Practical Suggestions March 19, 2004
Posted by Andy Roberts in : learning, meta-blog , comments closedThis is from an article in thejournal.com published last month, which strongly advocates the use of blogs in education.
Practical Suggestions for Implementing Blogs
Blogs can be incorporated into any type of class for all reading- and writing-aged students. They can be used as a knowledge-management tool where teachers and students communicate with each other through the course of the semester, or as a tool to bring reflections or outside material into the class for everyone’s benefit. Following are a number of practical suggestions that provide a good environment for successful blog integration.
The advice then continues under the headings
Consider blogging yourself
Spend time visiting other classroom blogs
Model blogging for your students
Make the blogs more public
Explain the “reach” of blogs to students.
Four Benefits of Student Blogging
1. The use of blogs helps students become subject-matter experts.
2. The use of blogs increases student interest and ownership in learning.
3. The use of blogs gives students legitimate chances to participate.
4. The use of blogs provides opportunities for diverse perspectives, both within and outside of the classroom.
read the full article here: Content Delivery in the ‘Blogosphere’
Frogs! March 16, 2004
Posted by Andy Roberts in : wildlife , 1 comment so far
The frogs have arrived!
At last, the winter must have come to an end. The frogs have arrived in my pond, just the male frogs for now, and weeks later than in some previous years.
smallpond.co.uk
school websites March 16, 2004
Posted by Andy Roberts in : meta-blog , comments closedA lot of school websites are started up in a fit of enthusiasm by one member of staff donating hours and hours of their spare time to the project. The trouble is, that person can easily find they’ve created a bigger maintenance burden than they can handle. Or they leave. So looking around the web we can find plenty of primary school websites which proudly announce themseves to the world but on closer inspection are sadly out of date, and mine is no exception. 
So I’m wondering whether the blog format wouldn’t be a much better one to use as the main site, with the old site serving more as an archive. I have a meeting tomorrow where this idea will be aired amongst other things, so if it’s time has come then developments might start happening soon. Imagine a school site where many people contribute news, notifying dates, reporting events, discussing issues and genuinely communicating with the local community. The method must be to make it as easy as possible to publish, so that busy people will consider the reward worth the effort. There’s also the factor of having to take a risk with allowing feedback which may of course be critical. I’m going to take a look around now and see if any other primary schools have taken this approach yet. Apart from the whole school thing, it may also be appropriate for an individual class to experiment with publishing their own blog, that’s something which one or two teachers might want to pioneer, once they get the vision. Possible topic for an INSET perhaps.
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Google vs Yahoo March 14, 2004
Posted by Andy Roberts in : meta-blog , comments closed
Are google’s days numbered as the default search?
Yahoo used to employ google but now they have their own search engine, and others are realising the importance of Seach too. I found a tool which allows you to make a visual comparison between results from google and yahoo on the same search.
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Music March 13, 2004
Posted by Andy Roberts in : Music , 1 comment so farMusic is being neglected
2 jobs and a full time degree course are squeezing music off the agenda. This is a situation up with which, for too long a time, I will not put. Listening to classical Indian music instruction coming through my set top box, it’s radio 3. I notice that Frankie Roberto has been to a lot of gigs recently, and wants to try and learn guitar again in the summer. Cool.
New Blog March 12, 2004
Posted by Andy Roberts in : meta-blog , comments closedSo this is one possible new blog, thanks to Tom. Once I’ve fiddled about for a bit I could start to use the RSS from it.
is an online professional who initiated DARnet 
