Peter responded to my post about the difference between a threaded discussion and a weblog interface:
"I think the main difference is one of 'ownership'. That class has its own soapbox to express its views on any given subject. They are not on someone else's stage. That almost unquantifiable feeling of ownership is an important feature in building any community. Whether any discussion becomes truly interactive however, is in large part dependent on how the teacher 'sells' the concept and trains students to interact. Although educators pay great lip service to the importance of interaction, we tend not to provide the basic building block skills for it to happen more naturally and at a more than superficial level."
The class weblog is a soapbox as well, I think, and maybe even more effective because of the "shared space" aspect to it, at least in the way I perceive the differences between web logs and newsgroups. The one drawback is that some of the answers to certain posts will not be "threaded" the same way, a la the MetaFilter comments board. That's what I want to analyze, I guess. I think Peter and I are basically on the same page about the teacher's role in selling the concept and teaching the skills. I'm thinking that I'm going to have to pay close attention to the ways I interact with them in their weblogs. Interpersonal skills need to developed in shared space writing as well, a point very well taken.
posted by Will Richardson11:05 AM Link
Good news is I got the kinks worked out of the sign-up process and we're up and running with a few tweaks left.
The bad news is that as I was trying to find some sample web logs created by high school students, I landed on a web circle of teenage girls who were pretty much logging about their lives and offering up scantily clad pictures of themselves. Really surprised me, but I guess it shouldn't. The couple that I read seemed to be developed by kids with low self-esteem and a host of issues that they talked about in their logs. But what was really impressive was the obvious time, skill and effort that these kids put into their work. Is that a good thing, I wonder? Half of me is impressed by their obvious passion for their logs. The other half is really, really unsettled about what they are doing. It's self-objectification and probably dangerous in some form as they seem to be telling a good bit about their lives. I guess I just want so much for teenage girls to be wanted for their brains and not for their bodies. And now, as I watch Tess grow up, I so hope that if she ends up having a web space that she defines herself by who she is, what she dreams, what she thinks rather than as a body for men (or women) to evaluate. Arghh. Really tough to think about.
posted by Will Richardson10:44 AM Link
Another example of a use for weblogs, and a really interesting one: A collaborative reading journal. Philosophical Investigations This is the type of application I'm looking for, the nuts and bolts of how we all, but especially students, can connect through shared writing space. That is something that I've not thought possible until now. And the really exciting part to me is the metacognitive aspect of it. I told my students yesterday that one thing I want them to do in their own web logs is to write about their learning, their process, their thinking. Observe their thoughts with the idea of learning and solidifying that process. If they do that in pairs or small groups, how cool would that be. I think any time we do group work from here on out, we should have kids keep a web log.
posted by Will Richardson3:41 AM Link
Note: Had some technical problems in J2...couldn't get their own personal logs set up...seems like no one used the right login...need to remember to keep that login and password stuff as simple as possible. Class logs are up and running.
posted by Will Richardson10:47 AM Link
Peter Ford linked to this class site using a Manilla weblog: sixthperiodhurlyburly : Discussion Group But I'm wondering what makes this different from a threaded discussion newsgroup-type thing. I'm going to be interested to see if the discussion carried out in a "blog" sharing the same screen will make it more or less interactive. At any rate...here we go. New classes start today!
posted by Will Richardson4:31 AM Link
Was contacted by Mark Bernstein of Eastgate Technology about attending a hypertext workshop in March. Looks pretty interesting, but I need more time to understand the concept. Here's a case study that does it some justice: Lindsay's Story: Hypertext and Liberation in High School. In his e-mail he says they are working on tools for webloggers that makes, analyzes and shares notes and he wants to get more feedback from secondary school teachers. I asked him for more info.
As I was reading the case study I realized that I need to make sure they know their personal weblogs are private. I want them to use it as a brain dump where they can sift through the many thoughts that they may have about their topics, make connections to the text and to life (hypertext?), and just feel free to vent. Maybe I shouldn't link to their logs on the page. I can just set that up for myself.
posted by Will Richardson4:07 AM Link
Terry Elliot brings up a discussion of using weblogs to build community, and I think it's an idea worth exploring. How can weblogs help to nurture the face to face classroom community? What kinds of things can we ask kids to share and collaborate on through a weblog?
Earlier today I started writing the requirements for my class weblogs for J1 and J2. How was I going to motivate them to use it? How could I get them to use it to learn about journalism yet also enjoy the back and forth of what I hope will be intellectual discussion? At this point, I feel that I need to require them to participate, that the minimum expected is two posts a week. I've offered up a list of potential posts (story ideas, links to interesting sites or articles, personal observations about class, school, etc.), and I'm going to give them a weekly topic they can go to if they need to. But what can we do as teachers to move them beyond the requirement, the grade, and to the love of community or collaboration within the weblog? What intrinsic motivators can we instill in them? Show them our own weblogs? Show them what other people are doing, stuff that I find so very cool? (But will they?) And how do we measure all of this at the end? I need to remember to think hard about how I collect the result, too.
Dept. of Ed's PT3 site for teachers and technology. Pretty interesting stuff on assessment, teaching strategies and communities in the online environment.
posted by Will Richardson7:13 AM Link
"It is interesting to note that our children appear much less interested in using technology to enhance their learning than we adults. But that does not mean they are not learning. Through their many hours spent with digital media, they are learning about themselves and others through electronic communications and interactions, for better or worse..."
Keep Trying: "I think that all three of these groups are searching for meaning. The teenage years are a major time of discovery of self. Being popular and liked is a tremendous part of self definition in those early years. The blog is an amazing tool for self discovery. It helps you define yourself in both an independent and interdependent context."
I have been wondering this too, if any kids here at school have weblogs. Wondering if I should encourage them as self discovery, heck, even start a weblogging club. There's an idea. I still think there is a potential for using these throughout the four years to chronicle learning. Perhaps credit for kids that want to do it as independent study or something. There are very cool possibilities for the weblog/electronic portfolio given that someone finds a way to index entries more effectively. The way I have it set up right now, Diaryland is the portfolio, separate from the weblog. Would be great if we could integrate both somehow.
Rebecca e-mailed me back with this piece of advice: "I would think there's at least one book on weblogs in education waiting to be written. it would be nice to have a few real case studies to include, though, rather than just speculating on how effective they could be. my advice is to spend this year plugging your fellow teachers -- and students -- into weblogs and then you can start writing a practical look at what works and what doesn't work in a year. I look forward to buying the book in two years. ;)" Remember...patience, perserverance.
posted by Will Richardson5:19 AM Link
Good news...I passed the JEA exam and am now a Certified Journalism Educator! Cool! Now, do they have one for Weblog Educators?
posted by Will Richardson8:34 AM Link
Finally...a great discussion about the potentials and pitfalls of using weblogs in the classroom: kuro5hin.org || Weblogs in high school english? A lot of great excerpts:
"If you have the skill, try setting up a Scoop site and then talking to someone who teaches creative writing at a local high school. They just might go for it since it provides a mechanism for students to provide feedback on the works of other students. Treat it as a one semeester experiment and be prepared to provide the technical support the teacher will need."
posted by Will Richardson5:25 AM Link
Sarah e-mailed me these great suggestions for a teacher weblog...now to find the time:
"-Make it as easy as possible for teachers to get into the conversation. Right now there's a link called Participate, which opened up my email client: so someone has to correspond with you in order to sign up. I'm not too familiar with how Blogger works, but is there a way teachers can just join the site right from the front page?
- Making it inviting to not only current edubloggers, but also teachers whoaren't using the technology yet, but who are thinking about it/have heard about it.
- Provide a comprehensive set of "getting started" links: what are weblogs, example weblogs, where you can set up a weblog, links to other places where similar conversations are going on.
- Also, make it inviting to those people who aren't teachers, but who support teaching and learning: technologists, librarians, etc. Many of these people play key roles in supporting the technology, working with writing, and so on. The conversation should include everybody, but it might be interesting at some point to have sub-categories for the various different roles to discuss specific issues.
posted by Will Richardson9:08 AM Link
Sarah is suggesting we start a web ring for teachers using weblogs in the classroom which I think is a great idea. I'm going to sign up. I do think that in addition it would be cool to start a weblog for teachers. I know that is similar to what Peter is doing, but I'm thinking a bit more related to the practical applications. Then I wonder if a discussion list might be even better. I know that many of the teachers I work with have no problem reading and responding to e-mail, but going on the web to read is a bit more rare. I'm not convinced that weblogs are the best places to carry on discussions, at least in Blogger form (though I know the Manilla and Radio weblogs look a little more newsgroup-y at times.) That's one of the things I aim to find out next quarter is can my kids carry on a threaded/extended discussion using a weblog, or would they be better served by a newsgroup-type software (which we have.) Seems like right now, the thought of them using their weblogs to create content and chronicle effort and thinking is the most appropriate use (similar to what I do with mine). Still, I feel the need to experiment. I love the way MetaFilter does it...post the topic with link and then scroll the comments on another page. It really is like a web-ified newsgroup, but for some reason, I like it much more. It's more personal somehow...need to think more about it.
The other thing I'm going to have to do is start advertising. There much be teachers out there using these things. I need to go find them and let them know I'm here. Did get a contact from Marc who is just starting out. Support is really needed.
posted by Will Richardson4:05 AM Link
Here's another example of a school using a web log to update staff and community about news of interest. This district has a pretty comprehensive plan for Manilla. Via Chris Ashley who asks some pretty cogent questions about the potential of it all.KCSOS
posted by Will Richardson5:08 AM Link
Mike Sanders excerpted my comments on weblogs and journalism: Keep Trying. Feels kind of good to be read and to become part of the community.
At the Princeton seminar on Propaganda yesterday we talked about the way that media offers up "truth" in a variety of ways. Many times, the version of the truth being presented is unsubstantiated, and we're left to decide simply whether or not to believe the source. We talked a lot about early research into what influenced people to believe something was true, beginning with this country's efforts back in the 40s to convince people that even though the war in Europe was about to end in victory, the sacrifices every day folks were making were still going to be required for a potentially protracted war with Japan. Early researchers tested whether or not attaching an expert name, like Oppenheimer, to a document increased its believability, and it did. The source was important. It led me to start thinking once again about sources and the Internet and the way we teach our kids to distinguish reputable sources. And the implications for the journalism weblogs I’m asking kids to create. I need to make sure I teach them to find and use good sources of information. Ironically, this is especially true with the proliferation of weblogs. As Jennifer Balderama says: “Do I expect my blog to be taken seriously? Hell no. Do I hope it's taken seriously sometimes, like when I go off about something that's maybe sort of important to me? Probably.” But that’s the point…some people will take her and other weblogs seriously whether she wants them to or not. It’s not Jennifer’s fault; it’s the reader’s fault for not being able to discern the difference (or my fault for not teaching it.) The more I explore it, the more I feel like every kid needs a course in Media/info Literacy, not just the ones who might be interested in it.
posted by Will Richardson4:52 AM Link
Pat Delaney--Bay Area Writing ProjectRe-found through a comment there Will at Ravenrock school who's also laboring at the student journalism aspect of this thing. Might be fun to hook a h.s. journalism class in with our beginning middle schoolers as mentors? Yet another item for the blog possibilities list. Great idea...and another potential use of weblogs---collaboration among groups from different schools. That would be a really interesting tie-in. The possibilities for mentoring/pairing here are great.
posted by Will Richardson4:07 AM Link
"Weblogs allow me to take the models of real writers to stir my class into writing action. This post of beautiful reality mixed with imagination is a great context in which a student's story could be set."--Peter Ford, using the following as an example: ghosts along the Lin Wa II I am going to have to put together a few really good examples of weblogs for my kids...nothing too fancy, just good content.
posted by Will Richardson3:59 AM Link
Got permanent link feature working and might want to use it to or "file" some of the more practical posts in the left column. At least that way I can keep track of idea posts, etc.
posted by Will Richardson5:41 AM Link
I think it's been really interesting to read the ongoing discussion about weblogs as journalism by Mike Sanders and Terence Molson and others. The debate seems to center around whether or not weblogs will supplant Big Media or whether they will serve as more of a compliment to Journalism (with a capital J). What resonates with me is the Virginia Postrel quote prior to this post that talks about the narrowing, filtering effect that weblogs can have, and that's precisely the way I see them being used in my journalism classes at least. Students, journalists or not, need to learn new research skills to work with new media. They need to learn to judge sources and glean relevance, not just accept the first thing they see. It's the old "at least a book had an editor" issue for teachers these days. How can you tell what's good research and what's not on the Internet?
The other piece of this is that there is so much to know and to find. We've never been faced with the amount of information that we have access to today, and that makes it even more imperative to teach those information literacy skills to kids. Lazy research is more dangerous than ever. I'm thinking one answer to that is weblogs.
Consider what a student can create with a weblog in terms of research. A central clearinghouse for all ideas relevant to a particular subject. An audience for filtering that information into what is most important and relevant. A metacognitive thought log of the hows and whys of collection and selection of the materials that get included. To publicize these sites raises the stakes, increases responsibility (which is the other incredibly wonderful thing about the Internet...instant publishing and exposure). Think of the applications for expository writing, where teachers can follow the research. I swear, if someone could come up with a way to not only add posts but update links easily, think of the pages kids could create.
Are weblogs Journalism? Not yet, for I do agree that Journalists have a harder job than weblog journalists. But in some way, with this narrowing of subject, weblogs can serve a useful purpose for finding the truth and disseminating it.
posted by Will Richardson4:09 AM Link
Virginia I. Postrel -- REASON magazine Most people don't want raw data. They want information, or knowledge, or perhaps even wisdom. They want someone else to take the time to sift through the data, to select what is true or interesting or important, and to tell them about it." And that's what blogs are all about...specialized information. We need to find the experts to sift through the Internet data for us. That's the charge to my journalism students...be the filter for whatever it is you want to learn about.
posted by Will Richardson3:37 AM Link
Praise: So I'm gonna post these comments as motivational until things get in gear...keep at it! On Metafilter: "willrich- wish you had been around when I was at school. good stuff." posted by Voyageman at 5:18 AM PST on January 14.
posted by Will Richardson4:07 PM Link
Here's Part 2 of Chris Ashely's articles on weblogs. Has some good resources/thoughts about weblogs in ed and as journalism. Will link in the j-blog too. Still seems like there has to be more out there, though.Weblogs, Part II: A Swiss Army Web Site?
posted by Will Richardson9:22 AM Link
Added comments from: YACCS. Not sure how much I can modify it, and I have to play with it in terms of it's usefulness in class. Without some type of log-in feature to comment, it would be too easy to abuse.
posted by Will Richardson8:42 AM Link
Trying to think about the basic uses of weblogs in education, and I know I probably need to do more research here, but these seem to be the basic areas in order of intensity of time and maintenance:
1. Professional weblogs—where teachers track their own planning/research/thoughts about what’s happening in their classrooms and school. Takes minimum set up and little maintenance.
2. Course weblog—where teachers can update assignments, notes and links for a particular class. Can be “sold” as a way to communicate classroom activities to parents and community, to give students an idea of what the class is about, to keep track of makeup work for absent students. Low setup and maintenance.
3. Group weblog—where students in a class or members of a department or community become active participants in the discussion. Larger group weblogs require a moderator to define groups and lead discussion. In classroom setting, can be used for feedback. In other settings used for idea exchange, dissemination of information, etc. Small group weblogs could be used for students to track/show work on projects. Low setup, higher maintenance.
4. Student weblogs—where each student creates and maintains individual weblogs. Uses include tracking time for individualized work, entering into give and take feedback discussions with instructor, online filing cabinets (Diaryland), research logs, etc. Can be used to encourage metacognitive (thinking about thinking) work. High setup, low maintenance.
5. Combinations—where teachers employ any number of these logs in tandem. A course weblog could keep track of the business and planning side of the class while small group and individual weblogs could focus on student learning and achievement.
Questions to be explored: What are the benefits of weblogs over more traditional ways of classroom management (i.e. giving assignments, tracking notes, organizing and tracking work handed in)? How can weblogs be most effectively introduced into the classroom or community setting? What skills are needed to make the best use of weblogs (i.e. HTML, Internet)? What training and resources are needed? What software/hardware implications are there (served locally or remotely)? Assessment of weblogs (rubrics, requirements)? Internet connectivity of students/groups?
Laura Shefler Technology Portfolio "Weblogs are an extremely valuable tool for encouraging students to write. Teaching a student to maintain a weblog is the equivalent of giving them a printing press." Some interesting lesson plans too.
posted by Will Richardson8:42 AM Link
Praise: Nice words, and challenging..."Will is pioneering cool work in the area of High School journalism. I like his blog because it gives a good insight into his thought processess and thinking around the use of weblogs in his particular field of education. There may not be loads of examples of what you are looking for Will. In fact, you will probably find your work being the example for others. If anyone does have any good leads though, please join the discussion thread."
WeblogsInEducation@SchoolBlogs.com : Senior High Weblogs
posted by Will Richardson5:22 AM Link
Thought I had a lead on some other sources of weblogs in education, but they fizzled. Can't understand why it's so difficult to find them, unless of course they just aren't out there. Could I have an opportunity to do something cutting edge? I need to start e-mailing some of these people, telling them what I am doing, trying perhaps to put together a support/idea group of those actually using weblogs in the classroom. And I really need to think about assessment in terms of how they might change a student's learning/understanding of content.
posted by Will Richardson5:05 AM Link
Here's the idea...
"Even more interesting would be the use of the weblog as a collaborative writing environment for posting individual or group work and having the class and teacher comment on the work. We're experimenting a bit with online writing environments now at CET, and the weblog - with the various editorial options - seems to lend itself to this type of usage."
Weblogs in Edu
posted by Will Richardson4:06 AM Link
Portfolio class ideas...I want to include something about weblogs in the classroom in my Practices' Assessment for the Teacher Portfolio Class so I need to really start thinking about implementation. I'm thinking the best/most easily adaptable would be to compare oral feedback with written, online feedback. What if in J1 I had a team blog for the class to post to. They get points for posts about breaking news, interesting stories they find, requests for feedback...(It would be so cool to have two blogs on the page, one above the other. The one above for me to post updates to, the one below for class discussion and requests, etc. Almost like frames.) They get points for giving feedback, responding to other posts, etc. They also use the weblog to keep track of their time in class. And they use it to follow and research their beats. Remember, they are going to be creating a site around their blogs or with their blogs or something. A site...which has to contain an overview of what happened with their beats over the nine week period, some specific reportage that they liked/disliked etc., links, pictures, etc. (I obviously need to start thinking about beats...would be nice if they chose something they wanted, but I also need to make sure they pick something that they'll be able to follow for eight weeks.)
posted by Will Richardson1:02 PM Link
Once again, trying to find some applications of weblogs in the classroom, but not finding much in terms of high school stuff, or college for that matter. Seems like a lot of good intentions, but not a log of follow through. There has to be a resource out there somewhere; I just need to find it. The nicenet.org site might be pretty cool if we can't do something locally. I need to set up a time to see Ed again. Portfolio class tomorrow...need to think about how I'm going to work this through.
posted by Will Richardson4:56 AM Link
At Sneddons for breakfast on Saturday:
Tess:"Wow, that's a lot of brown sugar mommy (as Wendy put it on her oatmeal). I'm gonna be bouncin' off the walls!"
posted by Will Richardson3:42 AM Link
Just a general idea, here...how cool would it be to get professional journalists to enter into a blog with us? Could that be done? My kids, them, discussing issues about news, writing, design, etc. Mentor journalist types? What a cool idea!
posted by Will Richardson11:21 AM Link
Just another indicator of how the rich and poor are getting farther and farther apart. America the Polarized
Adjusting for inflation, the income of families in the middle of the U.S. income distribution rose from $41,400 in 1979 to $45,100 in 1997, a 9 percent increase. Meanwhile the income of families in the top 1 percent rose from $420,200 to $1.016 million, a 140 percent increase. Or to put it another way, the income of families in the top 1 percent was 10 times that of typical families in 1979, and 23 times and rising in 1997.
Ok, so I switched over the Media and Journalism blogs to our server and got them both working (I think) in Netscrap. I really need to write that down somewhere and save it as a .html file linked from here. Just remember that the stuff comes before the archive tags. So now at least I can post stuff to the relevant logs and not just warehouse it in here. I'm thinking I want this to become more of a personal/professional log, ideas about education in general, and that I'll keep my specific subject area thoughts to those others. (Which reminds me I do need to go through the School Stuff log to see what needs to be shifted over.)
Silly isn't it, but I'm really, like, excited about my first thread at Metafilter, about how even the conservatives are getting fed up with Bush's Nazi tactics. I'm going to be so disappointed if no one responds, or if it just sits there. I'll never post again, I swear! One thing is does teach you is to think critically...I love the threads on MeFi because there really is a nice mix of viewpoints...not like Bartcop, which I love but is so obviously over the top liberal that it's hard to take it seriously (although I really, really want to). Proud of myself for taking the plunge, small step as it is.
posted by Will Richardson5:38 AM Link
Ok, so at some point here soon I need to make this really public, and set up others for the different areas of interest...been to busy with building shelves and painting and making the house look pretty...now I really have to focus on getting this blog thing the way I want it...15 days left in the quarter...Geesh...how am I going to use this in J1 and J2? What am I going to do in J2? Orientation mag? Freelance article? Research? What skills do I want them to get? Thinking to tone it down a bit in J1...make it more survey type stuff. Maybe two stories in J2 where the focus becomes more the craft of writing journalism...yet, don't want J1 to be another media class. Some overlap is okay, though. Gotta get my head to it. Time, once again. Was really good to spend so much of it with the kids. Tess was hanging on me yesterday. Tuck just won't stop...has to be in everything. Everything is a test right now. I tell him no and he just goes right ahead...starting to wonder if he's deaf or just tuning me out so completely that he doesn't even hear me.
posted by Will Richardson8:35 AM Link
Happy New Year...I guess. Seems like the more I learn, the more depressed I get. This is not a good time, I believe, and it's going to get worse before it gets better. Maybe not big-story terrorist attacks so much, but just a slow degradation of environmental, political, and social issues that will test us more severely than Osama ever has. If nothing else, 9/11 has opened our eyes. It remains to be seen if they stay open. As Adbusters so brutally points out: 35, 615 children worldwide die of hunger each year. Minutes of silence: None. Plans for international response: None. Plans for saturation network coverage: None. Stock Exchanges: No effect. Alarm level: Low. Primetime news reports on possible perpetrators of the crime: None. Sad, and in need of some real thought and action on my part (since, that's all I can control...). And here's another factoid to leave with from Harpers: Number of Pop-Tarts dropped on Afghanistan as part of US airborne food aid in the first month of bombing: 2,400,000. Jesus.
This is a year that I am not unhappy to see go. A lot of stress and strife. But some good memories regardless. The kids blossoming. Ft. Lauderdale. Back to school. Weblogs. Paint. Guitar. There is hope...there has to be. Breathe.
posted by Will Richardson4:39 AM Link
