A Great Week at Knowschools
I have just spent an amazing week at Knowschools taking an on-line class on blogging and blogging with students. It was engaging, informative, supportive and, as usual with Knowschools, I came away with a great deal more knowledge than I came in with.
What I liked most from the session were the readings on blogging and the forums on issues around blogging that came up. The resources provided in this class were practical and useful. Some of my favorites are:
http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2005/08/29/learning-about-blogging-and-how-to-blog/
http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/nbReader.asp?ArticleId=18945
http://lorelle.wordpress.com/books/blogging-tips/
http://knowledgetree.flexiblelearning.net.au/edition04/pdf/Blogging_to_Learn.pdf
These readings enhanced my knowledge of my own blogging, especially reinforcing the idea that the reason I blog is for critical reflection and any comments provide concrete feedback.
What I gained from the class is much needed information, mostly positive, but some negative, about using blogs with students. I have yet to embark on that endeavor although I certain have plans to! The forums were both eye-opening (I hate surprises when I am involved in something new) and encouraging.
I came away from the class with a much stronger sense of the educational value of blogging with students and the need to use blogs to teach students the skills needed for on-line social relationships. This just happens to be an important issue to me. I also discovered the strong sense of community that blogging creates which surprised me. I picked up a few skills regarding working within Edublogs. I believe I finally have the issue of screen shots solved! Many thanks!
So now what? Well, I have approached a colleague about creating a joint blog. I am both excited and absolutely terrified to begin this journey with the students, but working with someone else who is more tech savvy than me and an administrator who is currently supportive this should make this an interesting adventure! As well I’m becoming curious about Twitter. I know very little about it, except that maybe it involves a cell phone? My hatred of cell phones is well known so I’m not sure about me and this Twitter thing!
