Blogging Comes to Goochlandby John Hendron (jhendron@glnd.k12.va.us), November, 2005. Updated April 26, 2006. A recent Pew Internet/American Life research report (June, 2005) revealed that the majority of Americans are unfamiliar with terms such as “podcasting” and “RSS newsfeeds.” Another from November, 2005, revealed that over half of teens who are online are content creators—folks making their own media, webpages, blogs, and posting these creations on the Web. A January, 2005 report indicated that 27% of Internet-using Americans are reading blogs, but some 62% still aren’t sure what a blog really is. When we therefore announce, now, that our teachers have now become bloggers, perhaps there ought to be some explanation involved.
While the majority of America may not yet use the term blog as regularly as “eat, drink, work” or “sleep,” the statistic that roughly half of American teenagers are blogging or creating content that’s going online demonstrates the importance of keeping-pace with trends with technology and the Internet. This page will outline what you need to know about our blogging initiative and the benefit of blogging for the stakeholders in our community. What is a Blog?A blog is a shortened term for “weblog,” a special genre of webpage that is organized around one or more authors who “post” regularly to a site with new content or ideas. The term blog can be used as both a noun, and now, as a verb. “What are you doing on the computer?” “I’m blogging!” Weblogs are usually organized by postings made in reverse-chronological order. This way, when you visit a blog, you see the most recently-added information at the top of the page. Scroll down within a blog to read older content. Many weblogs include a search function to allow visitors to see older content, and some even include a calendar of when authors have posted to their blog. What distinguishes blogs from other types of webpages are the usually short, focused writings that are each headed with a title covering the topic of the content. Weblogs, in fact, started out as folks who maintained websites wanted to post short commentary and links to items they had found on the Web. A reader could learn about other, interesting content on the Web by reading a blog that pointed visitors in other directions. Early on, then, weblogs linked people to different resources on the Web. Weblogs became an increasingly popular medium at the turn of the 21st century. Sites such as Blogger.com and LiveJournal.com allowed anyone to sign-up for their own weblog, free of charge. Today, there are millions of weblogs available online, with thousands of new blogs appearing for the first time each day. The demographics for bloggers point to many being written by folks between the ages of 13 and 29 years. Survey ResultsIn November, 2005, and April, 2006, we issued surveys to help us assess the progress we were making with the blogging initiative in Goochland. From our April survey (below), are some results from responses from parents and from teachers.
More survey results may be accessed though this Quicktime movie (QT MOV, 1.2 MB). Why are teachers blogging?There is a lot of recent research that suggests that teachers (and students) blogging is a good thing. We realize that teachers with websites help the communication process between school and home. Blogging is one of the easiest ways to maintain a website, and to keep parents and students informed. We also recognize the power of blogging from the student perspective. We plan on rolling-out student blogging later this year on our internal, private network. Research available suggests blogging by students may have a very positive influence on achievement and higher-order thinking skills. Blogs allow communication to flourish, and provide teachers an easy way to keep tabs on student journaling. We feel by having teachers blog, it sets an excellent example for how students can communicate effectively with emerging communication tools, such as a website or weblog. Blogging BenefitsEffective communication is not only an important life skill that requires development throughout a student’s education, it’s also an increasingly important expectation the public has for their schools. Blogging helps teachers by providing an easy-to-use tool that keeps the Web-using community informed with classroom and school news. Beyond parental communication, teacher blogging allows teachers to use Web technology as a pedagogical tool. Teachers can prepare links for Internet use by students in their blog. When students use laptops or a computer lab, they can easily visit sites the teacher has directed students to visit through the weblog. As an added benefit, parents at home can also visit these same websites and reinforce Internet-based content at home. Blogging by students is an exciting way to communicate. Research has uncovered examples where students who are normally quiet in classes flourish through electronic writing. Still other research suggests that the way blogs are organized (into short summarized posts), and the way blogs encourage comment and cross-referencing, is “good for the brain.” The publication of blogs by students may, in fact, help students retain information and encourage understanding of concepts being discussed. When students do begin blogging, it will be by request of a teacher who wants to have his or her class to use the blog as an instructional tool. We do not plan, therefore, to have every student blog. We want to make this tool available to teachers for students to use when it is appropriate and when it is supported by our curriculum. Student blogs will not be open for public viewing. We will host student blogs on an independent server that will only be accessible to students and teachers on our school network. Students, therefore, will only be able to access their blog, or update it, while at school. We are excited blogging has come to Goochland and encourage you to follow what’s happening in our schools through our teacher blogs. Further ReadingIf weblogs are new to you, you may be interested in some of the links below that encourage the use of blog writing in education.
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Goochland Technology Links |
