Blogging

Background and Context:

Our Year 0-6 primary school has journeyed to the point where our children have been creating some amazing content. Though this content has been shown on data projectors or taken home on memory sticks we wanted to share our learning with a wider audience.

Over the past 3 years, our focus (in a nutshell) has been to LEARN, CREATE, SHARE.

We are now into a whole school SHARING mode where we use blogspot and Ultranet to develop an authentic,  real time vehicle for sharing children’s learning.

Targeted National Goals 1 & 3

• students to become successful digital citizen
• teachers to integrate e-learning effectively into their practice creating an innovative and exciting learning environment for all students

Aims and Purpose

• Children sharing their learning in a motivating, authentic context
• Raise students literacy levels
• Children actively reflecting on their own and others learning
• Engage with a wider audience to develop and value children’s learning

Method, Interventions

Trial different platforms, take risks in our learning (teachers and students), and establish throughout the school. Regular reflection for continued focus and improvement is expected. Team sandpit workshops to share and celebrate improvements seen in students’ learning from the integration of these tools.

Key Results

Our journey to date has been one filled with adventure. As a school we have learnt:

• To take risks within ICT and our own learning
• To view e-learning as an enhancement not an add on
• E-learning allows children to share within authentic contexts
• Children’s motivation increases when they share
• A wide variety of technical skills that are used and shared with others
• To let go. We as teachers don’t need to know everything. Students can lead the way.

Key Advice

• Utilise your staff strengths
• Address and remove roadblocks as soon as possible whether they be technological or attitudinal
• Support is needed, everyone is different
• Keep expectations high but develop a culture of risk taking and ‘have a go moments’
• The best thing the teacher can give a child is time to explore and create
• Make the blog active and alive where current learning is shared and celebrated