1. Using Classblogmeister in the Classroom Mark Ahlness October 17, 2006 Arbor Heights Elementary Seattle, Washington

2. Session Overview Benefits Personal history with Blogmeister Demo – how it works Get started with a blog! Time to get feet wet Discussion topics Resources

3. Benefits of Blogmeister It’s a blog – kids WANT to be in this environment. Safe: every word is approved by the teacher before it appears (if the teacher wants) There is community (http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/classblogmeister/) ( classblogmeister-subscribe@yahoogroups.com) classblogmeister-subscribe@yahoogroups.com It’s not blocked! It’s free!

4. A brief history…. Roomtwelve.com *started in August *kids start blogging 11/1 *there is ownership *there is motivation Roomtwelve.com Ahlness.com *started in June *searching for a voice *intertwining of purpose Ahlness.com

5. Demo: Roomtwelve.com

6. Roomtwelve.com Roomtwelve.com demo topics Roomtwelve.com The Control Panel Posting Articles Creating a class Students Permissions The Class Panel Approving/Editing Student Articles and Comments (class participation)

7. Let’s set one up! Address: http://classblogmeister.com http://classblogmeister.com Everybody needs to get: A school passcode Email David Warlick: david.warlick@gmail.com david.warlick@gmail.com For this class: (edited out)

8. Fill out the form: For school name at this event, fill in your school name – or – Fill in

9. Basic Setup Login process (email address + password) Control panel setup (naming the blog, etc) Class setup Deciding on permissions Dummy students Post a message as a student Approve/edit it

10. Discussion Topics Blogger’ Contract – permissions, etc Testing the waters first… Understanding blogging The writing curriculum/process Blogging from home Time Expectations

11. Resources http://del.icio.us/mahlness/within/without (list of great example classblogmeister blogs) http://del.icio.us/mahlness/within/without http://www.halcyon.com/arborhts/bloggers_contract.doc (Blogger’s Contract) http://www.halcyon.com/arborhts/bloggers_contract.doc http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/classblogmeister (helpful discussion list of Blogmeister users) http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/classblogmeister Beyond Classblogmeister http://k12onlineconference.org/ http://k12online.wm.edu/k12online2006_optz.mp4 http://k12online.wm.edu/k12online2006_optz.mp4 (David Warlick’s keynote to above – 85 MB – worth it!)