.asp - Report date 2005

How do I set up a blog?

• Tons of ways

• Very few allowed through Bess

• http://edublogs.org/

• Free and not blocked

• Takes < 1 minute

• Professional Blog

Please sign up now

What do I put on my blog?

• Class Information

• Reaction Assignments

• Research Information

• Powerpoints, videos, links

• Interesting tangent discussions from class

Examples

• http://casmbc.globalteacher.org.au/

• http://thanatopsis.edublogs.org/

• http://ld04.edublogs.org/

• http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/

Will my kids use my blog?

• It must be:– Relevant– Interesting– Helpful

• It may be:– Part of an assignment

–Extra credit• Kids will think it is cool

Time to play

• Check your e-mail and confirm

• Log in and bookmark the site

• Change your look – click “Presentation”

• Click on your favorite choice

Widgets

• Widgets – add-ons to the sidebar(s)

• Go to Presentation – Widgets

• Click and drag what you want

• Usually require some configuration

Our First Blog Post

• Go to your site and create a post

• Make sure to include categories

What about pictures?

• You have to upload them

• Look below the entry area

• Upload, then click and add

Embedding Videos

• YouTube, GoogleVideos, etc. look for a text box that says “embed” and copy the code

• TeacherTube – look for the Edublog logo and copy the code

• Click HTML in your blog editor and paste the code

Play Time

• Please use the next 30-45 minutes to create blog posts

• Add pictures

• Embed videos (try TeacherTube for videos from school)

Easy Blog Posting?

• Microsoft has a GREAT free tool for this

• http://writer.live.com

• Click on “Get it free”

• Please download it and have it install in the background – uncheck all checkboxes when installing it

Set up Live Writer

• Click on Weblog

• Click Add Weblog Account

• Choose “Another Weblog Service”

• Type in your blog’s URL, your UserID and Password and hit next

• This should set you up!

Brainstorm Time

• Think up specific ideas that could be EASILY implemented into classroom lessons

• Type them into a computer somewhere

Share ideas

• Let’s share our ideas here

• Now let’s post them to the Faculty Wiki so everybody can see them!