Intermediate Educational Blogging Recognizing the screen elements of a blog, composing posts, making comments and a basic understanding of aggregators.

What are we doing today? Feedback Review of the schedule Review of the reading Review of the assignment Screen elements of the blog? Blog posting –The good, the bad and the ugly Aggregators

Feedback (what I learned) People liked the activities People felt they learned about the technology People wanted more visuals and lecture People wanted the groups to be smaller People found the large group activity a little confusing People need to access the ED3484 blog to be prepared.

Course schedule Lectures Labs Assignment

RSS Ideas for Educators Describes what we are doing. What is RSS? –Really Simple Syndication –Rich Site Summary Is a PULL technology Considered FEEDS

RSS Ideas for Educators Aggregators (later today) –A way of view a number of blogs Social Networks –People putting their social life online Bookmarking –See what other like people are thinking ePortfolios –Online rich media resumes Sharing (flickr, odeo, bubblesphere) –Publishing your work

Assignment Audience: Any one of K6 Students Kindergarten Primary (Grades 1-3) Elementary (Grades 4-6) Context: NL K6 curriculum Any subject within the NL curriculum Choose a grade, choose a subject, build a blog

Assignment A URL by March 21 st An 800 word design document APA guidelines A peer assessed rubric by March 30 th Completed by April 6 th

Assignment Grading Assignment is worth 25% of your ED3484 course grade. 15/100 - meets dates 30/100 - design document 15/100 - peer assessment 40/100 - BLOG

NL Gov’t Curriculum Guide Choose your grade Choose your subject Create or find lessons plans Brainstorm ideas Include multimedia Have fun Build your blog…

Parts of a blog Browser Header Posts About Links Previous Archives Login

Browser Blogging software runs in a browser –Internet Explorer –Firefox –Opera The administration of your blog also runs in a browser.

Header Provides a title and brief description Can be customized to suit your audience and context Your assignment blog should include YOUR name to begin it’s title.

Posts Have a content related title Should have well written content Should contain references; –To other sites –To multimedia elements Every post should enrich the readers experience

About Displays information about your blog and you with data from your blogs description and your blogger profile’s meta-data.

Links Creates a list of blogs and sites the author of the blog likes to read. Is a great way to find other interesting blogs related to teaching.

Previous Provides a list of your previous posts.

Archives Provides a method for readers to view all the blogs postings. Can be archived by week, month and year.

Administration The dashboard has links to the administration features for all your blogs. Note: Blogger uses this button to login.

A good blog is concise Is active with posts and comments Is current Has rich media Has related blogrolls Is organized with categories Is linked to an author profile A well understood context Has good aesthetics Has concise post titles

Activity Small groups (3 or 4 people) Brainstorm –The grade & the subject –Two or three blog posts On the flip charts write the two or more posts you thought of for your blog. (include brief descriptions of the multimedia elements placed in the post)

DEMO Adding a post –Reference NL K6 Curriculum Adding a comment

Quality posting is important A good post; –Has a concise post title –One or two paragraphs only –References other web info –Is a complete idea –Has an author –Does not duplicate another post Anything else???

Encourage thoughtful comments A good comment; –Adds to the original post –Should NOT be anonymous –May include a web reference –Avoids being just a personal comment

Document your Blog Design Describe your audience –Social, economic & ethnic Describe your subject –Grade, Subject, Curriculum elements Blog elements and aesthetics APA Guidelines

Aggregators See pages 10 through 14 of RSS ideas for Educators Use bloglines ( DEMO

Exit Activity Write on one side of the card three things you learned during today’s lecture. On the other side of the card write what you would like to learn more about. Leave your cards at the front as you leave. Remember: Next class is in the LAB, E5006