PE5_Edublogs

I'm two days into really exploring Edublogs and I've discovered so much more! First, I have already found a solution to one of my previous issues in my last blog post. I mentioned how much time it took to link students' blogs together - now I see that I can change the privacy status of the blog where it is still private except for people who are logged in to Edublogs.

There are other options, but I feel this is the best option for my students. After all, the student links are not currently posted anywhere, and only classmates (or anyone I invite) can access their sites. There is also an option to post Edublog links to the Edublogs directory to broaden the student's audience if we choose to do so in the future.

A feature I've just discovered an am excited to try is embedding. It is very easy to embed video, quizzes, polls, and slides into a post. I tried embedding a survey into my technology class blog, and I was able to do it very quickly. I found an online survey, poll, and quiz generator called BooRoo and created a free account. Next, I created a quick poll to see what style of music students prefer to listen to. From there, I was able to get an embed code, which I copied and pasted into the HTML editing mode (which is just a click of a tab, even on Blogger), and published. When someone responds to the poll, they instantly see the results of the poll thus far. This is the survey I created - go ahead and take it!

What style/genre music do you prefer to listen to?

Rock

Rap

Pop

Alternative

View resultsVote Now

Create an online survey quiz or web poll

Rock0%

Rap0%

Pop0%

Alternative0%

Other: (Please specify)0%

Create an online survey quiz or web poll

I hope to use this feature in my RILS project with my students as a way for them to quickly respond to a classmate's post without necessarily having to make a comment.

PE4_Edublogs

The Web 2.0 tool that I am using for my Relevant Innovative Learning Scenario (RILS) is Edublogs. Edublogs is a safe and secure blogging tool to use in schools. Because of the education content that is on Edublogs, this site is typically not blocked by schools, making it an easily accessible tool to utilize in the classroom. I am in the learning stage of Edublogs, trying to figure out all the ins and outs of the site. Since this is the first time I am using it, I created and set-up each students' blog myself. With an educator account, a teacher can create as many student blogs as needed. As I created each account, I had the ability to make myself a co-administrator of the blog so I could manage inappropriate content or simply change the settings within each blog.

My educator dashboard allows me access to every student's blog.

The next step was particularly time consuming for me, which was linking each blog together so students could view, comment, and critique each other's blogs. I think that because my school has a premium account, any site I create is private; therefore I had to go into each student's settings and add every student as a subscriber, THEN create a link for every student's blog under their "links" category. I also had to check their "discussion" setting to make sure comments were enabled and automatically approved. I'm not sure if there is an easier way to accomplish off of that. In the future, after I create each blog, I will have the students adjust their own settings to save time. In order for my RILS to run smoothly and timely, I wanted to make sure the blogs were up and working properly.

Part of the discussion settings - the default was set to have to approve every comment before posting.

Now that every student's blog is up and running, we can focus on the purpose of the blog - to act as a portfolio of student's musical compositions and for classmates (and maybe eventually the world) to listen, comment, and critique.  I can't wait to see the results of this RILS!