Using Blogs for Student WritingIdeas, strategies and research findings

Claire Amos Director of e-learningEpsom Girls Grammar Schoolam@eggs.school.nz

Workshop Structure

Part A: Presentation of project and findings

Part B: Online workshop – Looking at class wikis and blogs in action

Part C: Online workshop - Creating your own class wiki

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this workshop you will be able to:

Recognise the benefits and potential uses for wikis and blogs to support literacy

Access a range of wikis to develop ideas

Create your own class wiki using www.pbworks.com

Project outline

The project looked at how student blogs and class wikis can be utilized to raise literacy levels in the context of formal writing (AS 90053) preparation and practice.

The Project

Year 11 students were given the opportunity to complete their practice of formal writing as individual blogs that were linked to their online classroom community (the class wiki)

I followed the same process with a top stream and a standard English class

The Process

The Process

Those students who completed the formal writing practice online, received their feedback as online comments

Topics were posted on the class wiki with hyperlinks to other resources such as newspaper articles and video clips about their topic

The Process

Students who chose to complete their writing on refill continued to hand in as normal and received written feedback on their essays

These students still had access to online resources if they wished to use them

Outcomes

Students who chose to write their essays as blogs were:

More likely to meet deadlines More like to act upon feedback/next

steps More likely to read one another’s work

Student Voice

Other positive feedback from the students:

Like that they often got quick feedback Like that they built up an “online

portfolio” of writing Like that the could use spell check and

easily fix errors Liked the sense of a public presence

and that they had an audience

Potential challenges

The lack of easy access to computers at school

Blog sites are often blocked in school Not all students have internet access

or computers at home Students not practising writing quickly

by hand???

Advice

Have the wiki and framework set up in advance

If possible unblock useful sites Teach students how to give each other

feedback (this was something I thought would happen naturally but didn’t)

Use blogging sites that allow you to “follow” students so you are alerted when new blogs are posted

Don’t assume students are young and therefore internet savvy

Benefits for the teacher

Lightens your paper load – can’t misplace student work

Quicker to assess and feedback – comment format discourages too many comments and encourages you to focus on next steps

Easily accessed at all times Resources and framework can be used

again and again Encourages students to be more

independent Easy to track student progress (or lack of…)

The main links are: encourage reflective thought and

action facilitate shared learning provide sufficient opportunities to

learn E-learning

Links to the NZCEffective Pedagogy

Links to the NZCKey Competencies

thinking using language, symbols, and texts managing self relating to others participating and contributing

E-Portfolios

and other ideas…

Other uses for wikis and blogs could include:

Extension and Support activities Practice Essays Reading Logs Creating online Study Guides Reflective blogs on the learning

process

Structuring the learning environments at EGGS

Moodle – This is facilitated by the department as a whole. This is used as the home page for entire subjects. This is where you post common course outlines, handouts and exam information.

Google site (or wiki) –This run by the individual teacher as an online community for their specific class. This is where you post resources and links specific to what you class is doing. This is where you would also post links to student blogs of they were going to be shared. This is where you might embed other Google apps such as calendars for tasks and assessments, forms and slideshows.

Blogger – This is the place for student’s public, published writing. This is set up and run by the individual student. This is attached to the class Google site or wiki by a hyperlink (which allows for easy access by teachers and other students. (a student can set up as many different blogs as they need under using the Google login)

Google Docs – This is the place for student’s personal writing and notes. Students who choose to do class notes and pre-publishes writing may work in Google docs. This will remain private, except for sharing with the teacher which allows the teacher to check in and provide feedback. Students may also share individual document s with other to work collaboratively (teachers can check who contributed what in a click of a button).

Moodle

This is facilitated by the department as a whole. This is used as the home page for entire subjects. This is where you post common course outlines, handouts and exam information.

Google site (or wiki)

This run by the individual teacher as an online community for their specific class. This is where you post resources and links specific to what you class is doing.

This is where you would also post links to student blogs of they were going to be shared. This is where you might embed other Google apps such as calendars for tasks and assessments, forms and slideshows.

Blogger

This is the place for student’s public, published writing. This is set up and run by the individual student.

This is attached to the class Google site or wiki by a hyperlink (which allows for easy access by teachers and other students.

(a student can set up as many different blogs as they need under using the Google login)

Google Docs

This is the place for student’s personal writing and notes. Students who choose to do class notes and pre-publishes writing may work in Google docs.

This will remain private, except for sharing with the teacher which allows the teacher to check in and provide feedback.

Students may also share individual document s with other to work collaboratively

(teachers can check who contributed what in a click of a button).

www.thevirtualclassroom.pbworks.com

Online Workshop

http://thevirtualclassroom.pbworks.com/Beyond-the-Virtual-Classroom