The blog is an ideal tool to bring a class into the 2.0 era. Easy to create and use, this virtual journal allows you to keep precious traces of the progress of the year and to share thoughts and learnings while practicing writing.
Many classes from here and elsewhere have already adopted the blog as a classroom tool. It encourages students of the digital generation to read and write, regardless of the subject concerned. It is a way of working with which they quickly become comfortable. In addition, the blog introduces the concept of digital citizenship from an early age, with all the duties and responsibilities that come with it. An American teacher talk about it here.
How to create a blog?
Two platforms remain very popular and are easy to use: Blogger (easily integrates with your Google account if you have one) and WordPress.
Different ways of designing the education blog
One way to approach the blog as a learning tool is to ensure that each student has their own personal publication space. His blog will be like his electronic portfolio. The teacher can guide the students by telling them what types of work to publish there. The Institut St-Joseph, in Quebec, has been using blogs with students for several years. To get an overview, go to the Démocra-TIC class blog and see the list of student blogs in the right column!
When I was in high school, I remember that we had to keep a journal of what we learned in each of the class periods. This "summary book" should allow us to keep traces of our learning. At the end of the year, however, he was the first sent for recycling! I now imagine that this same work was done on a blog, using the categories to group the thoughts by subject area, then the keywords (or “tags”) to group the subjects… With the possibility of leaving comments to others to initiate the discussion, to make hyperlinks to complete the information, to add images to obtain the visual aspect… It seems to me that the scope would have been quite different!
There are other types of blogs related to the school world. For example, some teachers will use it as a means of communication with the students in their class (and therefore, a source of information for parents). This is particularly the case of that of Martin Bélanger, teacher in 3e secondary, or 5e year of Entramis school in Repentigny.
Other teachers also choose to maintain a professional blog, in which they express their vision of education, reflect on issues, share findings, etc. This is the case, for example, of Masked teacher, or by Eric Noël of the Chicoutimi Seminary.
Your turn!
We have had the opportunity to present some class projects integrating blogs over the years. Will it be your turn this year? Do not hesitate to tell us about your experience!
On reminder :
– The pleasure of writing with the blog in class (Nancy Dubois, CS des Affluents)
– The blog to motivate students to write (Study by the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi)
In one look :
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