Using Blogs and Wikis for Professional Development
by Dana Huff on Feb 08, 2009
- 6,669 views
Educators should be using blogs and wikis to grow professionally. This presentation discusses tools that educators can use to network and connect with other educators and to learn and grow as teachers...
Educators should be using blogs and wikis to grow professionally. This presentation discusses tools that educators can use to network and connect with other educators and to learn and grow as teachers.
Accessibility
Categories
Tags
More...Upload Details
Uploaded via SlideShare as Apple Keynote
Usage Rights
© All Rights Reserved
Statistics
- Favorites
- 18
- Downloads
- 194
- Comments
- 0
- Embed Views
- Views on SlideShare
- 6,304
- Total Views
- 6,669
Melinda Hefner
Access may be a problem in certain areas. Some schools have wireless networks and computer labs. Others don’t. Some people have Internet access at home. Others don’t. I encourage you to do whatever is reasonable -- you can use the Internet at your library. Sites like DonorsChoose.org may be able to help you with technology needs.
Spam is a huge problem with blogs. Just about any blogging site or software program I can think of has some kind of spam filtering, but just like e-mail, sometimes spam comments get through on blogs, and it’s annoying.
Another common problem is access. Lots of people tell me their school filters block social networking sites. I think that’s remarkably short-sighted. I understand the reasoning: it’s easier to block sites than teach, encourage, and expect students and teachers to use sites wisely, but we are cutting off a lot of avenues for growth. If you have administration or IT folks at your school who are willing to listen about blocking, I encourage you to talk with them and see if you can get blocks removed.
Finally, the most annoying problem with social networking is trolls. The word “troll” is Internet parlance for the kind of annoying kid who runs up to you on the playground, smacks you, then runs away before you can react. They usually post anonymously because they’re cowards, and they know what they’re doing is not nice, so they try to hide. I have had a few people I don’t even know say stupid or mean things to me for no good reason. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s happened a few times. I have a comments policy on my blog, and I don’t publish these kinds of comments, but I do see them, and as much as I wish I had a thick skin and could ignore them, they do bother me. It’s something to be aware of, but if you let the trolls keep you offline, it’s like letting the terrorists win.
Show examples of blogs.
Show examples of wikis.
Show examples of Nings.
Thank you for coming to my session. I’ll be happy to field any questions or go back and explain something in more detail if you’d like.