Using blogs for student writing

Using Blogs for Student Writing
Ideas, strategies and research findings
Claire Amos
Director of e-learning
Epsom Girls Grammar School
am@eggs.school.nz

Workshop Structure
Part A: Presentation of project and findings
Part B: Online workshop – Looking at class wikis and blogs in action
Part C: Online workshop - Creating your own class wiki

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this workshop you will be able to:
Recognise the benefits and potential uses for wikis and blogs to support literacy
Access a range of wikis to develop ideas
Create your own class wiki using www.pbworks.com

Project outline
The project looked at how student blogs and class wikis can be utilized to raise literacy levels in the context of formal writing (AS 90053) preparation and practice.
The Project

Year 11 students were given the opportunity to complete their practice of formal writing as individual blogs that were linked to their online classroom community (the class wiki)
I followed the same process with a top stream and a standard English class
The Process

The Process
Those students who completed the formal writing practice online, received their feedback as online comments
Topics were posted on the class wiki with hyperlinks to other resources such as newspaper articles and video clips about their topic

The Process
Students who chose to complete their writing on refill continued to hand in as normal and received written feedback on their essays
These students still had access to online resources if they wished to use them

Outcomes
Students who chose to write their essays as blogs were:
More likely to meet deadlines
More like to act upon feedback/next steps
More likely to read one another’s work

Student Voice
Other positive feedback from the students:
Like that they often got quick feedback
Like that they built up an “online portfolio” of writing
Like that the could use spell check and easily fix errors
Liked the sense of a public presence and that they had an audience

Potential challenges
The lack of easy access to computers at school
Blog sites are often blocked in school
Not all students have internet access or computers at home
Students not practising writing quickly by hand???

Advice
Have the wiki and framework set up in advance
If possible unblock useful sites
Teach students how to give each other feedback (this was something I thought would happen naturally but didn’t)
Use blogging sites that allow you to “follow” students so you are alerted when new blogs are posted
Don’t assume students are young and therefore internet savvy

Benefits for the teacher
Lightens your paper load – can’t misplace student work
Quicker to assess and feedback – comment format discourages too many comments and encourages you to focus on next steps
Easily accessed at all times
Resources and framework can be used again and again
Encourages students to be more independent
Easy to track student progress (or lack of…)

The main links are:
encourage reflective thought and action
facilitate shared learning
provide sufficient opportunities to learn
E-learning
Links to the NZCEffective Pedagogy

Links to the NZCKey Competencies
thinking
using language, symbols, and texts
managing self
relating to others
participating and contributing

E-Portfolios

and other ideas…
Other uses for wikis and blogs could include:
Extension and Support activities
Practice Essays
Reading Logs
Creating online Study Guides
Reflective blogs on the learning process

Structuring the learning environments at EGGS

Moodle
This is facilitated by the department as a whole. This is used as the home page for entire subjects. This is where you post common course outlines, handouts and exam information.

Google site (or wiki)
This run by the individual teacher as an online community for their specific class. This is where you post resources and links specific to what you class is doing.
This is where you would also post links to student blogs of they were going to be shared. This is where you might embed other Google apps such as calendars for tasks and assessments, forms and slideshows.

Blogger
This is the place for student’s public, published writing. This is set up and run by the individual student.
This is attached to the class Google site or wiki by a hyperlink (which allows for easy access by teachers and other students.
(a student can set up as many different blogs as they need under using the Google login)

Google Docs
This is the place for student’s personal writing and notes. Students who choose to do class notes and pre-publishes writing may work in Google docs.
This will remain private, except for sharing with the teacher which allows the teacher to check in and provide feedback.
Students may also share individual document s with other to work collaboratively
(teachers can check who contributed what in a click of a button).

www.thevirtualclassroom.pbworks.com

Online Workshop
http://thevirtualclassroom.pbworks.com/Beyond-the-Virtual-Classroom

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Using blogs for student writing

by Claire Amos

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