Blogging - Learning By Example

            Here we are, back to our classrooms after a nice, relaxing long weekend. I had a great time off, and I hope the rest of you did as well. While the holiday is a great chance to unwind or decompress, I did manage to sneak in some reflection time during some of my “sitting around” time – one of my favourite types of times.

            I explored some teacher-oriented blogs, 3 of which have especially intrigued me. I will review them below:

Blog #1 – The Tech Savvy Educator

            The first thing that appealed to me about this blog was that it has a wide range of topics. While it all falls under a technology blanket, the writer applies his tech knowledge to various categories (e.g. Assessment, Arts, Science, Advocacy). I like that the categories are not simply course-based, but also touch upon other major areas of his experience (i.e. advocacy and assessment).

            If you explore any specific category, you’ll find tech resources that may be helpful to other teachers in the subject area. His most common resource is something called a “video story problem”, which uses videos to introduce a problem-solving scenario. One of my favourites, for example, took place in a hotel room. Noticing the complimentary shampoo bottles, he pondered: “I wonder how much shampoo a hotel goes through per year?” This question was illustrated with a  video:

Video Story Problem - How Much Shampoo? from Ben Rimes on Vimeo.

What a great way to attract attention to an otherwise fairly mundane question! In a textbook, this would likely come off as “just another boring, pointless question”. But, when framed in the humourous context of a regular guy sharing his random musings during a recent stay at a hotel, it allows the viewer to see that the question has validity from a Seinfeld-eqsue, minutia-examining perspective. Even when life is at its most boring level, it can be fun to wonder about silly little things like this.

            This approach also lends itself to blended learning, as it could be used to present a problem to students taking online courses. Of course, it can also be used to present online homework to a traditional classroom as well.

            The last thing I’ll mention about this blog is that it embraces the use of the Creative Commons. It does so under an “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported” license.

Let me translate this for you:

This blog may be shared (copied or redistributed in any format) or adapted (transformed, remixed, or built upon) as long as the following are attended to:

Attribution – credit must be given to the blog author if the material is to be used elsewhere

NonCommercial – material may not be used for commercial purposes

ShareAlike – If any of the content is to be transformed, remixed, or built upon, it must be shared by the same license as the original.

Blog #2 – eSchool News

I found this item in the list of top 100 blogs provided. It isn’t exactly a blog in the truest sense (perhaps it once was, and has grown?), as it contains contributions from multiple authors – this makes it more of an online newspaper of sorts. Nevertheless, I found the resource to be too useful to pass up reflecting upon it.

This website is a great resource for extensive “behind-the-scenes” or “meta” information about teaching with technology. News is categorized according to the following: Admin, Data, Curriculum, IT Management, Mobile, Online Learning, Policy, Professional Development and Social Media. It should be noted that this site is US-based, so be aware if/when exploring sections like, say, curriculum – it will not likely be as helpful for us Canucks.

Despite being US-based, however, this site has much to offer from a generic teaching standpoint. For example, the IT management section – I am the go-to “IT guy” at my school, and have helped in setting up IT infrastructure (e.g. a school-wide WiFi network, or the school computer lab administration). These things are always requiring maintenance, and, furthermore, they can always be improved to act more efficiently or securely. By keeping up with IT Management article *geared toward teachers*, I might discover better ways of maintaining/implementing technology in the future, be it on a classroom or school-wide basis.

Coincidentally, this site is in sync with our subject matter, as it current sports a front-page feature which reads “How to Make Blended Learning Work”. Clicking on this feature reveals a collection of 10 archived articles which have previously been posted to the site – certainly a great start point for any teacher trying to get their feet off the ground in said topic (myself included)!

Blog #3 – Adventures in Educational Blogging

            My final exploration landed me at Adventures in Educational Blogging. This blog certainly feels more close to home when compared to my current personal level of blogging skills. Because of this personal relationship, I suppose this blog has sparked more personal reflection out of me than others.

When compared to my own blog, I notice many similarities - of course, the fact that we’re both using Blogger as a publishing medium certainly has influence, but anyhow..

It has an original title and headline, and makes use of a sidebar to include other useful information. Said info includes a brief bio, archived posts by date, related links, the current weather in Singapore (nice reminder that the author is abroad – may affect reader’s perspective), and a Creative Commons license icon. The latter had become important to me in this week’s studies, and has made me realize that I should probably follow suit and register my own work. I’m happy to share, as long as it’s shared in a way I deem appropriate!

            The content of this blog is far less specific than were my previous 2 candidates. This can be refreshing in a way, as the unpredictability that chronological experience brings gives the writing more of a “grab bag” feel. For instance, this blog had posts regarding the author’s favourite iPhone apps, a toast to an appreciated substitute teacher, and an annual blog awards post.

So ends my reflection. The last general thing I’ll comment upon is that these blogs were, as far as I saw, written professionally and would have little problem adhering to the OCT Advisory or any similar document. This is of great importance primarily due to the potential permanence that comes with publishing anything online. If one is creating a professional blog (or the like), one must remember to do so as a representative of the teaching profession, as it is considered to be “on-duty” activity.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading. ;)