Are Blogs the “Killer App” for Classrooms.
I have just finished listening to the Ed Tech Crew’s latest podcast where they interviewed Chris Betcher. The Interview was on Interactive Whiteboards, but thats not what I wanted to write about. For me Chris always interviews well and has a common sense approach to ICT for “real” teachers that I find refreshing. The interview got me thinking about how we use ICT as educators, and then I surprised myself by having an irresistible urge to write about it on my Blog. Now being a bit of a Newb to Blogs this came as a bit of a revelation. How does a Science teacher who has always hated English make the transition from “I don’t wanna write” to “Hmm think I might publish this on my blog”.
Now normally I would just remind myself that I am a Geek and thats what Geeks do. BUT, during the last few weeks, I
have been working with Year 7 students and now whenever I see them they tell me something new about their blogs, they are accessing each others blogs from home, their parents are leaving comments, the principal is leaving comments for the kids and 7D is a buzz in “Blogdom” as they put it. So I might be a Geek and terribly uncool but surely this group of Year 7 students can’t all be Geeks surely some of them are cool. Maybe Blogs are the “Killer App”, the Holy Grail, the tool which teachers, students and parents can all use, common ground for all.
Is it really common ground for all though? The answer at least IMHO is yes, Yes, YES. We can all participate in blogs at least once we have conquered our initial fear of “what if someone reads this?” Having the confidence to actually post on a Blog is a big thing. In fact this is probably my first real Blog entry where I have just, well rambled on really. But now that I am in the groove theres no stopping me. I have moved on from the “Jeez I hope no-one reads this” to “WooHoo 3 people read my post”, who knows maybe this post could even get 4 readers. Make sure you leave a comment so I know you visited.
We often talk about Web 2.0 engaging students, but I think that there is at least as much engagement on the part of the teacher. Admittedly I have only really worked closely with one teacher so far (will be expanding my empire soon though) and admittedly she was pretty engaged to start with but the journey which she has taken over the past 2 months has been incredible. She started as a self confessed ICT “noob”and in a very short period of time has progressed to running 3 Blogs and moderating 25 student blogs. From someone who didn’t know the difference between a widget and an RSS feed, to someone who just talks about Twitter as if its the communication tool of choice for everyone (It is isn’t it!)
Blogs Rock, no discussion needed, I just “luv’s em to pieces”.
April 16th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I never said I was a ‘dill’ but the fact that I have come home from work and am reading and responding to your blog before I feed my children confirms the rest of what you write: blogs are addictive!
April 16th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Indeed, I was trying to think of the correct term for where you were starting at. After careful consideration thats where I ended up
. Besides you were supposed to read the complimentary paragraph rather than the derogatory single word 
..
Anyhooo have finally arrived at a far better “Geeky” word…..
April 16th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
G’day, thanks, and glad you enjoyed the podcast. Nice to see that you’ve joined the blogosphere…
I think part of the reason that blogs are the “killer app” as you say is that the price of entry is so low. They are not complicated to start, require as much or as little time as you like, and once you start to get feedback and you realise,, wow, there really are people out there who read (and sometimes even respond), it can be quite addictive. I think deep down all of us has a need to express ourselves ad to think we are heard, and blogs seem to feed that need.
Interesting to read how your kids are taking to blogging, and super good to hear that principal is getting in on the act and leaving comments, etc. makes a huge difference if you get that support from the top!
Keep up the great work!
April 16th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Thanks Chris, your right finding out that someone is actually reading your blog is really cool (and a little daunting I guess). This post comes with a certain sense of euphoria attached to it. I’m not sure how you come across this post, but it feels great that you have taken the time to reply to it.
Keep up the great work…
April 16th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Ah, the magic of Trackbacks! the glue that holds the blogosphere together!
The Edublogs dashboard is a wonderful place.
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:44 am
hey geek man dude person thingomajig this is ker0005 from 7D thnx 4 all of your help
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:47 am
Hey this is mcd from 7d nice blog it is really big.
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:48 am
hey this rob from 7D and your post is really LONG. Im not a GEEK ..im COOL!!
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:28 am
Hey sartz
its kita from 7d
now i no 4 sure that no1 in 7d r geeks…
maybe a few but not all of us…
from kita
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:29 am
Hey Sartz this is BeXtA (rom from 7d),
Thanx 4 writing somethin bout us…. but only one problem…. We aren’t geeks!!!
but ohwell HA HA HA HA HA
From BeXtA….B-)
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:37 am
hey sartz
thank you for coming to shc and showing us and teaching about blogs andhow to get a blog.
i really like your blog, i like it how youhavetalked about us in your post. your postis very long!!!!! i wantedto read it all but it is ssooooo long i could not bebothered sorry!!!!! i hope you come back soon to teach us some more about the blogs!
bye bye for now
dan0002
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:43 am
hey we rnt geeks lolz jokes he he…… yea i hav really enjoyed dong the blogs its so awesome!!!!!! thaks for including us u the bomb lolz…. nah ur awesome!!!!
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:45 am
hello
how can u call us geek????? dont forget that you were the one who taught us to be like tha… haha well gtg catch
nezza:)
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Haha i reckon u guys might be geeks but just don’t know it yet. Glad to hear you are enjoying the Blogs. Must be about time I swung by and took a peek at how you have been going..
April 23rd, 2008 at 6:24 pm
HEY WE ARE NOT GEEKS!
your blog has lots of writing you must type quick! thanx for puting us on your post and thank you for taking the time to teach our class how to make a blog i have really enjoyed it. Now i actually look forward to my general studies classes!
You may have already got this coment be i wasent sure you got it so i did it again
Thanx again!
May 6th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Wow, thought i’d check out your newsletter before you come to north friday. was impressed. your blog is actually easy reading, nice work!!! this blogging thing must be addictive cause i haven’t even turned on the tv or cooked tea yet and here i am - reading your blog! i’ve set up a wikispace for my class but we haven’t posted comments yet, i’m really excited about getting into it.
- vanessa (SHNPS)
May 7th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Thanks Vanessa, they are addictive have about 3 posts half written that I need to get finished, but strangely work keeps getting in the way.
I am looking forward to getting to school to catch up with you on Friday, I have a couple of favours I might need to ask of you while I am there…
May 7th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
I think you may have started something in our KLA meeting tonight. There was a real buzz. Can’t wait to start experimenting myself and building up that ‘metalanguage’. I am sure I need an avatar (now I know what one is!) Can see some excellent applications for all our year sevens.
JRo
May 8th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Yes, I knew we were on a winner when we still had half the people there and hour after they could have left :). Blogs (and wikis) are great tools and are particularly useful for English/Humanities Teachers as both tools involve so much reading and writing in context. That and the fact that they are addictive little suckers to both Teachers and Students doesn’t hurt either.
May 8th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Hi Sartz,
Yes you are turning us all into geeks. Thanks for getting me into the podcasts and maybe next semester we’ll look at blogs!
May 9th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Indeed KLo thats my plan world domination by turning everyone into Geeks
Will catch up next week about blogs although I think wiki’s might be more your style. I am setting one up at sartz.wetpaint.com right now.