Week 3: Blogs, Wikis, and Weebly Reflection

Using Weebly and other Websites

Weebly can be used to create a website that may be used for educational and organisational purposes within the classroom. Teachers can utilise Weebly to create a website that contains all of the important announcements, dates, rules and policies associated with the classroom. This is useful for students and parents to keep up to date and well informed of the classroom requirements and activities. Additionally, things like homework tasks, student work, sample work, contact information, assessment due dates and criteria sheets can be posted on the website.

Websites may also be used by pre-service teachers, in-service teachers as well as students to keep a digital e-portfolio. Certain assignment tasks such as a history research project can be presented using a website which allows students to be more creative in their work and is easily accessible to the teacher throughout the drafting and completed process. Teachers can thus more easily monitor the progress of students and suggest ideas.  Websites however are more informative and less interactive. Perhaps further research and experience with websites will allow me to overcome this hurdle and support me to create a more interactive and comprehensive learning experience for my learners.

My ideas of Weebly

Plus	Minus	Interesting
+ It’s free! + Easy to use and navigate + Able to add a blog + Able to create forums + No advertisements + Protected by passwords + Permits Creativity + Digital presentation of tasks	- Website is more informative –  Not very interactive - Plagiarism	i  The many possibilities! i   Editing tools i   Store page

My Weebly website (Still very much under construction): http://amgrieseledse12024.weebly.com

An example of a Weebly website I created for a different assessment: Engaging learners effectively in their learning

Using Blogs 

Blogs are similar to a journal or diary presented in the form of a webpage that can be edited, changed and created according to the author’s style. Blogging however takes the journal/diary entry experience to a whole other level. Videos, pictures, texts and links can be embedded into the blog and others can comment on the blog. Blogs can be used in a variety of professional, educational and personal contexts.

To construct a blog, an account needs to be created with a host website such as Blogspot, WordPress and many more. Once this is complete, the blogging can begin! I created an account through Blogspot and have had a great experience so far. Blogspot has allowed me to personalise my blog by enabling me to choose my own background, layout, font and colours. It also enables me to embed various forms of media such as videos, photos, diagrams, audio, and links to websites.

Blogs additionally have a comment section underneath each post where others can post their thoughts and responses to the blog. The author can reply in the same way which may lead to a discussion. Blog users can also invite people and follow other people’s blogs. However, only the author of the blog can make changes to it.

In a classroom context, blogs can be used in a variety of ways. Blogs can be used by the teacher in the same way as websites such as Weebly. Teachers can use it to provide classroom information to parents and students, organise the classroom and post teacher examples of work. Students can utilise blogs to reflect on their own interests and in turn educate each other on a variety of topics.

Blogs can be used to teach students literacy and build on their ICT skills. Moreover, blogs can be used to complete certain assignment tasks for example: If students had to complete an extended research experiment in Biology, they could record their results; findings etc. in their blog, embed relevant media and draw it all together with a conclusion over the course of the term.

SAMR model and blogs

Substitution level: Teacher uses a blog to present assessment task and criteria sheet to students. Although the teacher is using ICT, it is only being used as a substitute to printing. Students are not involved with the blog

Augmentation level: Teacher uses a blog that enables students to comment, ask questions and reply to each other on the blog. Students however still need to print and hand-in the assignment.

Modification level: Students create their own blog, complete their assignment on the blog and give the teacher the URL for the website.

Redefinition level: Students create their own blog and completes their assessment by using all the tools made available to users. Students are now able to use their creativity to personalise their blog and embed various forms of media. Students can follow each other’s blogs, comment and start a discussion.

Using Wikis

A wiki is a webpage that can be created and edited by multiple authors. Wikis can be useful for group assessments, planning an event and other collaborative focused projects. Personally, I found wiki difficult to set-up and use initially, however after last week’s de Bono’s Hats activity I feel more confident in implementing something similar into my own teaching.

Various content can be added to a wiki including pages, files, discussions, projects and events. Different forms of media can be added to the pages that are created and a tab below allow for comments/discussions. Compared to Blogspot and Weebly however, wiki provides very limited opportunity for creativity as there are very limited themes and colours for the design and layout. Nonetheless, wiki is more interactive than Blogspot and Weebly.

In my teaching I can implement wiki in a similar way that it was used in the de Bono’s Thinking Hats activity to encourage a discussion/debate in my own classroom, encourage shy students and facilitate high order thinking. In a history class for example; students can debate the reasons behind certain historical events using research. The questions can then lead the discussion and support the students to think more deeply about the topic.

SAMR model and Wikis

Substitution: Give students a topic to debate and set it up using technology.

Augmentation: Use a wiki webpage. It is easy to use and a practical site

Modification: Students are able to read each others’ responses and then post a personal response to the questions.

Redefinition: Allow students to return to the page, reflect on their responses and make changes to it as they progress through their research. Students can link this to other pages if they choose.