The intended learning strategy I would like to incorporate into my next student activity is the use of affective networking. Affective networking, as stated in Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use by Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer, states: “By offering choices of media and tools within the scope of your required content, you are supporting students’ affective networks” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). A valuable resource I am going to pursue is access to a classroom blog or wiki page. Currently, my school district blocks access to such sites and I feel that having an online collaborative tool would be beneficial to student learning.
To get started on this process, I will begin with my department chair with the request and see what happens. I already have the technology in place to allow this to happen, I feel that the technology should and can be used to help the students socially interact about class related issues and topics. I will do some background research on other districts in the metro area that allow teachers to have a classroom blog or wiki and share my findings with whom ever makes the decision on these matters.
By having a classroom blog or wiki page, my students will be able to share what they have been able to accomplish, ask questions, etc. to help each other out with course work. They are already doing this through social media sites such as facebook, but I feel that a class site to discuss specific items related to an assignment or project would be appropriate and should be allowed.
I am reaching out to my fellow colleagues about this issue. Have any of you been successful with a classroom blog or wiki site? Have any of you run into issues from the local school or school district about creating one? I plan to start this process next month when school starts back and classes begin. Any help on the issue would be greatly appreciated.
Reference:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful
Classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc.,
Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
I have used both a website from my school’s server and a Wikispace. The Wikispace is nice because you have complete control over the content of the site and who can use it, I would recommend that you look into Weebly. It is similar to Wikispace but it is even easier to use. I am in the process of moving my entire site to a Weebly site. I have not had any issues with administration whatsoever regarding my sites. Parents have gotten very frustrated with our school’s web site design, it is not user friendly at all. By giving families a different place to go to get information, you are helping them out tremendously.
ReplyDeleteGood luck,
Jeff
I have used both a wiki and blog. My wiki is hosted by Wikispaces. As Jeff stated above, Wikispaces allows the teacher to create student accounts without e-mail addresses, which is mandatory in my county. The teacher is also in control of all student responses and work submitted. It is very kid-friendly and has a discussion board,which can function as a blog platform.
ReplyDeleteI have used both KidBlog and Edmodo for blogging. Both sites are very kid-friendly. Edmodo has an appearance similar to FaceBook, which is motivating to students. It also has a polling feature, which has students vote and the system calculates data displays.
In my experience, I have never had issues with wikis or blogs. My students love to use both platforms and are fully engaged in their work. The sites are private and have great teacher permissions. Keep working to get them approved in your district!
I would also highly recommend http://education.weebly.com . The weebly domain is incredibly user friendly, the blogs weren’t blocked by my schools ridiculous filters, and it offers lots of choices for creating a classroom (or personal) website. If you go through the education link instead of regular weebly, then you can give your students weebly accounts to actually create their own web pages. You can use the pages for projects, portfolios, both – whatever you come up with.
ReplyDeleteHere’s a link to my classroom website. There are actually several different blogs set up, which you can see. I have my students commenting on videos we’ve made and sharing their thoughts over the summer. Bear in mind that my students are 7 and 8 years old. Older learners could probably do something more sophisticated, but along the same lines. I hope this helps. Good luck!
~Colleen
oops . . I forgot the link! its : www.mrsmccraysclassroom.com
ReplyDelete~Colleen
I have made many requests to our tech personnel in the building and in the county requesting permission to use certain blocked websites at school. If you are persistent (and kind!) they eventually honor them. Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteHi Jeremy,
ReplyDeleteI am also sorry to hear that your school district blocks sites for social networking. I wish all school districts understood the great disservice that provides to their students. My school just recently this year gave all teachers a pass code to enter any website on the internet. We are not allowed to share this code with students, but it is a step in the right direction. This code allows teachers to access websites that will enhance student learning, as well as, participate in a classroom blogs as one unified group. I understand this is not ideal when responding to a blog post, but at least my students get to participate somewhat. I suggest you go forward with your plan and ask the district for access to a particular, research based blog site. If the district unblocks at least one site, maybe they will see the great work you are doing with your students. Next year, you can ask for more sites to be unblocked, and hopefully, the district will be a bit more lenient. I believe in the old saying “the greasy wheel gets the oil”. If you show your commitment, passion, and perseverance, the district will eventually have to give in and allow access. Good Luck!