Tech Ed-dy » Blogging http://macoun.edublogs.org Reflections on rapids navigated and the ones still to come. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:39:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 A Parking Lot of Media on 21st Century Schools http://macoun.edublogs.org/2009/05/21/a-parking-lot-of-great-21st-century-school-ideas/ http://macoun.edublogs.org/2009/05/21/a-parking-lot-of-great-21st-century-school-ideas/#comments Fri, 22 May 2009 06:15:09 +0000 pmacoun http://macoun.edublogs.org/2009/05/21/a-parking-lot-of-great-21st-century-school-ideas/ These are all great videos and slideshows.  I’m sure there are lots of common threads but I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by it all.  So my plan is to park them all here and come back from time to time.

21st Century Pedagogy by Marco Torres

21st century schools with Stephen Heppell

Some great presentation zen style slideshows by Kim Cofino.

The 21st Century Learner

View more presentations from Kim Cofino

The 21st Century Educator

View more presentations from Kim Cofino.
]]> http://macoun.edublogs.org/2009/05/21/a-parking-lot-of-great-21st-century-school-ideas/feed/ 3 Reflections on Blogging in the Classroom http://macoun.edublogs.org/2008/11/12/reflections-on-blogging-in-the-classroom/ http://macoun.edublogs.org/2008/11/12/reflections-on-blogging-in-the-classroom/#comments Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:53:11 +0000 pmacoun http://macoun.edublogs.org/?p=17 This week I am participating in a Knowschools course on Blogging in the Classroom.  It has been a stretch for me to try and actively participate in this course as well a keep on top of the mountain of other things that usually take up my day, but it has been worth it.

Our latest assignment has been to watch and reflect on an amazing video called Blogging in Their Own Words.

I’m not sure what go into me but I felt compelled to take notes and try to sort out the underlying messages coming from these students.  I used a table in google docs to try and organise my notes and was pleasantly surprised to see some common themes emerge.  In general the students in this video seemed to be saying that they found blogging to be a valuable classroom tool because:

  • Blogs allowed everyone in the class to participate in the discussion, not just the vocal few.
  • Blogs provided a written record of the class discussion that they could refer back to.
  • Blogs were transparent and allowed you to see what other people were thinking.  I included a number of comments about how blogs facilitated the creation of a learning community in this category as I figured their transparent nature might play a role in this.
  • Blogs allowed students to feel ownership over their learning because they are able to teach themselves and learn from each other.
  • Blogs take the conversation outside the classroom which ‘leaves a bigger imprint’ on their brains.
  • Blogs allow for a deeper level of discussion as they have more time to formulate their thoughts.

Wow.  What a powerful argument for blogging in the classroom.

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