miller’s spin

Hello LTT team!

Before I post Task 4, I’d like to know where you are all up to in this blog challenge? I have looked at all your blogs and noticed that many of you have not completed Task 3. I seem to have lost you in this challenge.

Why?

What do you think about blogging in education? Why doesn’t it work for you? Does it work for you? Is it just another thing you need to do? Can you see any benefits yet? I’d like to invite you to comment on this post and start a conversation about it. What are the issues?

What can I do to engage you in this challenge?

In Task 1, you created a blog. You refined your profile, in Task 2 - your About page. In Task 3 you were asked to comment on someone else’s blog. Blogging is about conversation and connections and to start this off, you need to comment on a blog.

Where are the blogs?

You do not have to comment on a team members blog, so let me know if you’ve gone outside the team so I can join you.

There are other NCI staff with blog’s that are worth discovering, let’s find them and engage with them. There’s a plethoras of resources out there on blogs. These people can be really beneficial, helpful to you in your daily role and have resources you can share.

I mentioned Kaz Madigan in the last task. If you haven’t had a look at her colourful and wonderful blog, have a look now.

Have you been to the NSW Outreach blog?

Are there any more blogs you know of?

I’d also like to invite the wider community to comment on some of these blogs. It would be great if you could help us find the value in connecting with other educators.

Team Blogs (ready for comments and conversations;

• Linda Johnson
  
• Julie Robbins - Arts & Media, Soft Furnishings Blog
  
• Regan Harding - Byron Community Youth Blog
• Lynne Ridley
• Lisa Faulkner - Flexilearn Center Grafton

I look forward to the conversation and collaboration.

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Berkley University, California has put free videos of courses on YouTube. Have a look at their YouTube homepage. Check out their three sections, Courses, Events and Campus Life;

More than 300 hours of University of California, Berkeley, classes and events are available online in this media rich format. The university began online broadcasts, called “webcasts”, of its own in 2001 and last year began making audio “podcasts” available for download at Apple’s iTunes online store.

Read the full article here.

Do you think your students would be ready to check out lesson content on YouTube? If you’re a student, what do you think?

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So you have a blog!

What now? What can you do with it? How could it be useful in Teaching and Learning?

I’d like to invite any teachers reading this blog to comment on how they use there blog, why is a blog classed as a Social Networking tool? How can it be used with a class?

I use my blog to share my e-Learning/ New Technology learning and development with colleagues and family. It’s both a personal and professional space.

So how can a blog be useful for networking?

Here’s an example;

Yesterday a teacher within North Coast Institute contacted me and happened to mention that she read my blog and I was really thrilled.

Kaz Madigan has her own blog, which I hadn’t seen before and it’s wonderful. Now I have seen it, and we have talked about our blogs and have made a connection and are looking forward to meeting each other.

But that’s just the start…

I have since sent her blog to a couple of other teachers that have similar interests, work in the same area or a similar interest in web tools. I am hoping they might post a comment on her blog, or contact her and connect.

For me, the power of blogging is making connections. Connecting with like minded people in this way, you are able to develop a strong collaborative relationship virtually, an element of trust follows.

If you haven’t already met face to face, one day you might and the relationship strengthens further, as resources, learning, and experiences are shared. Through these people and their online spaces, you meet others and a strong network of ‘trusted’ friends blooms.

In Task 1, you created a blog. You refined your profile, in Task 2 - your About page. Now you are ready to experience the power of blogging. But, as always, to get something out of it, you need to put something in, so here it is, Task 3.

Task 3: Comment on someone else’s Blog

This challenge is about going on a blog hunt to find like minded people with a blog. Add a comment on to their blog and start a conversation.

There is a list of your team/colleague blogs already in the comments section of Task 1. You could also search for a blog relative to your faculty or area of interest. It’s up to you, but please take the time to make a comment, you’d be amazed by how much it’s appreciated and you’ll probably get a response back fairly quickly.

I know this challenge might seem pretty basic, but many successful blogs have been built on the back of these types of conversations and the task is worth getting your teeth into.

Tip: RSS Aggregator…

I can’t really imagine life before netvibes; managing all those blogs and wiki’s through an RSS Aggregator makes life so much easier. You can subscribe to the RSS feed on a blog to automatically keep following the conversation and posts.

Next week, in our Technology sessions, we’ll revisit RSS and their use to save you time! 

Good luck and happy commenting!

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I have been keeping an eye out for reviews of the LearnScope Regional Event we held in Coffs Harbour, late September 2007. See my post about this event.

We had three presenters from North Coast Institute, including myself.

The other presenters were;

Regan Harding

Regan shared some of her thought provoking experiences with her Youth at Risk and Generation Y students and the treasure within.

Her presentation explored personal identity and learning and how electronic mediums can provide young people with chances to be seen and be heard. Regan also covered what has worked for her and what might work for you. Regan showcased some of the spaces she uses to teach and engage her young students and the surrounding communities.

A couple of links from Regan;

Blurring Worlds Might Have Us Speaking Clearly - The Sydney Morning Herald

It’s Crunch Time - Raising Youth Engagement and Attainment

Kate Jones

Kate’s message was clear, there’s no need to recreate the wheel, there are plenty of great resources out there.

Kate shared some of the wonderful resource sites she has found. Many of which contain some fantastically engaging, media rich resources, often with accompanying teacher guides and lesson plans. Her

Both Regan and Kate did an outstanding job on the day and you can check out some reviews of the day, from Zoe Campbell here. Zoe also shares some great resources from the day.

Check them out!

Thanks Zoe for sharing your learning and feedback from that day.

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