Week 5 - Blogging Principles and Practices
Cartoon taken from http://bellurramki18.wordpress.com/2007/09/24/blog-cartoon-30/
During last year’s EVO session Blogging4Beginners, participants helped outline the following principles and practices for a successful blogging endeavor:
- Integrate blogging to the rest of the work done by the class.
- Surprise your students.
- Let the learner feel relaxed and confident.
- Make the content meaningful and relevant.
- Build networks of learning that can cross continents.
- Develop an atmosphere that encourages and respects the learner and their ideas.
- Invite guests to post on your blog and to comment.
- Teach your students some blogging skills.
- Give prompt feedback to commentators.
- Vary your post style.
- Set tasks that lead to interaction.
- Use the blog for activities the students could not do in the classroom.
- Exploit errors, but do not correct students explicitly on blogs.
- Blog safely.
- Use syndication tools to keep track of posts and comments.
- Turn on the word verification in your blog settings to avoid spam.
- Define who can comment in your blog.
- Add your email to receive notifications when someone leaves a comment on your blog.
- Attention to copyright issues!
- Ask for permission to publish photos, videos, audio etc
- Always give credit to the source.
What would you add or suppress in the list?
We’re eagerly waiting for your own views.
The Blogging Team
February 12th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Oh, dear! I was among those “enlightened minds” who drafted this great list… Now the question is “to blog up to it”! Let’s see…. I think I excel at “keeping conversations going” (ie, asking questions of readers in my posts, replying to comments left in my blogs, and keeping track of responses to my comments in other blogs)… What I’d like to improve first, on the other hand, is… to post regularly! (I’ve just noticed that’s not on our list, :-P)
Love,
Gladys
February 14th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
When we teach, we present our public persona to our students. It is the policy of many schools, including mine, that students and teachers shouldn’t socialise too much between classes. Even if you wanted to, there is often no time. The students never really find out what we are really like in private. And sometimes the teachers themselves are afraid of showing their vulnerable side to the students Anyone who has ever tried blogging knows it is impossible to keep this attitude when you blog, and I think it is great. I am not sure I can put this into a single line.
Perhaps: Use the blog to really get to know your students and to let them know you. Don’t be afraid to show your vulnerable side.
I am not too happy with this. Feel free to change it any way you like.
Natasa
February 14th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Interesting, Natasa, and so true. Yes. show who you are, show that you are a human being just like your students. Great addition to the list.
One that just occurred to me that we haven’t added to the list: tag your posts.
February 18th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Hello
This one comes to my mind from one of the readings in week 5 “involve all senses” That would provide for every kind of learner we might have in class.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Consuelo, you’re right, involving all senses means that we’re tapping into students’ diverse learning styles. I’d like to point out to the wonderful post Sibel wrote, a “Roadmap for teachers”. It’s for teaching in general, but all her tips are easily applicable to the blogging classroom.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Great list of blogging practices!
I would like to suggest Illya’s blog, The MI’s in online learning http://mi-onlinestudy.blogspot.com/ for more on incorporating different learning styles.
Another thing to keep in mind is that even after making a blogging plan, leave room for surprises and connections to unfold! Last year, my students happened to blog movie reviews at the same time as Nelba’s class in Argentina, and we had a wonderful time interacting. Although we didn’t plan it, we just happened to be working on similar assignments in our classes!