This audio podcast is a basic introduction to constructionism.
The site I refered to:
Harel, I. (2003). Sand castles go digital. Retrieved August 4, 2006 at:
http://www.mamamedia.com/areas/grownups/new/21_learning/sand_castles.html
I know I have already posted some blogs on why it is useful for students to blog and the research supporting the use of blogs. Now I have some real peoples experience I want to add. I have just read Twittering with Sue Walters and wanted to read why other teachers blog. I have shamelessly admitted that I only started this blog as an assignment, but lo and behold I may have really gotten something out of it! In Share your blog experince bloggers were asked the following questions
I was amazed at the diversity of answers especially to question two and three. The final question was of course the most informative. Many bloggers expressed the need to be yourself and let blogs flow naturally. They stressed that your blog voice will evolve, I can’t believe how much easier blogging has become with time and I wish I read these tips when I first started blogging. Another common tip was consistency and keeping the blogs flowing. Many thought it was more important to have short, frequent blogs .
I was discussing my blog with other students in my course when some-one mentioned they haven’t got any comments yet their blog. It made me realise I had no idea how you find other blogs and how to generate interest in your blog. So far I have been connecting to others through my blog-roll and sheer dumb luck when I unexpectedly stumble on a fascinating blog.
I had a read of two recommended teacher’s blogs which deal with this issue. In batting for 1000+ Mrs W. talks about how in two months she has built a blog up so much that now she is getting over 1000 readers through her site. She uses twitter to generate interest and connect with like minded people on the web. She aldo cites reading and commenting on other’s blogs as another important skill.
This brings me to the second part of the question, where do you find other relevant interesting blogs. In Why does technorati still mock me I learnt that there are blog search engines. Sue Walters recommends visiting technorati and google blog search. Hopefully these will take the guesswork out of finding good blogs for me and make searching for blogs a skill rather than a lucky dip!
I have just read Ten Web 2.0 Things You Can Do In Ten Minutes to Be a More Successful E-learning Professional, perhaps I’m a little behind because I’m not sure I will be able to get through the list in 10 minutes. However the idea is simple, e-learning is not just a subject for students, it’s a subject for teachers. Teachers must keep abreast of new technologies and must make an effort to try and incorporate these technologies into their classroom. Of course this will only seam natural if you incorporate them in you life. So what’s my new challenge you ask? Read item 4 on the list that’s going to be my first challenge, then I’ll keep it up from there! Post a comment back and commit to one of these challenges for yourself!
So far most of my blogs have been about the possibilities and opportunities in ICT. However I just read Cathie’s blog Are Children safe using online blogs? And it made me think about the negatives of using the internet and especially the safety issues. In my earlier blog “Blogging possibilities” I mentioned students could use blogs as a journal, teachers need to be careful that students understand that this is in a reflective manner on their learning or if it is a journal that they do not identify themselves or their family and be careful about giving out too much information. It is obvious that this is a very important subject that students need to learn about. Internet safety and manners should be a compulsory part of the primary curriculum. I found a website I liked about internet safety for children called nettys world and cybersmart kids online, as a teacher i think it would be important to dedicate several lessons to issues of internet saftey.