Teachers can use a blog to publish instructional materials that the students can access to and where the students can make comments. Teachers can also let students set up their own blogs for a particular subject or for serveral subjects and then assign tasks to students. The tasks should be done using blogs (i.e., publishing articles and sharing them with other students). While the students develop their own blogs, teachers can observe and monitor the students' progress, and identify the learning needs that have not been considered (e.g., students may directly or indirectly express their doubts on blogs). As the information on students' blogs are growing, teachers need to classify, summarise and evaluate different students' blogs and then publish the teachers' opinions, directions, and feedback on their own blogs or on class blogs. By doing this, teachers are actually putting students to the right tracks, because if you just let students publish what ever they like, the use of blog could be out of control, and the relevance between the blog and the content being taught and learning will be reduced.

Links to Resources

Blogging Services

Edublogs is a blogging service specially designed for teachers and students. On Edublogs, students can effortlessly create and manage their blogs. It is packed with useful features and customizable themes, ready made for podcasting, videos, photos and more. There are step by step support with helpful video tutorials on the site. http://www.edublogs.com

Global Teacher is a virtual blogging environment which exists to promote curriculum excellence through the use of Web 2.0 technology. The directory acts as a 'front door' to a virtual staff room that is filled with rich resources, global projects and examples of teachers and students using Web 2.0 technology in exciting ways. This is a project supported by Connect The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and SLAV. You can join and create Teacher and Classroom blogs within minutes.http://globalteacher.org.au

Manila offers many levels of editorial control, allows teachers to approve posts, allows different audiences to see different posts, has a built-in discussion board and listserv, and allows you to close sites to outside access. http://www.userland.com

WordPress gives teachers the ability to set permissions and access, allows them to approve work before it is published.http://wordpress.org

Class Blogmeister allow teachers to asses, comment on, and publish student blogs in a controlled environment. http://classblogmeister.com

Examples of Blogs for Educational Purposes

• Our own backyard is a school blog where student work and events are shared with the community
• eJourney with technokids is the professional blog of Anne Mirtschin. It also has great examples of the online challenges she is setting for her students. Links on the right of the page take you to other teacher and student blogs
• Skippy is one of the students at Hawkesdale P-12 schools personal blogs. It is full of ideas, writing and fun applications such as Voki. It is also a great example of a student keeping themselves safe online by not publishing too much personal information.

• Bright Ideas by the School Library Association Victoria showcases great resources and uses of technology by Victorian Schools
• Readers Cup - a blog also by SLAV to support the Premier's Reading Challenge
• Connect highlights fantastic online resources for teachers and students. Use as a tool to encourage your students to 'comment' in a responsible way (comments are checked before they appear)
• Jenny Luca: Intercepting the Web
• Lisa Hill: School Stuff
• Lauren O'Grady: All Teachers are Learners, All Learners are Teachers
• Aaron Petersen: Super Cheap Teach
• Will Richardson: Weblogg-ed
• Karl Fisch: The Fisch Bowl

Nominated Best Class Blogs 2008

• A really different place
• Risley Roarer’s Blog
• Learning Area 20
• Al Upton
• Extreme Biology
• English Advertising Class
• Mr. Kootman’s Class
• Remote Access

Ideas and Tips on Using Blogs for Educational Purposes

Borja (2005) introduces how the teachers at high schools applied blogs to foster the students to practise writing and reading and what functions the blogs fulfilled. The students’ feedback shows their preference to communicate and learn through the blogs: http://www.iapsych.com/edblogs.pdf

Downes (2004) concludes how blogs are used in education in detail, including replacing the standard class Web page, linking to Internet items relating to courses, organising class seminars and to provide summaries of readings, and grading the students’ efforts of creating blogs. He also introduces two categories of blogging software: hosting services and installed applications: http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume39/EducationalBlogging/157920

This website comprehensively introduces the relevant knowledge about the integration of curriculum and blogs, which might have covered anything you want to know about blogs: http://mywebspace.quinnipiac.edu/PHastings/popular.html

Johnson (2007) provided 20 usaility tips for blogging: http://www.idratherbewriting.com/2007/04/09/twenty-usability-tips-for-your-blog-%E2%80%94-condensed-from-dozens-of-bloggers-experiences 

Huffaker (2005) explored the role of weblogs in promoting literacy in classroom settings. Literacy remains paramount in learning, not only for language development, but also as the foundation of all academic disciplines including science and mathematics. Storytelling ignites literacy and remains an important part of life from childhood through adulthood. Weblogs resemble personal journals or diaries and provide an online venue where self-expression and creativity is encouraged and online communities are built. Therefore weblogs provide an excellent tool where storytelling and literacy advance for both individual expressions and collaborative learning. Furthermore, weblogs can be used across cademic disciplines, making it a viable tool for educational technologists. Find out more at http://www.editlib.org/index.cfm/files/paper_5680.pdf?fuseaction=Reader.DownloadFullText&paper_id=5680&from=NEWDL

Bright ideas is a blog by SLAV where school library staff can share ideas on how they can use Web 2.0 tools in their library and in their school. We hope that it inspires you to think about how you can use some of the tools in your school. http://slav.globalteacher.org.au

Kim (2007) developed a model for the use of blogs in educational contexts by taking into account socio-technical systems theory. The model contributes to interactivity, an open system, a visualization tool, and a decentralized environment of online communication circumstance. Find out more at http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy1.library.usyd.edu.au/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6VCJ-4S0B2FY-2-9&_cdi=5956&_user=115085&_orig=search&_coverDate=11%2F30%2F2008&_sk=999489996&view=c&wchp=dGLbVlW-zSkzk&md5=47937f592cfb8e63a8fd0cef706d6b57&ie=/sdarticle.pdf

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