Use and Impact of Tool 10 - Student Blogs in DigiTech
I mostly used Student Blogs with my intermediate, Year 9 and Year 10 students. Student blogs of intermediate students who I teach, are all up and running, and the students use the blogs on a regular basis. This made blogging easy to continue with when the students come to me for Technology.
The use of Year 9 and Year 10 blogs were somewhat of a logistical exercise. Students who blogged in primary school were able to continue blogging if their blogs had transferred over to the Tamaki College domain, and the student had access to their blog. If this was not the case, then blogging for that student had a few hurdles to overcome. Students who were completely new to Tamaki College, and who did not arrive from one of the local primary schools, needed a blog. As simple as these problems may appear in terms of addressing the issue of blogging, they are actually quite time consuming barriers, when you only have the students for 3 x 50 minute lessons per week.
An example of when blogging with authentic audiences was particularly effective, was after I took a group of Year 10 students to Accenture in Auckland City. The Accenture staff joined the Year 10 Google+ Community, where students had shared their blog posts, or if they didn’t have blogs, then shared their reflections directly into the community. The Accenture staff commented on many of the posts, and began interacting with the students, which was a highly engaging exercise. These interactions can be viewed in the following link: Year 10 DigiTech at Tamaki College > Accenture or click into the individual blog posts to see the comment discussions for Kaden, Catherine, Teina, Hala, and Alarzae.
As mentioned, this demonstrates the use of student blogs and blogging as a means of student engagement. I could say that this indirectly relates or connects to student achievement, as I don’t have evidence of how it directly connected to student achievement.
As mentioned, this demonstrates the use of student blogs and blogging as a means of student engagement. I could say that this indirectly relates or connects to student achievement, as I don’t have evidence of how it directly connected to student achievement.
Use of Tool 10 - Student Blogs across Staff
The following shows the use of Student Blogs by staff from Term 1 to Term 3 this year.
