Sustainability
I have been looking at a few NZ classroom blogs today to try and get a feel for how they are being used and who is commenting on them. What I realise is that sustainability seems to be a key issue. One school site I looked at had a class blog for each of the 17 classrooms. Of these, only 3 had been added to this year. Some had the middle of 2007 as their most recent post, which led me to think that it takes commitment to keep a blog going - and time. I set up a class blog last year, but with my Facilitator commitments, I had very little classroom time and didn’t use it with the children. I also did not have equipment such as a data projector on hand the whole time, to bring the blog up for the children. I wonder how many teachers start with great intentions and then get bogged down with time and equipment issues. I think it probably needs some kind of pattern or routine to ensure regular contributions. My feeling is that if a blog is not updated regularly, then parents will stop looking at it.
The other issue I found was ease of adding comments varied greatly on class blogs. On one blog, it appeared that I needed a google account before I could post a comment, on another I tried to say where I was from on the map and got hopelessly lost with it - I wonder how easy some parents would find the navigation, if they are unfamiliar with using blogs. I wonder what information, if any, parents are given about the blog when it is set up or whether it is word of mouth and the children showing their parents. I would also like to look into the purpose of the blog. Why do teachers set blogs up - what is it they hope to achieve through using one?
