For the past 2 years I have been sporadically blogging; usually depending on which course I am completing. When I considered the option of a website I was a little confused as I don't have a business to advertise or promote, I am just a person, why do I need a website?I have a blog. then I took the time to watch Pilar's video on Google sites, how easy is it to create a site, and with the assistance of 'templates' I could see why and how I could use a blog.
This time next year my family (my husband, 2 sons aged 8 yrs and 2 yrs) and I intend to travel from the east coast to the west coast of Australia, over a 3 month period. The details are still coming together but my plan is to support my son in keeping a blog as a daily or weekly record of where we travel and what we see, this way our friends and family back home can see what we are doing. When I saw the templates on Google sites I realised that we could have a website, that would serve to house photos, show a map record of our journey, countdown the days - the possibilities are endless!! and we could have our blog feed into the website.
It never ceases to amaze me at how creative people can be when you give them the opportunity. Often in my job I will be in a discussion with someone about a project they are working on and I will say that I saw a great tool that I think would work really well for them in what they are doing. I am slowly realising that you can't give others your vision, you have to put stuff (tools) out there and let them take what they need, when they need it. following on from what I have just said, and considering this weeks reading re:online activities I think that an important thing to remember when developing or creating online tools is to maintain a level of diversity and variety in the activities as different activities might suit different learners at varying stages in their development, so the trick is to not get stuck on one 'tool or technique' like - discussions (as I considered in my previous post) but rather mix it up and trust that some activities will be liked 'less' than others but perhaps this makes the preferred activities all the better.
So in consideration of this weeks task - What might be the advantages and disadvantages of using a class blog or student blogs for your class? Could a Google Site or web page make a good welcome for students?
A web page, class blog or wiki are all effective tools to welcome and layout a clear path for students to commence their learning journey. I think a key point is to gauge the level of pre-existing skill and exposure a particular learner has had to the technologies being used and then introduce the tools gradually, as we have been exposed to various tools over the weeks. I think that having a fabulously busy website with a plethora of technologies could be overwhelming for some learners and as we all agree put the pedagogy first and don't get caught up in the fancy tools and technologies. Try new things and see what works for your content delivery but also remember that new learners may respond to new tools so always be open to something new. The nature of change in our society is fast paced and as presenters of information and learning we need to 'keep up' with what's new.
This time next year my family (my husband, 2 sons aged 8 yrs and 2 yrs) and I intend to travel from the east coast to the west coast of Australia, over a 3 month period. The details are still coming together but my plan is to support my son in keeping a blog as a daily or weekly record of where we travel and what we see, this way our friends and family back home can see what we are doing. When I saw the templates on Google sites I realised that we could have a website, that would serve to house photos, show a map record of our journey, countdown the days - the possibilities are endless!! and we could have our blog feed into the website.
It never ceases to amaze me at how creative people can be when you give them the opportunity. Often in my job I will be in a discussion with someone about a project they are working on and I will say that I saw a great tool that I think would work really well for them in what they are doing. I am slowly realising that you can't give others your vision, you have to put stuff (tools) out there and let them take what they need, when they need it. following on from what I have just said, and considering this weeks reading re:online activities I think that an important thing to remember when developing or creating online tools is to maintain a level of diversity and variety in the activities as different activities might suit different learners at varying stages in their development, so the trick is to not get stuck on one 'tool or technique' like - discussions (as I considered in my previous post) but rather mix it up and trust that some activities will be liked 'less' than others but perhaps this makes the preferred activities all the better.
So in consideration of this weeks task - What might be the advantages and disadvantages of using a class blog or student blogs for your class? Could a Google Site or web page make a good welcome for students?
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