Tag: blog

Change of Scenery

The site looks a little different. This is another consequence of the lack of required commitments the summer provides. Anyway, WordPress (the blog software I use) has undergone an upgrade that offers the opportunity to use widgets. I suppose I could get by without widgets but when the alternative comes down to playing with the server and reading another academic book my weakness for exploring kicks in.

Only some of the themes (the general look and feel of a blog site) turn out to be “widget aware” so I selected a different theme. The change to a different theme is really the reason the appearance of this blog is so different. Cindy thinks the new look is too “spartan” (translate boring). “It always works for Apple”, I reply. Maybe there are some other design issues I don’t understand.

Anyway, here is a brief intro to how widgets are applied (see the image that appears below). Widgets are chunks of code that a system allows you to manipulate at a higher level. At least, that is how I would describe it. The software on the server automatically inserts the chunk of code associated with a widget into a framework of code representing a part of the display. In the case I am using as an example here, the framework is the sidebar (the right hand part of the total display you are looking at). If you examine the image below, you will note a collection of available widgets (the section at the bottom of the image) and the vertical space within which the selected widgets have been placed. This is a simply process of drag and drop. You should be able to match the list of widgets applied with what you see in the sidebar.

There are limitations to this approach. The system works by assigning an insertion point within the base code for a segment of the final page (the sidebar in this case). It is not possible to mix the functions provided by the widgets with functions that are already part of the base code. I ended up hacking the basic code for the sidebar so that the “search blog” box could appear at the top of the sidebar. This is a function I assume may be most useful to visitors and I wanted it to be obvious. I also added some other features at the bottom of the sidebar by inserting segments of php and javascript. You can’t always find a widget to do what you would like done.

WordPress Sidebar

Manipulating objects rather than writing code is becoming a popular way to personalize many services (personal portal, Google Creator). It must be a successful approach because the trend toward this method seems to be accelerating. I guess it is very much like the move from authoring web pages using a tool such as Dreamweaver rather than writing html code by hand. While you can’t always create exactly the look you want, the efficiency is a tremendous advantage.

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Blogger Update

Blogger.com, now a Google service, has been updated and certain features may interest educators looking for a safe and simple blog opportunity for their classes. These features can be quickly explored by following the “Take a Tour” link from the blogger start page. The features that would seem to suit the needs of educators wanting to provide security for students and create a simple environment within which students can post include the opportunity to add multiple authors to a blog (team blog) and limit viewing to those whose emails are contained within a designated list.

One potential issue – as I read the instructions, users must have a gmail account for permanent access (some type of short term guest pass exists). I know that schools often block Gmail access. My wife contents this is the case because gmail accounts can be created outside of the control of the school and the email addresses are not necessarily identifiable names of individuals.

For those not put off by these restrictions, blogger.com appears to have some very nice features and the blogger is given considerable freedom is setting up his/her blog according to personal preferences.

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Chickens

We are having a great time in Hawaii. One strange thing – there are chickens everywhere. Very early in the morning just as the sun is coming up, I can hear the surf and the roosters crowing. It is difficult for my still foggy brain to place exactly where I am.

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Blogger.com Access Control

I picked this info up from David Warlick.

Like many bloggers I started blogging years ago using blogger.com. At first I used their site and then I purchased the pro version so I could serve blog content from my own server. Eventually, I moved on to software that was more powerful.

Blogger.com remains an extremely popular choice. Now, Blogger.com has been upgraded and some of the changes may make the service of greater interest to educators. One of the basic concerns has been that students may reveal information that could put them at risk. Blogger.com offers some new security options. It is possible to limit access to those designated within a set of email addresses. If you want to make the effort, the group that can access a blog can be carefully controlled.

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Rules for Teachers Who Blog

David Warlick has an article in EdTech:Focus on K12 that identifies 3 categories of teachers who blog (independent, professional, and instructional) and then proposes related practices schools might employ.

When I first read this piece, it struck me as a thesis or dissertation waiting to happen. One of the things I value about researchers is that they typically must offer their methodology for review and this requires that they move beyond generalities. In a situation such as this, they must operationalize what they propose should be counted as what!

Rather than identifying categories of teacher bloggers, I would guess the reality would be that teachers author posts falling into multiple categories. Many “tag” posts accordingly. Most of us who do not attach a blog to a specific class include professional development posts and personal posts when the mood strikes us. How would you classify this blog? Some posts are about pedagogy and some about educational tools. Some posts also address politics and other general topics as interpreted by someone whose vocation is that of educator.

Warlick’s comments are helpful and he makes the effort to point readers toward sites he feels provide relevant advice for each blogger category. However, and this may be the liberal in me talking, there seems to be a very cautionary tone that reminds me of the old days when expectations might imply that teachers should not be seen in the local pub. I like the advice “Don’t be stupid”.

In fact, if it is possible to identify a pool of teacher authored blogs, it would be interesting to know what proportion of posts reviewers feel are potentially inflammatory, contentious, etc. With some data in hand, we might then consider whether a serious problem exists. What rate of inappropriate comments or what proportion of hot heads is tolerable? How do attempts to set the rules for educators desiring to participate in the discussion of controversial issues influence the effectiveness of the web as an open forum?

I think teachers should be allowed to blog on any topic a radio talk show host or a television news celebrity is allowed to discuss.

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Blogs – By the Numbers

Technorati, a popular blog aggregator, has released data allowing a look at blogging in general. Technorati claims (as of today) to follow 50.6 million blogs.

  • The number of blogs continues to grow at a dramatic pace and is presently doubling every 6.5 months.
  • Blogs appear to be very responsive to current events (i.e., bloggers digest the news) and a graphic in the David Sifry post shows how peaks in the rate of daily blogging can be linked to current events.
  • Approximately 39% of posts are currently written in English (Japanese was second). The time at which blogs are written appears to vary with culture and the author notes that English blogs are more likely to be written during the work day and Japanese blogs after the work day.

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When (preservice) teachers blog

I try to attend Bernie Dodge’s sessions when I can because I admire how he has been able to generate significant ideas out of courses he teaches (e.g., webquests). I mean this comment in a positive way. My research and teaching concern the same general field of study, but I can’t say any class project I have ever generated has been the basis for any serious scholarship.

The presentation “when teachers blog” concerned work by Dodge and Molebash evaluating the blogs of preservice English and language teachers. The general rationale for exploring blogs with this group was based on the assumption that such students would be “pro” writing and may be positively influenced by the opportunity to eventually engage their own future students with this tool.

The activity of encouraging preservice teachers to blog has extended across two semesters to this point and has involved the collection of some data (activity level and questionnaire responses) and some basic “manipulations” (whether blogging and reading the blogs of others was voluntary or worth 10% of the course grade (see paper paper to be available). Response to the experience of blogging was positive, students felt quite capable of blogging, and there was increased activity with incentives.

Some of the ideas shared at the session were very interesting. The authors wanted to provide teachers an opportunity for reflection and noted changes in what teachers had to say as they became more experienced in their student teaching. The idea of “saving” a record of this part of one’s life is interesting. Following the presentation, the group became caught up in a discussion of concerns associated with blogs – what younger students might reveal that may endanger them, what preservice or practicing teachers may say about their private and professional experiences that may endanger their professional futures. For example, student teachers reflecting on frustrations with students, colleagues, supervisors may encounter repercussions. In my opinion, it is difficult and perhaps inappropriate for people who are passionate about what they do to separate their professional and personal lives. Perhaps, this is especially true for those just discovering and shaping a professional identify.


Current example.

It seems a sad trend that self-expression can also be self threatening (must be something in the constitution about this). I guess this means I should not post my pictures from last night’s excursion to “The Quarter.”

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