I have now completed the Computing Pick n Mix module on Information Technology and Digital Literacy. This particularly focuses upon the use of blogging within schools, with ‘children as publishers’.
As stated on the University Blackboard site, ‘software, apps & tools can help in the process of reflection, critical thinking and demonstration of understanding. Everyone is different so accepting that not all children will be lit up by, for example mind-maps, is important. You need to understand different approaches to be as inclusive as possible with every child in your class’. School blogging and tweeting is still in its infancy, and is only present in a minority of schools. This is almost certainly due to issues surrounding e-safety concerns, a lack of technical confidence within the staff, lack of time or budget restraints. If used, blogging and tweeting are usually undertaken by children in KS2, and educational consultants such as Pie Corbett believe that this can have a hugely beneficial effect on the quality and quantity of the children’s writing. Corbett argues that blogging provides a child with a ‘real audience’, prompting them to improve their writing as they consider the reader. Children can use peer assessment and learn from reading written work from schools around the world. The training module suggests introducing blogging through three distinct steps, with children leading the activity.
It also suggests that posts should be about something the children are really interested in, rather than about a topic generated by the teacher.
It is clearly important to get the senior leadership team behind any blogging initiative. A linked video suggests that teachers should persevere if they face an initially negative response. The presenter argues that blogs can have a hugely beneficial effect on student engagement, whole curriculum learning and on the reputation of the school as a whole, and they do not have to be an e-safety concern. Although not mentioned in this video, it is always possible for blogs to be intranet-facing, or only accessible via a password. In this way, parents and staff could access content, but it would not be available for the internet as a whole.
Further case-study videos demonstrate the eagerness and excitement of pupils in a primary school in Greater Manchester, including several boys being very enthusiastic about story planning, writing and blog content production. Quadblogging is a tool which teachers and schools can use to produce blogs within a global network of other class blogs. Pie Corbett argues that this is the most important development in ‘fifty years’ to help improve writing in schools. Over 150,000 pupils from over 40 countries are currently taking part in the movement, and children are encouraged to interact with schools and students from other countries. One review from a teacher states that: ‘Highlights of Quadblogging? All of it! The children in my class are absolutely absorbed and loving our purposeful learning journey around the world. Each day brings something new to our classroom. You can’t “plan” that!’ Although this review does form part of a large advert for the tool, I am interested in how Quadblogging can be used. My GPP school does not have a blog and I will not be producing one as part of my placement. However, I will be investigating how I can develop the pre-existing class blog at my FPP school, possibly integrating Quadblogging into this. This could be taught in either an English or Computing lesson, or could be run as an extracurricular club. I am now confident with my Weebly site, and look forward to the challenge of creating new blog content with my FPP class.
Further Links
Quadblogging - www.quadblogging.net Get to setting up a class blog - www.teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/activity-1-getting-your-class-blog-started Children's guide to blogging - www.kidslearntoblog.com E-Safety, Social Networks and Blogging for Children - www.kidsmart.org.uk/socialnetworking/
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