(Review of a Web 2.0 tool)
| This will be my third year using Edublogs with my students. As a seventh and eighth grade Language Arts teacher I have found Edublogs to be a great tool that engages students in writing, enhances editing skills, encourages peer-to-peer feedback, and creates a broader sense of ownership and pride in their work. - - - - -  |
Customizable Blogs: Bloggers can change the theme of their blog site to reflect personalities, promoting ownership. |
Edublogs, like many other blogging platforms, provides a place for individuals to post their opinions, list information, and provide comments to other people's blogs.
| Also like many other blog platforms you can customize your blog page to reflect your personality with a variety of themes, a blog page title, and many other customizable aspects such as widgets, banners, and pictures. - - - - -  |
Comments: Readers can leave comments to a blog post, promoting social interaction, instant feedback, and more. What sets Edublogs apart from its competitor's sites is that it is designed specifically with teachers in mind. Teachers can set up student blogs that allow the teacher to monitor student posts and comments to prevent inappropriate content or lack of contributions. - - - - -  Confusing Dashboard: The dashboard is a bit confusing for the beginner, but the results far outweigh the time it takes to set-up and get used to the site. _ _ _ _ _ |
Edublogs is a great educational platform that allows the teacher to remain in control of student work, but there are downfalls to this platform. The user interface (or dashboard) is very cluttered and confusing to users unfamiliar with its set-up. |
It takes a while to get the students adjusted to it and eats up valuable class time. But, the student input and outcomes of the blogs and comments far outweigh the set-up and adjustments to the dashboard so it is worth taking the time and frustration it takes to get them set-up and blogging.
- - - - -
This is really cool. Like I've said many times before...I think my school system probably has the most restrictions I've ever seen. There isn't a teacher in our school that blogs so I've been trying to find ways for our students to at least blog to information that teachers put out on the web. This is another site I will be trying on tomorrow. Thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteI'm very excited about investigating edublogs! I plan on using wikispaces, flickr or Picasa to encourage what you are already achieving - peer critiques and a sense of ownership. Thanks for the valuable insight into the confusing parts of edublogs.
ReplyDeleteJason, I like this site. I love that there is no email required- that is a big thing for me and my students and that teachers can monitor. I feel like the kids are dying to be heard- they post to FB a lot but who knows what because we can't see it in school. (I hope the site works within our firewall). I was thinking that if we set it up in my tech class, homeroom and specialist teachers can use it also. It could serve as an advanced survey monkey type feedback tool, but with a way to track there feelings about lessons and activities. I clicked around and saw the "10 Ways to Use.."- that was helpful too. Thanks Jason!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your investigation of Edublogs. I would have to agree with Dena about school districts and the amount of restrictions that they put in place. As you stated this site is build with teachers in mind. Student post can be monitored. Great work!
ReplyDelete