Jan 08 2007
The Ultimate Blogging Toolkit
Ever since I decided to run some workshops in school about some new web 2.0 tools, I have been thinking about what set of resources (physical and digital) would best make up a sort of blogging toolkit. A starter pack for teachers to make the most of the technology.
So what would you need in an ideal situation in your classroom to get the most from a blog. I would be really interested in creating an ideal situation, something that perhaps teachers new to the technology can look at in a practical sense.
So lets make a start on the digital or online resources:
> A blogging account – we have been using a free Learnerblog
> Bookmarking storage – a place to store and share your Favourites, del.icio.us is popular
> Image storage – we use a free class Flickr account so we can link to photos we use – these pop up nicely in Learnerblogs as a Flickr bar underneath where you type your post.
> We also use a wikispace for ongoing work that is less appropriate for blogging. We have been using some for poetry and other stuff. They are also very good at embedding all sorts of media, scroll to the bottom of the literacy page for some work on Bubblr and look at our history page for work in Quikmaps
What about the physical resources:
> A digital camera in the class is really useful – currently we have a Sony Mavica
> Laptops with a strong wireless connection available in the classroom full time would also be ideal. This would help facilitate and make regular the process of writing. Hopefully we are to have some soon, so I will see how they go.
> An mp3 recorder would also be great for working with and creating podcasts etc.
I would really like to hear what views you have about what you would include in this “starter toolkit”.
Image Citations:
Neil T, “Toolkit” Neil T’s Photostream. December 25th 2004 <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/2/2517652_156aaa68b4.jpg>
A really good starter toolkit. The only problem with the software options is when some are blocked by filters eg Flickr.
This is a useful list or starting point for school / teachers new to the world of blogs and wikis.
Thanks
Lynne
Hi Tom
To this list I would add a couple of free utilities.
Audacity from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ is arguably the best free sound editor for Windows machines. (We also use older iPods with iTalk mics but even they have problems. Cheaper mp3 players that can record such as a Sandisk are arguably better value.)
Ifranview from http://www.irfanview.us/ is one of the best free image editors that will enable students to crop, resize and manipulate images for their blogs.
Definitely learnerblogs, delicious and flickr. So important to have these tools that can be accessed from anywhere. The flickr learnerblogs plug in is invaluable! Links to other blogs from your blog is a great way to give pupils an audience and motivation, they love receiving comments.
Depending on the set up of school computers, image editing software, to avoid posting huge or poor photos to flickr.
There is definite scope in using mapping sites for a whole host of activities, but perhaps that is beyond the starter kit.
Brilliant bog by the way!
rich
It’s great getting staff started using these, but the real power comes when individual students get their own blogs. Perhaps a WordPress MU (configured by your good self) on your school’s domain?
Oh, and also you don’t mention RSS. The best way to learn about Web 2.0 tools is to find out what others are doing. Perhaps get people to sign up for a Google account and then use Google Reader?
We are teaching a class for the teachers in my district and we started with “Did You KNow” ppt. It really gave them a sense of urgency and why we are teaching the class.
We are introducing similar tools, but different kinds:
Drupal, FURL, Bubbleshare & Photobucket,Wikispaces, Google Docs,
PPT using United Streaming for the video and then Podcasting.
We have just introduced document cameras to our teachers so we are going to practice using them. We will also have a refresher course in I-movie.Our teachers have to blog after each class and so far so good. Good luck to you also.
Thankyou Doug, John, Rich and Diane for the suggestions I am planning on moving the information to http://classroomblogging.wikispaces.com as the list grows.
Thanks again.