I have finished my research and sent it off for marking. I found that using a classroom blog can be very beneficial for parents if they actively use it. However many parents have a construction of their role that is less hands on. I would love to see if I set up a blog and used it for homework activities, whether parents would engage with it. I really want to try this out to explore the possibilities. I think it needs ongoing parent education to make it work well but I also think the quality of the site and its usefulness for parents is really important. If there are not regular updates then people won’t take the time to look and if the information doesn’t seem relevant to parents they won’t look. I would need to survey the class first I think and see what sorts of numbers have internet access at home too. I do think this is worth pursuing. It might be time consuming initially but I think once routines are established, the children can do a lot of it. They do need training first though. I think this will be a project to work up to with skills teaching and scaffolding needed first before we get things on line. I am going to have a play round with ideas and build my own skill with this site first. I am also aware of a lack of equipment where I am going - no classroom camera, only one computer, no school laptops, one data projector for the school. I may need to address these issues too if I want this to work successfully.
I have been quite surprised to see in the course of my research into a classroom blog that many parents do not see the blog as having any value or purpose for them. Most are happy that their kids are using it and excited about it, but for many it is “the kids thing”. I wonder how universal this feeling is? I also wonder if parents who wok full time and have less access to schools on a regular basis, feel the same way as those parents who have regular contact through the school anyway when they pick their kids up or drop them off each day. Would like to investigate this further.
It is exciting when you see someone take on board a new idea. My daughter’s class have just started a new classroom blog, which as a parent I think is very exciting. I enjoy reading my daughter’s and her classmates entries. It really does add another dimension to the home school relationship when parents can interact and support their children’s learning in this way.
The classroom blog I am researching is really starting to take off now too. I will be giving the parents a questionnaire about it next week. The good thing is that I can trial the questionnaire out with some parents from my daughters class tomorrow, now that their blog is up and running. It will be interesting to see if the questions need modifying or whether they give me the kind of information I am looking for.
I love the way I can collaborate with different classrooms. I got an email this week from a parent whose son’s class has a class blog in Queenstown. She gave me some really valuable feedback about the usefulness of the blog for her, including comments like the saving of paper, when you can access all the information online - a great spinoff for the planet.
I have been reading and thinking this week about the pursuit of excellence. One of the things that has been a repeated theme in my readings has been the need for regular focussed feedback. When students have clear goals to work towards, their learning will develop when the feedback they receive is related to their goals. So I began to wonder about using a blog as a means of teacher professional development. If teachers are all working towards a particular goal, they could put up examples of what they have tried, successes they have had, ideas to try out etc. In this way they could share their learning in a collaborative way, with specific feedback from their colleagues. I wonder if anyone has used a blog for teachers in this way.? Maybe it would also help with relationship building. How often do teachers get specific feedback on something they have tried, especially regular feedback that will help them monitor their progress and look at the journey they are taking.
For schools dipping into something new like Inquiry Learning, I can see lots of collaborative potential as teachers come to grips with new ideas and new approaches to teaching. A blog like this could lead to a really useful resource within a school or a cluster, especially as new teachers arrive and can see the journey being undertaken. As a structured means of reflection, I also see positive benefits for teachers. And what a great way to get to grips with using new technology!
The list is almost endless. Because blogs are interactive and not just static pieces of content, they can enhance learning in so many ways. One element that blogs are useful for is teaching new literacy skills. We talk about the importance of Inquiry learning and higher order thinking as being important tools in the classroom. Have we thought about using Blogs to engage in these processes? When students are using blogs they can be analysing information, using critical thinking skills, judging content, clarifying their purpose, organising their ideas, summarising, interacting, giving and gaining feedback, to name just a few skills. They are also engaged in their learning.
When students are writing for a blog, they are learning to craft their work for an audience, using a range of strategies - is this beginning to sound like the objectives from the English curriculum? So why not use it to develop these skills. It’s also an opportunity for students to have conversations and explore issues in depth - maybe calling in different experts on a subject to contribute. What about sharing the results of a maths or science investigation and gaining public comment on what has been discovered.
I think what I like most about using a classroom blog is having an authentic audience to share student work with, and for the community to contribute ideas and be part of the learning. The way most schools currently operate, there is little real sharing of the learning between home and school. Parents and the community have so much to contribute, if only they were given the opportunity.
I have been reading Will Richardson’s book (2006) on Blogs, Wikis etc today, which I have to say is excellent. So many good ideas! One section I read was on setting up a new class blog. Rather than just rushing in and doing it, there are actually some important steps to take first to get it right. Sending home a letter to parents explaining about the blog and what its purpose is, is well worth the effort. If parents don’t know what you’re on about or why you’re doing it, it probably won’t achieve its purpose in terms of parent partnerships. Then there’s the permission thing - asking parents for their permission for students to participate in the blog. The level of participation needs to be considered carefully - just first names or family names as well, photos of individuals or just groups, photos labelled with names or not. These issues have to be carefully thought through and be in line with the school’s internet safety policy. It’s also a good idea to include a description of the technology - what is a blog and how does it work? What are your expectations of your students when they use the blog - an extension of the classroom so therefore the same rules apply? There is a good sample letter worth looking at on page 13.
I am trying to refine my research question and have come up with
“In what ways do the use of classroom blogs enhance home/school partnerships. I see this primarily as a piece of qualitative research. I intend to survey all parents in a class to see whether they use the classroom blog and to follow this up with semi structured interviews with a small number of parent volunteers. I would also like to interview the classroom teacher about her intended purpose in setting up the blog, positive outcomes, barriers, and negative outcomes.
