Project 4 Blog

Topic: Open Educational Resources

   - Partners: Mike Logan and Greg Krupa

My Blog Page here.

Project Requirements

You can do it your own way as long as you cover the required elements or you can refer to the write-up here (Project4BlogWriteup.doc) or you can go to the Mockup google site. I mainly followed the project description for Project 4 Blog expanding Part I & Part II.

What

This project consists of two parts.

• Part I - You will participate in the class blog, which is a class forum/discussion based on our weekly readings. You will also be in charge of the class blog for a week. During your week (signed up in the first one or two weeks), you will be a “blog moderator” to moderate/facilitate the class discussion on a specific topic. The moderators of the week will then lead an 8-minute in-class discussion/presentation based on a subject/issue that appears in the online discussion s/he is in charge of.

• Part II – You will design and set up a blog for your own elementary or middle school class.

- "WHAT IF WE (our group) HAVE ANOTHER MORE INTERESTING TOPIC than the one on the schedule?"

- "YOU CAN CHOOSE TO DO WHAT YOU THINK IS MORE INTERESTING TO THE CLASS!" (you will post your reading list (one or two articles) to your blog week on the the weekly schedule at least one week before your blog week, and then follow the steps in HOW.)

Why

Blogs are versatile. Well-designed blogs could be powerfully engaging if designed with authentic purpose with authentic audience. You are encouraged to integrate blog into your future teaching through moderating the class blog and designing a class blog of your own.

Part I

1. One week before your term begins: meet as a group using the last 15 minutes of the class to do the following: a) come up with 3 open-ended questions to be posted to the class blog, b) plan for your in-class interactive presentation (what format/activities would you use to make it interactive).

2. The first day of your term: Post discussion questions

By midnight the day of your class, you will post your 3 open-ended questions. Be sure to provide some context (i.e. from which readings was the question developed) or introduction to the question (i.e. don’t just post a one line question).

3. During your term: Moderate the discussion

As a moderator, you should log on and check in at least once a day during your term as “blog moderator” during the week to ensure that the conversation moves along. You are required to make a minimum of 2 posts during your term.

As a Moderator you will:

a. Prompt discussion with questions related to the week’s topic, properly citing texts (with page numbers) whenever possible.

b. Move the discussion forward. Your role is a hybrid between synthesizer, focuser, and traffic cop.

c. Attempt to answer any questions the class might have. You are the weeks’ experts on this subject and issues. When you respond to a question, if at all possible, refer to the course materials and provide a reference (with proper citation). When necessary, I will intervene.

4. The following week in class: lead an 8-minute in-class discussion

You will lead an interactive in-class discussion. Your discussion cues can come from relevant points expressed in the course readings; any resolutions the class concluded on; what problems, if any, are still left to be resolved; what great insights, if any, did particular class members make; and so on. You will give a summary or outline of the week’s issues, especially about the conclusions drawn about the week’s discussion.

Part II

Design a blog for your class and include the link in your Blog project. Minimum requirement of the blog:

1) Set up a blog using open source blog tools of your preference (Blogspot, blogger, Gaggle, WordPress, Yalo, or Twitter…). Include the link of this blog in your blog project.

2) Include an introductory paragraph indicating the purpose of the blog.

3) Invite at least 3 of your classmates to be your blog members.

Evaluation

Part I Blog Moderating 5

1. The first day of your term: Post discussion questions by midnight the day of your class 1

2. During your term: Moderate the discussion and make a minimum of 2 posts 1

3. The following week on class: lead an 8-minute in-class discussion 2

4 Good group spirit – everyone plays a role 1

Part II Class Blog Design 5

5. The link of your class blog (at the top of the Blog Project page) 1

6. A well-written introductory paragraph to your class blog 1

7. Having at least three members 1

8. ANNOTATION 2

9. Total 10

1) Creators/Authors of the Media Project.

   - Alaina Latella, Mike Logan, and Gre Krupa

2) Indentified Grade(s) Level

   - Grade 3

3) Brief Introduction of the media project – What is the value of using this type of media project in education? What specific literacy issues will this media project help address? What impact on student learning do you foresee occurring with the use of this media project in the classroom setting? What ethical or social issues might be of concern? Will this media project encourage use of problem solving skills by the learner?

   - This project was to mediate a collegiate class blog and to make a mock blog for an elementary classroom.  

4) Specifically identify one or two goals/objectives

   - SWBAT answer questions about lesson topics.

5) Subject matter – What is (are) the subject matter(s)? Does integration of subject matters take place? How has this media project addressed cultural responsiveness teaching? (See this document for help in this area http://education.cortland.edu/~studentteach/forms/diversity_assignment.pdf )

   - Blogs can include any subject, however, I feel like it would be more difficult to use blogs with a math lesson.

6) What learning styles will most likely be attracted to this media creation? (This might be a nice refresher for you on learning styles, use this only as a guide. http://nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/styles.html)

   - This will help students who learn most through reading.

7) What instructional strategies have been utilized? (This list is somewhat exhaustive and here are a couple sites to use as guides. http://olc.spsd.sk.ca/DE/PD/instr/alpha.html

or http://glossary.plasmalink.com/glossary.html

   - This lesson will include the instructional strategies literacy based instruction and writing to inform.

8) Is this a self-paced or teacher-directed media project?

   - This is a teacher-directed project.

9) Would an individual or group use this media project?

   - This would be more of an individual project but could be changed to become a group project.

10) What type of learning assessment will be used? Has learning transfer been thought about in your media creation and if yes how? (There are many articles on transfer of learning here is one to get you started. http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/learning/transfer.html

   - Students will be assessed on their blog comments which will be reviewed and mediated by the teacher.