Step 11: Set Up Student Blogs-1

Welcome to the eleventh and final step in our free professional learning series on class and student blogging!

The aim of this step is to guide you through the process of setting up your student blogs.

You may already have student blogs or this might be something that’s not on your agenda currently.

Whatever the case, it’s still a useful exercise to explore the topic of student blogs. If your students already have blogs, you might get some new ideas, or be able to share your own experiences with us.

If you won’t be having student blogs this year, maybe the information will be useful to store away for the future.

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WHY EDUCATORS USE STUDENT BLOGS

Educators normally start of with a class blog where the teacher writes the posts, and the students respond by writing comments.

This gives the teacher time to increase their skills while gradually introducing their students to blogging, and educating their students on what is required.

However, as the age of students increases, educators are more likely to have them to write posts on their own student blog.

Student learning and writing improves faster when each student has their own blog as ownership is an important part of blogging. We all have increased motivation when we feel personal ownership. Students are more motivated by their own blogs when class blogging is done well.

Another key benefit of student blogs is that they can be used as an ePortfolio or digital portfolio to create an archive of your students’ learning.

Image by Sylvia Duckworth licensed under Creative Commons ShareAlike 2.0.

Must Watch Videos

If you haven’t already seen the following videos, we encourage you to take a look.

The Possibility of Student Blogging by Andrea Hernandez and Silvia Tolisano provides an excellent explanation of:

• the blogging and commenting process,

• the impact of quality blogging on student literacy, and

• the importance of writing as part of a global audience.