Real Writing for a Real Audience

Overview During this workshop we will focus on blogs and wikis. By the end of the session you will have: a clear understanding about the key differences between a blog and a wiki, copied down the names of a few blogging sites and a couple of wikis to explore further and try, written down some ideas to help get you started, thought about e-safety seen how easy it is to embed work and resources from other programs, apps, devices etc. thought about moderation and marking, and seen some resources to support the teaching of e-safety

What is a blog?

What is a wiki?

How are blogs and wikis similar? They are both websites. The information – text, images, videos etc etc in blogs and wikis is created or inserted by the people who own and use the blogs or wikis. They both allow users to comment on the content.

Key differences A wiki is made up of lots of pages. You can have as many pages as you like. Wikis are better for …. gathering information from a group of people, archiving information. A blog is like a long continuous page. Blogs are better for …. sharing new information quickly, having a a conversation between the publisher and reader.

Common misconceptions about wikis: A wiki is limited as an encyclopedia-type tool. Not true. Because Wikipedia is so entrenched as the shining example of what a wiki is, many people make the assumption that you can only use a wiki to create some sort of list of definitions. A new wiki is a blank slate. Anyone in the world can edit every wiki. Not true. You can password protect your wiki so that only select people can add, edit, change the content. Once content is changed, it is lost forever, making it susceptible to intentional or unintentional loss of information. Not true. Every rendition of a wiki page is saved. If something happens, simply change back to any past version of the page.

Common misconceptions about blogs: A blog is just a diary. Not true. While online journals and early blogging seemed to focus more on diary-type writing, today's blogs are more varied. Blogs can focus on politics, food, travelling, technology tips, whatever. Only one person can author a blog. Not true. You can set it up so that as many people can publish information on a blog. Readers will be notified who authored each post.

Take a look Examples of Class Blogs Examples of Wikis

Some classroom ideas. Homework – use a blog to upload weekly homework tasks and ask pupils to share their findings Invite parents to add comments and discuss homework topics. Events calendar – set up a blog to share events and things that have been happening or will be happening at school or in the classroom. Topic discussion – set a Wiki on a particular topic and ask pupils to add their thoughts, opinions, findings and questions online for others to leave comments Learning log – ask pupils to set up their own individual blogs to publish work online and share their learning journey with others and ask questions Digital stories or poems – rather than writing in a book pupils could post their stories and poems on a blog for others to read and comment. Discussion at a distance – pupils could work with pupils from another schools or classes to share information, cultural experiences etc. Collaborative story writing – pupils could take turns to write the next paragraph or chapter.

More classroom ideas. More ideas for using a Wiki can be found by entering the following phrase into Google – ‘Use a wiki in the classroom’ More ideas for using a class blog can be by entering the following phrase into Google – ‘Interesting ideas for Class Blog Posts’ Useful article to read -

Getting started A class blog is always a good starting point making it the central point for pupils to share their learning, interact with each other and a global audience. Start initially with you being responsible for writing posts, and the pupils responding in comments. As pupils become more familiar with the process give them their ‘blogging license’ so they can start to write posts on the class blog and/or get their own blog.

Getting started Important parts of the blogging process include encouraging pupils to: Read each others posts Interact and comment on each others posts and challenge each others thoughts and views Write posts in response to each others posts as appropriate. As a teacher: Resist the temptation to always correct students' contributions, let peers pick out errors and offer corrections Encourage pupils to take responsibility for their posts and own learning..

Blogging websites you could use / Use your digital letters to review and compare each site, identifying the main tools and features within each, helping you to make a decision as to which one to use

Wikis you could use wikisineducation.wikifoundry.com / Please note WikiFoundry was formly know as WetPaint

Embedding resources

E-safety

Think, share and discuss Review policies and guidelines pertaining to student access. Ensure all students have signed the school e-safety AUP, if your current AUP doesn’t refer to the use of online creation and collaboration tools speak to you e-safety coordinator about getting students to sign one for this activity Inform parents of procedures and secure parental permission. Teach students safe, acceptable, and sensible behavior as online authors and readers. Teach the non-posting rules of no complete names, accounts, or references to reveal location. Set clear expectations regarding tone, respect, and consequences.

Think, share and discuss

Useful websites Bud the Teacher’s Wiki - Quad Blogging - Writing for the web: Blogs and Wikis to support Literacy Writing for a real audience - audience.html audience.html Information on slides taken from and.html and.html