FUNCTIONALITY SKILLS REQUIRED: I am amazed at how easy it is to create a blog using Weebly. Only basic computer skills are required (e.g. word processing and internet browsing), and Weebly’s simple and clear design makes its operation easygoing. There are a few more complex tasks, such as embedding and linking, that may cause confusion for beginners. Admittedly, I felt a little lost at first, although with some experimentation I figured out the basics. DISPLAY & LAYOUT: Weebly has a number of themes and categories to choose from as well as the capacity to edit themes or even build your own. I enjoyed experimenting with display settings to create a professional blog page with a strong ICT focus. These options allow every blog to be unique, enabling students to showcase their own individuality and create their own online brand (Glogoff, 2005). EDITORS: There is a capacity for multiple editors on Weebly and on the “pro” package, editors can be assigned levels of permissions, otherwise all editors have administrator control. It may be useful to share editing permissions with fellow teachers of the same year level and learning area. This way teachers can combine forces and provide one blog with double or triple the resources for their students to access. PRIVACY & BLOG MEMBERS: Weebly provides a useful privacy option, where particular pages can be password-protected, making them visible only to those with administrator permissions. This would enable teachers to share teaching records, resources and discussions privately. Under the “Pro Package” a blogger can create or invite members and assign them to groups. When signed-in, members can gain access to additional pages. This would be an exceptionally useful feature for a class blog where the teacher wants to create pages specific to certain classes or student groups. PRACTICAL EXPLORATION Blogs provide a fabulous opportunity for students to learn autonomously. Students can operate a single blog site to take them through their entire secondary school education. This would act as a portfolio of learning and enable students to observe their progress through the reverse-chronological order of their blog posts, certainly an example of how Blogs can transform a student’s entire school experience at the SAMR Redirection level (Puentedura, 2006). Belinda had a wonderful idea here for blogs replacing lab books. In order to explore the value of a classroom blog practically, I created an example science blog (here) for year 9 students. I included a calendar to provide key dates and a contact form allowing students to message me directly. I have created an example blog post on the page, encouraging collaboration, reinforcing concepts and providing resources. Glogoff (2005, p. 3) observed an increase the frequency of students exceeding assignment requirements when blogs were used as an assignment platform. I can envisage how a blog would encourage this behavior, therefore my faux class requires students to complete an assignment on their blog. The assignment (below and here) was designed using the SAMR Model and Bloom’s Taxonomy (Anderson et al., 2001; Bloom, 1956; Puentedura, 2006). LEGAL, ETHICAL & SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS The use of blogs as an educational tool comes with legal, ethical and safety considerations. Teachers, students and schools must ensure the privacy of others is upheld; for example sharing student photos must have parental and student consent. A web-based platform does not excuse plagiarism and measures must be in place to protect the academic rights. Finally, interactions between blog participants should be limited to constructive comments and positive praise; rules against cyber-bullying must be enforced to protect students. REFERENCES Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., Airasian, P. W., Cruikshank, K. A., Mayer, R. E., Pintrich, P. R., … Wittrock, M. C. (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A revision of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon. Bloom, B.S. (1956), Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook I: The Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc. Glogoff, S. (2005). Instructional blogging: Promoting interactivity, student-centered learning, and peer input. Innovate: Journal of Online Education, 1(5), 3. Puentedura, R. (2006). Transformation, technology, and education [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://hippasus.com/resources/tte/.
2 Comments
ben clune
3/24/2017 03:50:57 pm
Hi Sarah, I've really enjoyed looking through your page in particular the mock teacher Blog, I can see how the use of different forms of media can be not only engaging but also encourage the transformation of higher order of thinking.
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Alana Ford
3/29/2017 07:24:26 pm
Hi Sarah, Really liked the lay out of your reflection. Very easy to gather all the information.
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