For my initial step into potential classroom ICT’s, I chose to look at creating a blog, using Weebly.com First, I’ll share with you the more technical and functional aspects I discovered, then the safety, legal and ethical considerations which stood out to me. Lastly, we will take a look application in a classroom context. Weebly is a “drag and drop” website builder which allows you to build a professional looking blog using simple techniques. “Drag and drop” simply means that in order to add content elements to your website, you simply drag elements such as text, images and YouTube videos off a task bar (See Fig. 1) and onto your page, where you can then upload digital artifacts from your computer or embed them from other sites. Text is edited the same way you edit text in an average word processor. A couple of functions which stood out were the “survey” function, where you could create polls, and the ability to add maps, quotes, and documents. The site has some multi-author capacity, as you can go to the settings tab and add editors. On the free Weebly site, adding an editor means that more than one person can view and edit all pages and settings as well as install apps to the blog. For those with Weebly PRO there are further permission options - you can select which pages an additional author can view and edit, and which settings they can access or can allow someone access to only usage stats, forms and comments (See Fig 2.). Privacy on Weebly is limited if you are using the free version, as the default visibility for the website is public, which means that anyone can view content on the site, and that the site will show up when key words are entered into Google Search engines. Weebly Pro or Business customers however can lock pages with passwords, and also hide the site from search engines. You have control over commenting, by clicking on the “post options” button, which allows you to control whether post are open or closed to comments, or whether comments require administrative approval before becoming public. In terms of digital artifacts, such as images, audio or video, Weebly allows you to embed already existing images, videos and audio into blog posts, through the drag and drop process. When you add images, you are able to alter the image, and create a more personalized digital artifact through usual editing features such as cropping, rotating, adjusting filters, focus and adding text (See Fig. 3). Weebly also has a slide-show feature, in which you can create slideshows, and add captions. I had a bit of fun with that as you can see in Figure 3. Reflecting on my experiences, Weebly was fairly easy to use, even though I have very average technical skills. If you have basic experience using Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and other common applications, then using Weebly is fairly intuitive, though a little bit fiddly when it comes to images. Functionality aside, it is also important to take into account safety, legal and ethical considerations when students use blogs. Some key concerns would be cyber-bullying, respect for copy-right and privacy. Cyber-bullying is a major concern, and using the blog tools functions available, careful screening of student comments can occur, as mentioned above. I think it's important however, that we don't just expect the features of a technological tool to control for bullying. Students also need to be educated around the effects and implications of cyber-bullying. When asking students to give comments on other student’s work, it is important to note that this task requires not only skills of evaluation and analysis, but also the skill of giving feed-back. It is important students consciously learn how to give constructive feed-back, rather than criticism, which can be hurtful or perceived of as bullying. There needs to be rules enforced to protect students, and protocols set up within the school for students to follow when they feel unsafe. The Australian Government has a Children’s eSafety Commissioner, and their site provides some protocols for reporting. Figure 4 gives an example of how to report e-safety issues when using social media services. Setting up a similar “steps” response to cyber-bullying in the classroom would be useful, and students can even be asked to design posters – using technology and reflecting on how they are going to use it simultaneously. Fig. 4: www.esafety.gov.au/esafety-information/esafety-issues/cyberbullying Secondly, students must be aware of plagiarism, and taught how to reference images, videos and information they decide to use on their site, even if very basic referencing methods are initially used. Lastly, privacy is crucial and permission control can be used to ensure that blogs are seen by the correct audience, or not found on Google search engines if that is not desired. Images of teachers and students should not be shared without parental, student and teacher consent. Okay, clearly, functions on the paid site such as the multi-editor settings and privacy/ permission settings make it functional in a classroom. Now we’ve established that we can move on to look at practical application in a classroom context, and explore that using the SAMR model and Bloom’s taxonomy. One idea I had was in using a blog for a research project with a slight twist. The students can be asked to choose a topic to research, for example, “Why is the Great barrier Reef dying?” After choosing a topic, they set up a blog, and keep note of their initial research by writing small posts, where they also embed the links to websites they find and videos they watch. They are then asked to look at other students’ research, making comments and posing questions. In the next part of the task, they need to read the public’s comments on their own initial research, and, choosing three key comments/ questions, use these responses to formulate a secondary research question, which they research into further, and end by making recommendations. An example of these secondary questions could be, “are crown of thorns starfish a main cause?” or “what are we doing about it?” Finally they are asked not only to present their research conclusions on their blog (where they can use poster and videos forms as well), but also present a blog post using screen-shots or links to comments, to show how they came to formulate their secondary question. In terms of the SAMR model (Fig. 5) the blog can easily be used to substitute for paper and pen in the initial research phase, and can augment research by allowing for the addition of images, linking of websites, videos as a part of the note-taking process. The technology allows for modification of the task, as students can be asked to interact with one another, or with the public through commenting. Redefinition occurs because the blog provides that platform where research can be made public and commented on, and an arena for instant public feed-back, thus they are able to choose the path of further research based on public comments and opinion on their initial research. Re-definition also occurs in the method in which they can present their conclusions, and show a visible display of the history of their research and public contributions. Using the lens of Bloom’s taxonomy (Fig.6), the task allows for both lower, and higher order thinking. Research allows them to discover observe, list and name. Posting blogs as they research asks them to summarise and demonstrate, while commenting allows for discussion. They then need to assess comments, and compare ideas, in order to choose a path for further research, as well as analyse patterns and apply their knowledge to come to conclusions for presentations. How they present the information requires imagination, and the combining of various ideas, and thoughts from others. Fig. 5: http://techtipsedu.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/samr-model-metaphor-mistakes.html Fig. 6: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vandycft/29428436431 Overall, Weebly was not a difficult tool to learn about, and even if students have low skill-levels, it is a great platform for students to use. It allows students to save, present and share ideas in a neat format they can be proud of, as well as has potential to be used for spaces of on-line collaboration. References:
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