BloggingInTheClassroom-MattBanner-Nov2015

Blogging in the classroom: How to get started — from onblastblog.com by Matt Banner

Excerpt:

Here’s what we’ll discuss today:

  • Ways to bring blogging into your classroom and daily lesson plans
  • The litany of benefits blogging brings to education
  • Deciding the purpose and goals of your blog
  • Setting up your classroom’s blog
  • Easy ways to promote and grow your classroom blog


Blogging about a subject turns novices into experts.
There’s no other choice. When you write thousands upon thousands of words about something, doing research all the while, you become an expert in that subject. It’s unavoidable, and possibly the best way to learn in my opinion. Instead of having the information fed to them, students are taking it and putting it down on paper in their own words.

They live the information instead of simply seeing it. This is huge in terms of learning something for the long-term. Hands-on experience will always leave more of a lasting impression than something that is simply boiled down to a few questions on a test.

Michelle Lampinen, a high school English teacher in New Jersey wrote a great article on this here.

 



 

Also see:
How blogging is being used in the classroom today: Research results — from emergingtech.com by Mike Wallagher

Excerpt:

The 2015 survey has yet to be reported on, but 2014 research findings have something to say about the state of blogging in the classroom today.

Benefits of Blogging in the Classroom
Blogging in the classroom can have numerous benefits depending on how you use your blog. Just some include that:

  • Instructors can create a blog about class happenings so parents can stay up-to-date and students can access announcements from anywhere
  • Teachers can use their blogs to store lessons online or provide supplemental learning materials to students
  • Instructors can use blogs to organize assignments, such as posting them online for absent students or listing due dates so all students have access to the course materials from anywhere
  • Teachers can post previous students’ work as examples or publish current students’ work so they can show parents and family who live far away
  • Educators can open the comment sections on blog posts to get feedback from parents and the community as well as to create discussion between students
  • Student blogs teach children about writing techniques, online publishing, and proper Internet etiquette, which most students will use in future careers

How Blogs Are Being Used
“Blogging in the classroom” may bring up this idea that there’s one way to present blogging to your students, but there are a myriad of ways educators can use blogs. Just some options include:

  • Personal blogs for teachers
  • Student blogs
  • ePortfolios
  • Platforms for assignments, homework, and announcements
  • Classroom blogs for collaboration and discussion

 



 

From DSC:
Whether your school, university, or college has a web hosting service or whether you need to go out and find a web hosting service yourself — or use a free service/solution — blogging is a great way to create streams of content and to “think out loud.” It offers benefits for students, teachers, professors, staff, and administrators.

 

 

 

 

Microlearning: The e-Learning method taking off around the world — from educators.co.nz by Catherine Knowles

Excerpt:

Technology is disrupting traditional learning bringing new methods and tools into educational institutions and businesses.

Microlearning, for instance, has displayed great potential for growth, according to Association Learning + Technology 2016 – a report published by Tagoras and sponsored by YM Learning.

The report looks at the use of technology to enable and enhance learning in the continuing education and professional development market and provides insight into how the role technology plays in learning has and will evolve.

 

In fact, among five emerging types of learning (microlearning, massive open online courses (MOOCs), flipped classes, gamified learning, and microcredentials), microlearning shows the highest rate of adoption – and arguably the greatest potential for growth.

 

 

 

Podcasting is perfect for people with big ideas. Here’s how to do it — from by Todd Landman
Surprisingly few academics have learned how to podcast – but it’s a great way to reach a wider audience

Excerpt:

In the face of conflict in the Middle East, the flow of refugees to Europe and the violence associated with Islamic State and other militants, there has never been a more important time to talk about human rights. And talk about them is what I do – not in a lecture hall or at conferences with academics, but in a podcast series. Let me explain why.

I have worked as a political scientist for 25 years, focusing on human rights problems such as the struggle for citizenship rights in Latin America and the relationship between inequality and human rights violations.

I am part of a wide network of people dedicated to producing sound evidence on human rights, and my work has been communicated through articles, books and reports. But I am limited in my ability to reach the people I would most like to engage and influence – those who do not have an academic understanding of human rights but might benefit from finding out about it.

There is a new breed of academic who understands this and is committed to bridging the gap between academia and the real world. Many blog, actively seek media coverage of their research and appear on radio and television to shed light on the issues of the day.

 

 

From DSC:
Some of the tools that Landman mentioned were:

e-camm-for-skype-jan2016

  • A MacBook Pro and its free audio editing software GarageBand (for Mac OS X and for iOS)
  • A lapel mic used with his iPhone

 

garageband-jan2016

 

Some other tools to consider:

 

 

From DSC:
The above articles point to the idea — and the need — of creating “streams of content” — something that I wish more professors, teachers, staff, administrators, trainers, and instructional designers would create. Blogs, podcasts, and the use of Twitter come to my mind. Such channels could really help build others’ learning ecosystems.

Many professors and academics — folks who have so much information to share with the world — often produce works just for other academics in their discipline to review/check out. Such bubbles don’t have the impact that would occur if professors created streams of content for members of society to check out and learn from. Such mechanisms would also hopefully strip away some of the more academic sounding language and would get to the point.

 

 

streams-of-content-blue-overlay

 

 

 

 

Also see:

podcastscratch-june2015

 

Everything you need to know to be a social media rock star in 2016 — from onblastblog.com by Matt Banner

Excerpt:

Today websites like Facebook, Twitter, and plenty of others are becoming CRUCIAL for success as a blogger. They offer a rich potential to connect with, engage, and attract new readers and leads to your site.

This trend isn’t going anywhere in 2016, so today I’m going to give you the complete rundown on how to rock the social media world in the coming year.

 

Social Media Cheat SheetCredit:On Blast Blog via On Blast Blog

 

Also see:

 

WordPress now powers 25% of the Web — from by Emil Protalinski

Excerpt:

One in four websites is now powered by WordPress.

Today is a big day for the free and open-source content management system (CMS). To be perfectly clear, the milestone figure doesn’t represent a fraction of all websites that have a CMS: WordPress now powers 25 percent of the Web.

 

WordPress-25Percent

 

DanielChristian-EdTechTop50DeansList2015

 

From DSC:
I’m honored to be on this year’s Ed Tech Dean’s List. I want to thank Ed Tech Magazine, D. Frank Smith, and Tara E. Buck, and readers of this blog for their/your support here.  I also want to send a shout out to Jimmy Daly for his past support here as well.

 

 

EdTechMagazinesDeansList2014-dsc2

 

Excerpt:

Everyone has a favorite blog. Odds are, that blogger has a favorite as well.

We’ve scoured the Internet for blogs that resonate with the intersection of higher education and technology. These are blogs that set themselves apart for a variety of reasons — they are leading voices in their fields, have hundreds if not thousands of fans and consistently raise the bar for conversation.

The majority of these blogs are new to EdTech: Focus on Higher Education’s honor roll. Some were nominated by our readers, and some are veterans of last year’s list that have stayed on top of our charts.

 

From DSC:
I would like to thank Frank Smith (@DFrank), Tara Buck (@TEBuckTMG), Jimmy Daily (@Jimmy_Daly), and all of the folks at Ed Tech Magazine (@EdTech_HigherEd) for including this Learning Ecosystems blog in this year’s Dean’s List.

 

 

From DSC:
The items below speak to the wonderful, powerful world of storytelling.  I see storytelling becoming more interactive/participatory — offering more choice and more control to the viewers.  There are applications in education, training, marketing, advertising, and more.  Finally, I’ve also included some interesting tools/sites for folks to create their own digitally-based stories. 


 

How storytelling can do wonders in blogging — by Kumail Hemani

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Why then was my history class one of the best classes I had? We never had to learn by heart any of the history notes in spite of all the dates, events, places and names. What we heard in that class got imprinted in our mind word by word as soon as they reached my ears.

Reason?

It was in the art of my teacher’s style of speaking and style of lectures. She never took our lessons as lectures, instead she choose to tell them through stories.

My teacher knew the art of true speaking. She spoke in such a style that we students felt everything happening around us. The lectures used to start forming an image in students mind, creating a flow, making everything seem like it is happening in the present. In such style of lectures, it only took us moments before everything made an impact on us and we understood everything word by word.

 

5 apps for making movies on mobile devices — from edutopia.org by Monica Burns

Excerpt:

Every year at Hollywood award shows, we see fantastic movies celebrated for their rich storytelling and dynamic performances. Your students can become moviemakers, too, thanks to some powerful apps for mobile devices. With these tools, your children can take videos and edit their work to make professional quality movies using iOS devices (iPads and iPhones) and Android tablets.

One good thing about this easy-to-use technology is that students can still use important English language arts skills like writing a narrative, planning a sequential story, and including key details when getting ready to make a movie. These apps can enhance the work that you are doing with children in the classroom and give them room to be creative storytellers.

 

Visual storytelling: Why data visualization is a content marketing fairytale — from searchenginejournal.com by Shane Jones

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Humans are scientifically designed to love stories.
More of our brain is engaged when we listen to stories. They cause our neurons to act as if we were actually doing the actions we hear in the story. Stories also have that human element we were talking about earlier, which makes them more entertaining and engaging.

If you do it right, you can use your data to tell the human story – and how it can be improved through the use of your product or service. In fact, the best content visuals do just that. They introduce viewers to a concept or situation (the problem you address), walk them through the main information about that concept or situation (how you’ll address it), and then provide a conclusion in the form of CTA (converting).

In summary, people are interested in learning about themselves, but they’re sick of learning through plain copy, and they’re programmed to desire visual content that tells a tale. Visualizing data is an effective strategy for giving them exactly what they want – information that is more visible and less difficult to digest.

 

Crowdsourced storytelling: How can you make the most of user-generated content? — from latd.com by Kim Gaskins

Excerpt:

Connect with people on an emotional level.
This may sound obvious, but there are countless ways to frame a particular project or issue to people you’re hoping to entice—so make sure to think like a good marketer. For example, Israel Mirsky is the founder of Uncoverage, a crowd-funding platform for investigative journalism, who has decided to focus his message on the issues that are most emotionally accessible to his audience. There’s a compelling business case backing Mirsky’s efforts; namely, there’s no longer any business model to support important but resource-intensive journalism that may bring in fewer advertising dollars than simple, click-worthy headlines. It’s a powerful argument, but it’s not the one Mirsky is taking to potential contributors: “I suspect that talking about the problem with investigative journalism isn’t the right value proposition to bring to the table here. The right one is the one that individuals care about: the people and the issues that matter to them.”

 

latitude-March2014

 

 

6 great examples of digital storytelling — from 8ms.com by Simon Heyes

Excerpt:

In the socially connected world, the attention span of an audience becomes shorter as more and more mundane content is thrust in front of their eyes. Digital storytelling allows a brand to evoke emotion, and become more connected with consumers.

If content is at the heart of digital marketing, then we believe audiences are at the heart of digital storytelling. By creating a story that is authentic to your brand and to your audience, and then building content around that story, you will connect your brand to the lives of your consumers.

Here are six handpicked examples where we believe great writing is combined with great imagery to create authentic content, and a brilliant digital story.

 

5 steps for successful transmedia storytelling — from 8ms.com by Simon Heyes

 

5tipstransmediastorytelling

 

 


From DSC:
I see storytelling becoming more interactive/participatory — offering more choice and more control to the viewers.  As such, here are some interesting tools/sites:


 

Interlude

interlude-March2014

 

inklewriter

inkle-March2014

 

Padcaster

Padcaster-March2014

 

Voicethread

Voicethread-March2014

 

Racontr.com

racontr-March2014

 

TouchCast

TouchCast-in-Education3

 

Metta

metta-March2014

 

Hapyak

hapyak-March2014

 


Also see:


 

5 reasons why you should be using storytelling in training — from dashe.com by Ben Nesvig

Excerpt:

Storytelling has been a popular tool for learning since the dawn of civilization, but thanks to technology bringing new mediums for storytelling, it has been on the rise in training in the workplace. Despite the fact that storytelling is a powerful vehicle for teaching, some still prefer to do a “data dump” because it’s easier than constructing a narrative, though not more effective. Below I provide 5 reasons why storytelling should be used more frequently in the workplace.

 

Digital storytelling: an efficient and engaging learning activity — from elearningindustry.com

 

 Storehouse
“The easiest way to create, share, and discover beautiful stories.”

 

 

Favorite Art Education Blogs— from theteachingpalette.com by Theresa McGee; with thanks to Leah Olson for the tweet on this

 

FavoriteBlogsInArtEducation-Jan2014

Excerpt:

Today we have some amazing teachers sharing real content on what goes on in contemporary art classrooms.  We share lesson ideas, embed YouTube videos, and advocate for quality art education.  Thanks to social media we are able to share this content and collaborate together.

Check out this amazing list of art education blogs recommended by art teachers around the world.  This list is interactive! Please join in and add your favorite art ed blog and help sort the list by ranking up your favorites.

 

Also see:

 

An introduction to social media for scientists — from plosbiology.org by Holly Bik & Miriam Goldstein

Citation: Bik HM, Goldstein MC (2013) An Introduction to Social Media for Scientists. PLoS Biol 11(4): e1001535. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001535

Published: April 23, 2013

Copyright: © 2013 Bik, Goldstein. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

 

Online social media tools can be some of the most rewarding and informative resources for scientists—IF you know how to use them.

 

 

 

 

 
 

25PercentCompanyTrainingNoValue-Hart-April2013

 

From DSC:
This data further supports my thoughts on helping people build their own learning ecosystems — something Jane points out as well when she states that “workers find other (self-organised and self-managed) ways of learning at work far more valuable – with team collaboration being the highest rated.”

I recommend helping folks learn how to create their own blogs and learn how to subscribe to others’ blogs, access relevant wikis, use Twitter, employ Google Alerts, etc.  

Provide each employee with some relevant names/blogs/websites/etc. to get employees started (i.e. of some knowledgeable accountants, legal counsel, product designers, engineers, digital marketing experts, cloud computing strategists, programmers for mobile computing apps, etc.).  I realize this presents issues with companies’ sensitive information such as patents and/or intellectual property.   But if Harold Jarche is correct in saying that we live in a post-jobs world, what we know of the modern corporation may be very different in just a few years anyway.  (i.e. You’re on your own. You are your own corporation/business; so build your own brand and expertise. Build your own valuable network of peers/colleagues — who you can contribute to as well as to learn from.)

Admittedly, this changes some of the roles of the training department from creating e-learning modules to becoming excellent researchers, social media experts, quasi-librarians, etc.

(Come to think of it, I wonder if that might happen in higher ed as well — i.e. provide students with the relevant/key experts, important thinkers, streams of content, etc.)

 

streams-of-content-blue-overlay

 

 

Google is retiring Google Reader as of July 1, 2013.

Excerpt:

We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.

 

From DSC:
To Google (and others) —

You should know that when you do this sort of thing, it creates a great deal of nervousness and uncertainty in K-12 and in higher ed.  We ask, well if we go with (Google Docs, Google Drive, Google ___) will they pull it in the future? What would we do at that point? It also causes us to pause in moving things to the cloud…

Below, I will be adding some alternatives that I’ve seen people mentioning:

 

 

Addendum on 3/15/13 and in defense of Google…
As Google stated, usage is low and RSS didn’t hit the mainstream in the current form.  Which is too bad, because it’s a very promising technology!  Also from this page, here’s a solid graphic that shows the decline in usage:

.

 

 

Student Blogging Resources — from Pernille Ripp, 5th grade teacher

Also, Pernille blogs elsewhere as well:

Tagged with:  

WordPressDotComClassrooms-Feb2013

 

Tagged with:  

Excerpt from Beyond school choice — from Michael Horn

With the rapid growth in online and mobile learning, students everywhere at all levels are increasingly having educational choices—regardless of where they live and even regardless of the policies that regulate schools.

What’s so exciting about this movement beyond school choice is the customization that it allows students to have. Given that each student has different learning needs at different times and different passions and interests, there is likely no school, no matter how great, that can single-handedly cater to all of these needs just by using its own resources contained within the four walls of its classrooms.

With the choices available, students increasingly don’t need to make the tradeoff between attending a large school with lots of choices but perhaps lots of anonymity or a small school with limited choices but a deeply developed personal support structure.

 

Excerpt from Cooperating in the open — from Harold Jarche

I think one of the problems today is that many online social networks are trying to be communities of practice. But to be a community of practice, there has to be something to practice. One social network, mine, is enough for me. How I manage the connections is also up to me. In some cases I will follow a blogger, in others I will connect via Google Plus or Twitter, but from my perspective it is one network, with varying types of connections. Jumping into someone else’s bounded social network/community only makes sense if I have an objective. If not, I’ll keep cooperating out in the open.

 

 

From DSC:
Perhaps helping folks build their own learning ecosystems — based upon one’s gifts/abilities/passions — should be an objective for teachers, professors, instructional designers, trainers, and consultants alike. No matter whether we’re talking K-12, higher ed, or corporate training, these ever-changing networks/tools/strategies will help keep us marketable and able to contribute in a variety of areas to society.

 

 

 

Addendum on 2/5/13:

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JayCross-LearningEcosystem2013

 

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