Summer Blogging Assignment
Published on Nov 18, 2015
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Summer Blogging Assignment
8.27.14
A presentation to the faculty of George School at our opening meetings.
Photo by Tojosan
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This image has been floating around the Connected Educator community on Twitter for a while. The summer blogging assignment took me and the students out of our comfort zones.
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A popular model for thinking about integrating technology into education. Created by Ruben Puentedura. Visit his site: www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog
WHY BLOGGING?
Authenticity
Community
Digital Citizenship
21st Century Skills
Much more could be said on this topic. In brief, having a real audience raises the stakes for the student-writer. Additionally, I hope to help the students develop an online footprint that shows them in the best light.
Photo by Jose Luis Mieza Photography
It isn't just a "blog."
It's a personal web site, a portfolio, a collaborative space
Don't get hung up on the idea that this is just about the kind of reflective journaling that we associate with blogs. Students can post examples of their work in every class to this site. Think of it as a personal web site.
For this assignment, we recommended that students use Wordpress or Blogger.
These are legit, adult-strength blogging platforms. The students will be able to take these blogs with them when they graduate. They offer a ton of customization and personalization, too. Weebly is another platform that seems promising.
Photo by IvanWalsh.com
We banned Tumblr and Medium.
Both of these (excellent) platforms emphasize the social-network-y aspect of what they do, and as a result, they push too much inappropriate content at you. Our school network blocks Tumblr.
There is now a
"GS Blogging"
home on the LMS.
Log-on to my.georgeschool.org, click on Academics, then GS Blogs. You'll see sub-pages listed on the menu on the left.
Thinking about blogging with your students this year?
Good! If you teach sophomores, all the hard work is already done. If you teach juniors, roughly 30 of them have blogs already.
Photo by MUTEvibe.
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- It is more authentic if you blog, too
- Send any new blog URLs to Eric
- Take ownership of digital citizenship
- Lots of different ways for students to organize posts
- Remind them the blog is for all of their classes
Everyone needs to help monitor what the students put on these blogs. It isn't the deans' job. Hopefully if you do some blogging of your own, you'll gain mastery of the user interface and thus become a resource to help answer students' questions.
Photo by peasap
Spend some time learning about privacy settings
Students can password protect their blogs so no one without the password can see them. Also, I recommend that they set their "Comments" so that comments must be approved by them before they appear on the site.
At a very high-level meeting a month ago, Melaina and Michael and I agreed that we wouldn't start blogging with the freshmen until Term 3.
We are L.O.B.B. -- The League of Benevolent Blogmeisters. Join us!
Your questions?
If you weren't at the meeting and are viewing this presentation online, please email Eric with any questions.
