A very blurry picture of Will just before he started talking at eLive.
A blog post on what he says will follow... battery allowing. :-)
Technorati Tags: eLive2006, Will Richardson, DavidDMuir, EdCompBlog
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
eLive 2006 ACfE meets SSDN
eLive 2006 A Curriculum for Excellence Meets SSDN
Stuart Robertson
{It seemed to work the last time… so here’s a session I attended. My comments – as opposed to what Stuart was trying say – are in curly brackets. :-)}
Seven design principles for ACfE – the first is interesting: Challenge and enjoyment. Putting fun into the curriculum.
NGfL back in 1998 tried to do some of the things that we are still trying to do with SSDN, but perhaps trying to be smarter now. Three parts to what we are trying to do:
Using SuperJANET to get good, reliable broadband connections throughout Scotland. All 32 authorities, HMI, SQA and BBC (plus others?) are now all connected. This is the Content delivery structure – essentially this is there.
3. Intranet
RM got the contract to develop this. This includes an authentication system/user directory, a virtual learning/teaching environment and a collaborative area. Stuart thinks that this will drive the development/delivery of ACfE.
The Authentication system will eventually deal with millions of people (pupils, teachers, parents…). Will allow controlled access to local resources as well as central resources. This will include access from home… or anywhere with an Internet connection. It will allow collaboration between individuals and groups on the system. Will provide video/audio conferencing, newsgroups/discussion groups, chat rooms {Although by default this will be turned off! Hmm! DM}, web authoring, voice over IP, virtual whiteboards… all sorts of stuff.
2. Content Delivery
VLE – with assessment tools {Nationally produced multi-guess? Hmm! DM}, pupil tracking, personal space for pupils {Will pupils use a limited systems with no chat etc. when they already use MySpace/MSN Chat/…? Hmm! DM} and publishing/presentation tools.
ACfE and SSDN – making the links. Look at the ACfE website and check out the literature review written by Donald Christie and Brian Boyd. More about how we teach rather than what we teach.
The environment for learning is the key thing. For instance “giving pupils their voice”. How do we do this while still achieving a balance between what pupils want to learn and the curriculum government would like to deliver. SSDN will give loads of tools to allow pupils to find their voice with a national (international?) audience.
The choice of learning approaches problem solving, collaborative learning. Relevance: can pupils relate learning to their own needs. Is there a balance to be struck though between allowing pupils to follow their own interests and curriculum authorities giving direction. Motivation is key. Marc Prensky quotes a student who said, “every time I go to school I have to power down”. Can ICT tools enhance and transform learning? {One example given was of Interactive Whiteboards. Is this an example of bolting new stuff onto the old way of doing things that Alan was talking about? DM}
Co-operative and collaborative learning. Will SSDN and the culture of sharing it supports help this? Perhaps encourage peer learning among teachers as well as among pupils.
Problem based learning: real challenges, real problems – solved as individuals or collaboratively. Will SSDN help foster the motivation needed? Genuine “need to know stuff”.
Technorati Tags: eLive2006, StuartRobertson, eLearning, SSDN, ACfE, DavidDMuir, EdCompBlog
Stuart Robertson
{It seemed to work the last time… so here’s a session I attended. My comments – as opposed to what Stuart was trying say – are in curly brackets. :-)}
Seven design principles for ACfE – the first is interesting: Challenge and enjoyment. Putting fun into the curriculum.
NGfL back in 1998 tried to do some of the things that we are still trying to do with SSDN, but perhaps trying to be smarter now. Three parts to what we are trying to do:
- Interconnect
- Content delivery
- Intranet
Using SuperJANET to get good, reliable broadband connections throughout Scotland. All 32 authorities, HMI, SQA and BBC (plus others?) are now all connected. This is the Content delivery structure – essentially this is there.
3. Intranet
RM got the contract to develop this. This includes an authentication system/user directory, a virtual learning/teaching environment and a collaborative area. Stuart thinks that this will drive the development/delivery of ACfE.
The Authentication system will eventually deal with millions of people (pupils, teachers, parents…). Will allow controlled access to local resources as well as central resources. This will include access from home… or anywhere with an Internet connection. It will allow collaboration between individuals and groups on the system. Will provide video/audio conferencing, newsgroups/discussion groups, chat rooms {Although by default this will be turned off! Hmm! DM}, web authoring, voice over IP, virtual whiteboards… all sorts of stuff.
2. Content Delivery
VLE – with assessment tools {Nationally produced multi-guess? Hmm! DM}, pupil tracking, personal space for pupils {Will pupils use a limited systems with no chat etc. when they already use MySpace/MSN Chat/…? Hmm! DM} and publishing/presentation tools.
ACfE and SSDN – making the links. Look at the ACfE website and check out the literature review written by Donald Christie and Brian Boyd. More about how we teach rather than what we teach.
The environment for learning is the key thing. For instance “giving pupils their voice”. How do we do this while still achieving a balance between what pupils want to learn and the curriculum government would like to deliver. SSDN will give loads of tools to allow pupils to find their voice with a national (international?) audience.
The choice of learning approaches problem solving, collaborative learning. Relevance: can pupils relate learning to their own needs. Is there a balance to be struck though between allowing pupils to follow their own interests and curriculum authorities giving direction. Motivation is key. Marc Prensky quotes a student who said, “every time I go to school I have to power down”. Can ICT tools enhance and transform learning? {One example given was of Interactive Whiteboards. Is this an example of bolting new stuff onto the old way of doing things that Alan was talking about? DM}
Co-operative and collaborative learning. Will SSDN and the culture of sharing it supports help this? Perhaps encourage peer learning among teachers as well as among pupils.
Problem based learning: real challenges, real problems – solved as individuals or collaboratively. Will SSDN help foster the motivation needed? Genuine “need to know stuff”.
“In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.” Eric Hoffer
Technorati Tags: eLive2006, StuartRobertson, eLearning, SSDN, ACfE, DavidDMuir, EdCompBlog
eLive 2006 - Alan November Keynote
eLive 2006
Alan November – Keynote 1
{I’ve never tried this before, but I typed this up as Alan spoke and I sent it straight to Blogger from Word using the Blogger plug-in. This is the first time I’ve tried this directly from Word, so I hope what you see is roughly similar to wat I typed… or indeed that it can be seen at all!}
Overheard Alan November talking to Stuart Robertson before the session started – he described disenchanted pupils complaining about having to read Macbeth. They were amazed to discover that you could download Macbeth and listen to it as a podcast – Shakespeare never meant it to be read in the first place! Alan suggested to the pupils that they could download it and mash it up with interviews with pupils, teachers, parents, whoever to create their own podcast on themes in Macbeth or whatever… Brilliant! And the session hadn’t even started. :-)
There is a huge gap between what children do with technology at home compared to what they do in school. Very hard to find a school where they are being more creative with ICT than children are being at home. Number one application was MSN – what do schools do? They ban it. Why? Alan thinks it is fear.
We are trying to bolt technology onto what we do already, so we can use the computer as a £1000 pencil, but doing stuff we don’t do – like talking to others, we don’t do that.
Many children have their own sites. In schools we use the Internet. Children do the Internet – they want their lives there! We should ask them what they do with the Internet at home and ask ourselves why we block it. We should use things like MSN creatively and give them a role model of good use. When the school blocked blogging – two girls Alan asked went straight home and created their own. Give role model of appropriate use. Have schools become the learning police? We say we are doing it to protect children, but they are using it at home! Alan doesn’t understand this.
IBM in a day generates 10 million instant messages – communication is the number one application of computers outside education – yet we block it in schools. Alan’s son got on MSN and organised his school friends to do each others homework – Alan’s son did Spanish, someone else did Maths, someone did English… Collaboration is a very important skill to learn, but we don’t do it in schools.
If you are desperate for knowledge – you will learn.
What is the problem? It is not technology. There is more access to technology now than ever – at home and at school. Problem? Rise of India as global economic power – in part due to their online education programme? What skills do people need when the economic power is shifting? No need to travel to plant to be chemical engineer – can do it by communication technology. Also See Wikipedia on Thomas Friedman – The World is Flat.
Who owns the learning? Victorian model – the teachers own the learning. Alan showed a picture of a school where every pupil has their own office/cubical. The pupils were there an hour before school started. Children are usually in bed an hour before school because the teachers aren’t there. If they own the learning, it’s a different ball game.
We need a new job description of teacher. We need people who can work with children – and {...missed this next bit, but according to Will it included: "...diagnostic skills, teachers who can understand data about how children learn across a wide variety of subjects, and how to personalize instruction".}
Children are social and children are territorial. They like to be with and interact with other children. If they have their own space (like a primary pupil’s desk) they personalise it, they make it theirs. In the school he described (in San Diego) pupils own the learning. Big emphasis on collaborative learning and self-directed. Removed dependency culture. Highest test scores in the state! Takes time though.
Have to change time, space and how people relate. In the San Diego school – they get the one teacher for four years. This changes the relationship. The teacher is responsible for getting students to the end point, not just the end of the year. Students take the test when they are ready, they don’t have to wait for the class to be ready. We can move away from the model where children are all on the same page at the same time.
Alan described asking a child working on the computer what she was doing. The pupil politely told him, “Can’t you see we are working here?” – They owned the learning, they were working collaboratively and were not afraid to rebuff unwanted interruptions.
These changes will take a long time (Alan recons two decades). Now though, we should be making videos to send home to explain to parents what we are doing and why. Ask them if they really want their children to stay with them all their life!
Step 1: Teach Critical thinking and the grammar of the Internet:
Enter “miserable failure” in Google! Good demonstration of Google’s algorithm. This is a Google bomb! Remember the research shows that people only look at the top ten hits. Or try Octopus and look at the number 1 hit in Google for the endagered tree octopus! How many 12 year olds will believe this? Teach children to decode the Internet. The real revolution is Information and Communication – drop the T for technology. Teach teachers to design new assignments not to use the technology. Don’t say to students “Go on the internet.” If they go – they will be manipulated by people who know how the Internet works. Switch to Ask.com and Answers.com – so much better than Google for schoolwork. {He may explain later why! - He didn't :-( }
Google doesn’t decide things – it’s a cupboard, computers and algorithms. We need to teach children to be critical thinkers. Easywhois.com is one way to find out who own sites.
We still teach as if print was the main information source. Number one source of information for pupils is not library or books or handouts – but the Internet.
Step 2: Teaching children to connect to the world.
For example
This limits search to academic sources in Japan. Important to see other versions of history. Toyota is bigger than General Motors! GM was the biggest company on the planet when Japan was in ruins. The assignment then becomes why is the viewpoint in Japan different. Then you get Skype or MSN and connect to a Japanese school. Teach children to communicate. Their powerpoint is then presented to the world – not just their classroom.
Children want to communicate with the world. See Fanfiction site (or MySpaces, or Bebo, or…) Why do children use pseudonyms on Fanfiction? The children’s work is reviewed by peers. By not using their own names, when they get bad reviews, they can see it as their work being criticised – not them. Compare that with schools! Pupils choose their own names. Anonymity can be bad, but can be used creatively. On Fanfiction – look at the first published and updated dates. Teenagers are revising and reworking their stories all the time.
Step 3: Our expectations are too low!
Time and boundaries are not important now. Told story of English teacher who doubted that the pupil could have written the stuff on the Fanfiction website because she never handed in her homework. The pupil said she had to make a decision – publish for the world, or publish for her teacher. For her, she wanted the world!
Skype: globalearner
November Learning has more of this stuff.
The session was videoed and hopefully a link will be provided soon. {No sign yet. :-( - DM}
Technorati Tags: eLive06, AlanNovember, keynote, eLearning, DavidDMuir, EdCompBlog
Alan November – Keynote 1
{I’ve never tried this before, but I typed this up as Alan spoke and I sent it straight to Blogger from Word using the Blogger plug-in. This is the first time I’ve tried this directly from Word, so I hope what you see is roughly similar to wat I typed… or indeed that it can be seen at all!}
Overheard Alan November talking to Stuart Robertson before the session started – he described disenchanted pupils complaining about having to read Macbeth. They were amazed to discover that you could download Macbeth and listen to it as a podcast – Shakespeare never meant it to be read in the first place! Alan suggested to the pupils that they could download it and mash it up with interviews with pupils, teachers, parents, whoever to create their own podcast on themes in Macbeth or whatever… Brilliant! And the session hadn’t even started. :-)
“The past is over”Instead of telling children what we know - start asking students what they know.
- George Bush.
There is a huge gap between what children do with technology at home compared to what they do in school. Very hard to find a school where they are being more creative with ICT than children are being at home. Number one application was MSN – what do schools do? They ban it. Why? Alan thinks it is fear.
We are trying to bolt technology onto what we do already, so we can use the computer as a £1000 pencil, but doing stuff we don’t do – like talking to others, we don’t do that.
Many children have their own sites. In schools we use the Internet. Children do the Internet – they want their lives there! We should ask them what they do with the Internet at home and ask ourselves why we block it. We should use things like MSN creatively and give them a role model of good use. When the school blocked blogging – two girls Alan asked went straight home and created their own. Give role model of appropriate use. Have schools become the learning police? We say we are doing it to protect children, but they are using it at home! Alan doesn’t understand this.
IBM in a day generates 10 million instant messages – communication is the number one application of computers outside education – yet we block it in schools. Alan’s son got on MSN and organised his school friends to do each others homework – Alan’s son did Spanish, someone else did Maths, someone did English… Collaboration is a very important skill to learn, but we don’t do it in schools.
If you are desperate for knowledge – you will learn.
What is the problem? It is not technology. There is more access to technology now than ever – at home and at school. Problem? Rise of India as global economic power – in part due to their online education programme? What skills do people need when the economic power is shifting? No need to travel to plant to be chemical engineer – can do it by communication technology. Also See Wikipedia on Thomas Friedman – The World is Flat.
Who owns the learning? Victorian model – the teachers own the learning. Alan showed a picture of a school where every pupil has their own office/cubical. The pupils were there an hour before school started. Children are usually in bed an hour before school because the teachers aren’t there. If they own the learning, it’s a different ball game.
We need a new job description of teacher. We need people who can work with children – and {...missed this next bit, but according to Will it included: "...diagnostic skills, teachers who can understand data about how children learn across a wide variety of subjects, and how to personalize instruction".}
Children are social and children are territorial. They like to be with and interact with other children. If they have their own space (like a primary pupil’s desk) they personalise it, they make it theirs. In the school he described (in San Diego) pupils own the learning. Big emphasis on collaborative learning and self-directed. Removed dependency culture. Highest test scores in the state! Takes time though.
Have to change time, space and how people relate. In the San Diego school – they get the one teacher for four years. This changes the relationship. The teacher is responsible for getting students to the end point, not just the end of the year. Students take the test when they are ready, they don’t have to wait for the class to be ready. We can move away from the model where children are all on the same page at the same time.
Alan described asking a child working on the computer what she was doing. The pupil politely told him, “Can’t you see we are working here?” – They owned the learning, they were working collaboratively and were not afraid to rebuff unwanted interruptions.
These changes will take a long time (Alan recons two decades). Now though, we should be making videos to send home to explain to parents what we are doing and why. Ask them if they really want their children to stay with them all their life!
Step 1: Teach Critical thinking and the grammar of the Internet:
Enter “miserable failure” in Google! Good demonstration of Google’s algorithm. This is a Google bomb! Remember the research shows that people only look at the top ten hits. Or try Octopus and look at the number 1 hit in Google for the endagered tree octopus! How many 12 year olds will believe this? Teach children to decode the Internet. The real revolution is Information and Communication – drop the T for technology. Teach teachers to design new assignments not to use the technology. Don’t say to students “Go on the internet.” If they go – they will be manipulated by people who know how the Internet works. Switch to Ask.com and Answers.com – so much better than Google for schoolwork. {He may explain later why! - He didn't :-( }
Google doesn’t decide things – it’s a cupboard, computers and algorithms. We need to teach children to be critical thinkers. Easywhois.com is one way to find out who own sites.
We still teach as if print was the main information source. Number one source of information for pupils is not library or books or handouts – but the Internet.
Step 2: Teaching children to connect to the world.
For example
This limits search to academic sources in Japan. Important to see other versions of history. Toyota is bigger than General Motors! GM was the biggest company on the planet when Japan was in ruins. The assignment then becomes why is the viewpoint in Japan different. Then you get Skype or MSN and connect to a Japanese school. Teach children to communicate. Their powerpoint is then presented to the world – not just their classroom.
Children want to communicate with the world. See Fanfiction site (or MySpaces, or Bebo, or…) Why do children use pseudonyms on Fanfiction? The children’s work is reviewed by peers. By not using their own names, when they get bad reviews, they can see it as their work being criticised – not them. Compare that with schools! Pupils choose their own names. Anonymity can be bad, but can be used creatively. On Fanfiction – look at the first published and updated dates. Teenagers are revising and reworking their stories all the time.
Step 3: Our expectations are too low!
Time and boundaries are not important now. Told story of English teacher who doubted that the pupil could have written the stuff on the Fanfiction website because she never handed in her homework. The pupil said she had to make a decision – publish for the world, or publish for her teacher. For her, she wanted the world!
Skype: globalearner
November Learning has more of this stuff.
The session was videoed and hopefully a link will be provided soon. {No sign yet. :-( - DM}
Technorati Tags: eLive06, AlanNovember, keynote, eLearning, DavidDMuir, EdCompBlog
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Who was that masked blogger?
The anonymous commenter on my More classroom blogs post has outed herself as the writer of the You think you know, but you have no idea... blog. I am ashamed to say that I missed the fact that she'd started up blogging again because she has some really great things to say. I can't resist quoting from her recent What have you done today to make you feel proud? post and adding a couple of comments of my own.
Go and read her blog yourself and leave her some comments. There's good stuff in there.
Technorati Tags: blogging, education, teacher training, classroom, DavidDMuir, EdCompBlog
"My last post was on a somewhat negative theme, but after a good old cry on Tuesday night (and of course writing my blog), I picked myself up again and made the most of the rest of the week. I cannot describe how much better I felt after writing down all my thoughts last Tuesday, and although there hasnt been too many comments floating about, it is so nice to be able to read other student teachers blogs and realise how tough a time we're all having sometimes and remind me I'm not on my own."I was going to add a comment to this quote, but I think it speaks for itself.
"The department im in is open plan, and at one point, the teacher on the other side of the partition came running through to see what the kids were describing because she thought it sounded so interesting!!"Brilliant! How encouraging is that for a student teacher? I think that as teachers we do not sit in on other teachers lessons enough. I suspect that both observer and observed would benefit from informal observation of each others lessons. An interesting idea would be to watch teachers of other subjects... sorry that's probably a step to far! Silly me. :-)
Go and read her blog yourself and leave her some comments. There's good stuff in there.
Technorati Tags: blogging, education, teacher training, classroom, DavidDMuir, EdCompBlog
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Pupil Blogs/Student Blogs
A quick follow up to the A numpty's guide to classroom blogging post and then some student blogs...
Firstly, I came across a good summary of blogging classroom practice. I though might be of interest to any students still thinking of setting up a classroom blog. Excellent Classroom practices from Mr. Fisher from Vicki Davis pulls together posts from a number of places that explore some of the hows and whys of classroom blogging.
Secondly, some PGDE(S) student blogs. We had a wee flurry of blogs set up in various bursts of enthusiasm. Only a select few are still blogging, but I thought I'd post them all here even if there hasn't been anything posted in a while. If you think any look interesting, send the student a comment and see if you can inspire them into posting some more. Here they are in no particular order...
Some of them looked very promising but most have tailed off - being a student teacher gets a bit exhausting at times! I hope a reasonable number keep them going through probation and beyond (to borrow a phrase).
Technorati Tags: blogging, teacher training, education, DavidDMuir, EdCompBlog
Firstly, I came across a good summary of blogging classroom practice. I though might be of interest to any students still thinking of setting up a classroom blog. Excellent Classroom practices from Mr. Fisher from Vicki Davis pulls together posts from a number of places that explore some of the hows and whys of classroom blogging.
Secondly, some PGDE(S) student blogs. We had a wee flurry of blogs set up in various bursts of enthusiasm. Only a select few are still blogging, but I thought I'd post them all here even if there hasn't been anything posted in a while. If you think any look interesting, send the student a comment and see if you can inspire them into posting some more. Here they are in no particular order...
- Lawrence Teacher Blog
- University Blogging
- To Probation And Beyond
- Down To Earth and Flying High
- You think you know, but you have no idea...
- From OLi to Mr McAlpine
- Will Never Be Read
- The joys of being a student teacher
- The best is yet to come
- The Think Tank
- Dynamo or Dynosaur?
- Computing in the Highlands
- The guns... they've stopped!
- BlognyGaelgey and Learning Manx
Some of them looked very promising but most have tailed off - being a student teacher gets a bit exhausting at times! I hope a reasonable number keep them going through probation and beyond (to borrow a phrase).
Technorati Tags: blogging, teacher training, education, DavidDMuir, EdCompBlog
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Lithuania calling!
I recently discovered that a blog in Lithuania has a post which links to my Guide to del.icio.us. I hope he is saying nice things about it, but the Babel Fish Translator doesn't seem to have many Eastern European languages yet, so I can't be sure!
To be honest, before finding Gytis' post, I would have been hard pressed to point to Lithuania on a map. Ah, the wonders of modern technology.
To be honest, before finding Gytis' post, I would have been hard pressed to point to Lithuania on a map. Ah, the wonders of modern technology.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
A numpty's guide to classroom blogging
An anonymous student left a comment on my More classroom blogs post asking how to set up classroom blogs. I decided that this was too big a topic to deal with in a reply. Sorry to Anonymous for taking so long to respond.
The comment was:
I use Blogger. This may not be the best choice for schools (see the MFLE's advice on Creating a weblog) but many schools make effective and appropriate use of it. I have found Blogger easy to use with a range of helpful features.
A brief summary of some blogging tools can be found at LTScotland's ICT in Education - Blogging pages, however, I would add Class Blogmeister, Elgg and Learnerblogs to their list of free blogging tools. These three tools are interesting since, unlike Blogger, they are intended for use in an education environment (although Elgg isn't specifically aimed at schools). My advice would be to create an account and then make a couple of posts in each to try them out. You should then get a feel for which will work best for the way you want to use it. For example, are the image sharing features of Elgg useful in an Art blog?
Secondly you ask, "im worried about any problems that might arise of asking pupils to go onto the internet at home as homework etc - how do i pitch it to the school and teachers?". Schools and Authorities are concerned about Internet safety, and rightly so. You should therefore take time to consider these issues so that you can help reassure the school that appropriate steps can be taken to minimise risks. As a first step, you should try to find the school's policy on Internet use. If you can show that what you are doing is covered by existing policy, it should be easier to get approval. Also, read the advice on the MFLE's Responsibility in blogging pages. You should also read Mike Hetherington's excellent advice on How to set up a student centred classroom blog. His guide covers Learnerblogs but also deals with some general issues such as the pre-moderation of pupil comments.
Finally, I suspect the thing that worries schools the most about blogs is comments. In my opinion, the possibility of getting comments from anyone and everyone is one of the things that makes blogs such a powerful educational tool. I would therefore fight tooth and nail to make sure that comments are allowed on any blog you create. I have no strong feelings about moderated verses unmoderated comments, but I suspect that, if a school is nervous, pre-moderated posts and comments will be an easier "pitch"!
That's my tuppence worth. I admit to having limited experience of any blogging tool other than Blogger, so it's over to the readers of this blog - all comments and suggestions for Anonymous will be gratefully received. Share your experience of other tools here. Also, a good way to convince schools of the value of blogging is to show them good examples of classroom blogs, so any comments pointing us to good school Art blogs would be very much appreciated.
And a reply from Anonymous revealing his or her secret identity would be good too!
Technorati Tags: edublog, blogging, education, DavidDMuir, EdCompBlog
The comment was:
I am really interested in using a blog to help pupils benefit from peer assessment for critical written work in art during my next placement. Can you tell me what site would be the best to set up a blog with? and also im worried about any problems that might arise of asking pupils to go onto the internet at home as homework etc - how do i pitch it to the school and teachers? thanks.Firstly then, "Can you tell me what site would be the best to set up a blog with?" Hmm! How long's a bit of string? (Twice the distance from the middle to one end as any fool know... but that's a different story.) In part the answer will depend on what you want to do with the blog. Are you writing the blog and inviting pupils to make comments? Do you want the pupils to set up their own individual blogs? Do you want a classroom blog with multiple pupil authors? Different blogging tools have different strengths and the use you envisage will help determine the choice. Also, you say it is for art classes, so do you want to be able to show images in the blog? Some tools make it easier than others to include images.
I use Blogger. This may not be the best choice for schools (see the MFLE's advice on Creating a weblog) but many schools make effective and appropriate use of it. I have found Blogger easy to use with a range of helpful features.
A brief summary of some blogging tools can be found at LTScotland's ICT in Education - Blogging pages, however, I would add Class Blogmeister, Elgg and Learnerblogs to their list of free blogging tools. These three tools are interesting since, unlike Blogger, they are intended for use in an education environment (although Elgg isn't specifically aimed at schools). My advice would be to create an account and then make a couple of posts in each to try them out. You should then get a feel for which will work best for the way you want to use it. For example, are the image sharing features of Elgg useful in an Art blog?
Secondly you ask, "im worried about any problems that might arise of asking pupils to go onto the internet at home as homework etc - how do i pitch it to the school and teachers?". Schools and Authorities are concerned about Internet safety, and rightly so. You should therefore take time to consider these issues so that you can help reassure the school that appropriate steps can be taken to minimise risks. As a first step, you should try to find the school's policy on Internet use. If you can show that what you are doing is covered by existing policy, it should be easier to get approval. Also, read the advice on the MFLE's Responsibility in blogging pages. You should also read Mike Hetherington's excellent advice on How to set up a student centred classroom blog. His guide covers Learnerblogs but also deals with some general issues such as the pre-moderation of pupil comments.
Finally, I suspect the thing that worries schools the most about blogs is comments. In my opinion, the possibility of getting comments from anyone and everyone is one of the things that makes blogs such a powerful educational tool. I would therefore fight tooth and nail to make sure that comments are allowed on any blog you create. I have no strong feelings about moderated verses unmoderated comments, but I suspect that, if a school is nervous, pre-moderated posts and comments will be an easier "pitch"!
That's my tuppence worth. I admit to having limited experience of any blogging tool other than Blogger, so it's over to the readers of this blog - all comments and suggestions for Anonymous will be gratefully received. Share your experience of other tools here. Also, a good way to convince schools of the value of blogging is to show them good examples of classroom blogs, so any comments pointing us to good school Art blogs would be very much appreciated.
And a reply from Anonymous revealing his or her secret identity would be good too!
Technorati Tags: edublog, blogging, education, DavidDMuir, EdCompBlog
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