by derrickwillard on May 24, 2010 at 2:52 pm · Filed under blog, ClustrMap and tagged: blog, ClustrMap, students
In the previous post, I put in a plug for using ClustrMaps so your students know they have the world watching/reading/judging what they produce. I am not paid to endorse the ClustrMap widget, I just think it is a simple and effective tool to use on a blog. There are other “hit maps” out there. I think my new favorite may be Revolver Maps, which features a spinning globe and live hits.
Ok, so I know hit maps are nothing new for those of you who have been visiting blogs regularly, but here is a brief slide show that shows how my 8th Period AP Environmental Science class blog grew a global audience during the 2009-2010 school year. I think it is neat to see their audience grow month by month…
*Since this space is too small to see the hit maps clearly, I recommend you click “view on slideshare” in the bottom right corner for better viewing.
Do you have a favorite hit map to suggest?
by derrickwillard on May 19, 2010 at 3:19 pm · Filed under blended classroom, blog, ClustrMap, social media and tagged: blog, ClustrMap, social media, student work
So, the year is ending and I am trying to reflect on and evaluate my experiment with class blogs (see Current Class Projects to the right)…
How does a blog create a “blended classroom?” Using a class blog for each of my AP Environmental Science sections, I was able to extend my classroom in time (asynchronous interaction) and space (beyond the physical class walls). Lessons that began in the physical classroom could be continued in a virtual one. In an earlier post, I shared what the kids say they learned using our class blog. In this post, I want to share some things I think I learned (sorry, this one is a bit long):
1. Strike the right bargain–use stick and carrot. Students were required to create a graded scribe post once or twice a semester at most, so the assignment never seemed oppressive. The fact that a scribe post was graded could be a stick or a carrot, depending on how you view grades. Students had the option of creating reflection posts just prior to each test for extra credit, so there was some incentive to kick off or participate in a discussion of the material at the blog. For more on the “promise, tool, bargain” concepts, see Chapter Eleven of Clay Shirky’s, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations.
2. Make sure the kids know someone else is watching–use a window. There is a simple widget called ClustrMap, that you can install for free at any blog. I’ve got one embedded on the far right of this blog. Take a second and click on the map and you’ll get a good view of where unique visitors to the site are from on a larger world map as well as a list of visitors by country. Both of my class blogs had over 1,500 visitors from every continent (except Antarctica, which is not shown on a ClustrMap). The kids were excited to watch their list of viewers grow each week. Many were surprised and curious as to who would be interested in their work. Beyond using a ClustrMap, I invited parents to audit our course and made sure kids knew anyone could read their work. When work is only produced for a teacher, I think kids often feel this is an artificial situation/audience and then we don’t get their best work. I think if you spend some time looking at the work my kids produced, it is high quality stuff. I think comments like the one in this Twitter screenshot (below), show the kids that others are watching and value their efforts:
Tweet by PDS Alum RE: Class Blog
3. If they build it, they will come back and use it. While I contributed blog posts to each class blog, the kids shouldered the bulk of the work. I wanted to model good blogging, but I did not want to dominate the virtual classroom. No matter how much I try to turn some things over to students, I still tend to dominate the physical classroom. I think our virtual classroom became a safe space to work through concepts and question things said/done in class. I was thrilled to see comments like these on the end of year course eval:
“Taking risks on the blog was easier than in class-less face to face confrontation.”
“It provided really good notes to study with for the AP Exam. I really liked the organization of the blog into units, it helped concentrate studying on the topics I needed most.”
“The class blog was extremely helpful by the end of the year. It was a very nice resource for studying for the exam because it was a nice overview of all the notes.”
“The Class Blog was kind of like the backbone to all of our class discussions. My study guides would only get me so far, and when I couldn’t remember class notes or I missed a day, the blog was always helpful.”
I’m thrilled we built something students value. I think you can SEE the value of the resource by looking at the data I pulled from the stats section of the blog the day of the AP exam (May 11, 2010):
Student use peaks prior to exam
4. Students can create a remarkable resource, but scaffolding helps. To build on my last comment, this project did not mature on its own. Teenagers need adults to guide their growth as people, and they need teachers to guide their work in cooperative learning environments. I recently saw a tweet in which someone described kids using social media without adults akin to Lord of the Flies. These kids had clear guidelines and a basic AUP. We discussed building a “positive digital footprint” prior to beginning the project. Finally, they helped establish a rubric for what a quality scribe post looks like (which I used to grade them second semester). If you are interested in any of our project guidelines or the grading rubric, contact me by email.
So, those are my thoughts.
What I really need now is some constructive criticism on how to improve this model. I don’t have any other peers using this model at my school currently. For example, how could I give the kids even more ownership? Do I need to? If so, how to do so?
by derrickwillard on April 25, 2010 at 6:22 pm · Filed under blog and tagged: blog, ClustrMap, scribe post, student work, tag cloud, why
So, this year I tried an experiment with a CLASS blog. Yes, a CLASS blog, not individual blogs.
Why blog? Well, there are a number of reasons I might ask students to blog for the CLASS:
1. To remember or recount what happened in class that day. We call this a “scribe post.”
2. To offer a question about a confusing concept prior to the test. We call this a “reflection post.” Other students are encouraged to answer these questions.
3. To share something neat or a current event. We call these “on my mind posts.”
and other reasons to use a blog include:
4. To debate. Blogs allow a space for responses after each post, and sometimes I require students to participate in a discussion of a topic (like bottled water use).
5. To create a “positive digital footprint.” I think I have a responsibility to help these kids leave a more substantial mark on the WWW besides what they post on Facebook.
We’ve categorized all the posts by the first 3 categories above if you want to see examples. You can check out either of my class blogs at these links:
APES 5th Period Class Blog 2009-2010
APES 8th Period Class Blog 2009-2010
Each student was required to serve as the class “scribe” at least once or twice a semester and create a summary lesson for those who might have been absent. Each student had the option of posting reflections before each test for some minor extra credit on the test. Some students felt compelled to share something neat-a headline, a picture, or even a YouTube video clip. By doing all this, the kids have had to reflect on what they’ve learned and they’ve created a wonderful online textbook as a resource for AP exam preparation.
If you have a moment to explore our class blogs, I want to encourage you to scroll down to the “tag cloud” of topics we’ve studied this year (pictured below). Pick a topic that is of interest to you (energy, water, agriculture, etc…) and click on the tag.
Env. Sci. Topics
We’ve cross-linked all the posts dealing with that topic even though they might be in different units. That’s the beauty of the environmental science course (and use of a blog)–the interconnections between topics. As John Muir once said, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” Also, notice the “ClustrMap” of the world and look at the global audience these kids have attracted this year!
*As I have done in previous blog posts, I must give credit to Class Blog-Jedi Master Darren Kuropatwa for this model.
