Building a Web presence: Weblogs are becoming essential in school districts across the country.HERE'S THE RECIPE: GIVE teachers and students Weblogs in which to write and publish work for global audiences, add pointers on publishing and communicating safely online, drop in a pinch of collaboration and support by experienced bloggers, and watch what happens. For fifth-grade students in Georgia, working with education consultant Anne Davis, the result was a group blog called "Blogical Mind" for exchanging ideas on literacy inside and outside classrooms, and individual student blogs on related topics. Examples of the latter include "Eddie's Rainbow of Thought," "Victoria's Dreams of Wonder," and "Mia's Hall of Fame," linked to the collective site and also accessible directly. The blogs are drawing readers throughout the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and as far away as Australia, and the bloggers are learning the importance of online communities and having a "clickable clickable adj (COMPUT) → cliqueable clickable adj → cliccabile " presence on the Web. Gaining Access Unfortunately, many administrators prevent school users from establishing an online presence, fearing that simply being online puts their districts in danger. Many are also influenced by the few but tragic incidents that have involved social networking sites A Web site that provides a virtual community for people interested in a particular subject or just to "hang out" together. Members create their own online "profile" with biographical data, pictures, likes, dislikes and any other information they choose to post. such as MySpace, even though 40 million adolescents are participating in such sites. But while the Internet does indeed carry risks, as does life offline, tens of thousands of students and teachers publish content to the Web daily in safe and ethical ways. For example, students in an AP psychology class in Nashua, N.H., created video projects about sleep disorders Sleep Disorders Definition Sleep disorders are a group of syndromes characterized by disturbance in the patient's amount of sleep, quality or timing of sleep, or in behaviors or physiological conditions associated with sleep. and posted them on YouTube; elementary school elementary school: see school. students in Omaha, Neb., recorded and published podcasts on the school site Radio WillowWeb; and school bloggers in many places are connected to the world and participate in amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. conversations about topics that interest them. All of this comes from having an online presence, and Eddie, Victoria and Mia are learning how to find students and teachers "out there" and are helping others find them. In this new Read/Write Web world, not knowing how to do that limits our students to whatever happens to be within the four walls of the classroom, at the place and time that they are there. But whether or not individuals have access to the emerging online communications technologies Noun 1. communications technology - the activity of designing and constructing and maintaining communication systems engineering, technology - the practical application of science to commerce or industry in their school districts, they are using them outside of school. One example is FanFiction, a Web site where thousands of students write about favorite books, TV shows and movies. A recent Pew PEW. A seat in a church separated from all others, with a convenient space to stand therein. 2. It is an incorporeal interest in the real property. And, although a man has the exclusive right to it, yet, it seems, he cannot maintain trespass against a person Internet study found that 55 percent of our kids access social network sites, and those numbers continue to grow. Fast Forward In our emerging online world, students need to know how to publish and collaborate using a variety of media, and to create and nurture NURTURE. The act of taking care of children and educating them: the right to the nurture of children generally belongs to the father till the child shall arrive at the age of fourteen years, and not longer. Till then, he is guardian by nurture. Co. Litt. 38 b. their own networks of learners for lifelong learning Lifelong learning is the concept that "It's never too soon or too late for learning", a philosophy that has taken root in a whole host of different organisations. Lifelong learning is attitudinal; that one can and should be open to new ideas, decisions, skills or behaviors. . Weblogs have also become essential to the online culture for insights and opinions on almost every conceivable topic, as direct ories such as Bloogz.com and Technorati.com confirm. Every K12 district, therefore, needs to provide online educational communications opportunities, offer clickable access for classes and individuals, and teach responsible use. As Anne Davis says in introducing beginners to blogging, "Starting today, you are going to take charge of your learning. You will tell the story of what you are learning and what it means to you. You will decide what is worth knowing. You will satisfy your own burning curiosity. You will ask good questions about what you are learning. You will get a kick out of learning." That's the unparalleled power of an online presence! Will Richardson is a contributing editor A contributing editor is a magazine job title that varies in responsibilities. Most often, a contributing editor is a freelancer who has proven ability and readership draw. for DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION and The Pulse: Education's Place for Debate, www. districtadministration.com/pulse. RESOURCES Blogical Minds itc.blogs.com FanFiction.net www.fanfiction.net MySpace www.myspace.com Pew Internet & American Life Project www.pewinternet.org Radio WillowWeb www.mpsomaha.org/willow/radio YouTube www.youtube.com |
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