Nathan is an amazingly energetic, creative and inspiring teacher at The Canberra College and he’s getting excellent results using blogs in class. Nathan teaches a special needs class, and, despite initial scepticism from some, Nathan reports that that this group of students is really embracing the blogging environment. Rather than struggling with the blogging assignments in his Multimedia and Animation class, this group of students is thriving: “They absolutely love using WordPress!” says Nath, before adding, “it is a great tool in the classroom and students are even doing work at home without being asked!”
Nathan’s using the blog to communicate assignment expectations and instructions, and he makes sure he puts comments and suggestions on each student’s pages and posts, providing feedback and encouragement for everyone to see. He’s also very finicky about how a student’s blog looks, insisting that the design elements (even down to page nomenclature and layout) are consistent and neat. Apparently, even the students are now checking over each other’s sites and giving advice on where to improve!
I’d recommend keeping an eye on how Nathan’s class progresses, and if you’re also having success (or otherwise!) with class blogging, drop me a line or feel free to post a comment.
With the proliferation of online tools out there to use in your class, sometimes you’ll be wondering which is the right one to use. Don’t make the mistake of looking to the tool first, and then trying to shoe-horn an assignment into it: you’ll likely end up with an incoherent assessment item that students have trouble making sense of. Instead, consider what you want to achieve and then find the best way to make it happen — if that means not using a webtech tool, then fine!
Let me know what you think — or at least have fun!
Al Upton has become a victim of his own classroom blogging success. Al’s been using blogging for some time as a major educational tool with his ‘Mini Legends’ year 3 class. Now, he’s been ordered to close the Mini Legends site down: apparently, one parent became concerned when his child’s photo appeared on the site — this is despite Al’s gaining parental permission slips. As Kerry Johnson says in a 
Educators are ready. Ready to wiki, blog and podcast. That’s what struck me when I gave a presentation at the recent 
