Kathy Cassidy, first grade teacher, received a challenging comment on her blog, regarding her classroom blog and protecting her students. She shares masterfully, and with kindness, to the comment. Want a rationale for classroom blogging? Find some of that in her reply.
Quad blogging is also another way to ensure an audience for your blog. We have had great success organizing ourselves into quads over at #edcmooc. http://quadblogging.net I mentioned it in #etmooc, but no takers yet.
Sherry Hegstrom, on her blog "Emerging Technologies in Education" asks the question: What makes for a digital story? She brings up some great questions for us to consider and there are some comments that engage the discussion. Check it out!
Mrs. Yollis, 3rd grade teacher is an award-winning blogger. She has her students blogging and has taught them some keys to leaving quality comments on posts in a simple, fun way. Check it out! I loved it.
A really well written post on some things we should consider about blogging. She based her post on her own experience with blogging and the work of Sue Waters, a professional educ. blogger and trainer for Edublogs. Here are some questions she asks: Who should be writing for? What is the benefit? Is it important to read others work and comment? I think if you read this post, you will be encouraged.
The web also provides countless new ways for students to contribute to the learning and knowledge development. This requires participation, but doesn't stop there, moving to creation, sharing... contribution.
The post really points to the possible pitfalls of online courses. It also suggests the importance of examining & evaluating the effectiveness of online courses - including the teacher's pedagogy and instructional methods - and student receptiveness, level of engagement, and success in courses. The comments after the post provide a lively discussion. Blended learning seems to get high marks.
"We all have a digital tattoo, and if we do not choose how to ink it, somebody else will. Rob McTaggart discusses how we might move the fear-based cybersafety agenda forward towards a conversation about digital empowerment and supporting our students' growth in an online world."
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"Poetica is a neat new service for collaborative editing of documents. The best feature of Poetica is its similarity to writing on a paper document. While reading a document you can click on any word or space between words to insert a line drawn to the margin where you write your comment. Clicking on a word or space also allows you to simply insert a suggested word above the line. If you want to suggest a change for an entire sentence you can highlight it and insert a drawn line to the margins where you can write your suggestions. Your suggestions are written in blue while your corrections are written in red." Supports imports of .docs, .pdfs, .rtf files.- definitely want to use this as a tool with Chromebooks
Wonderful reflective expression on ETMOOC using adjectives and research that connects with each. Certainly supports the learning environment and outcomes so many of us have experienced.
Good discussion on CIPA compliance and who is in charge of determining what is appropriate or not. This discussion articulates why a filtering company shouldn't be in charge of telling me what is appropriate or not. There is no standard that can be applied by a 3rd party provider.
An award-winning English teacher and tech. coach/trainer, Alice shows how the CCSS recognizes the importance of technology in the classroom and gives specific ideas for meeting a number of standards. Definitely worth checking out!