2018 is almost here and what better time to start blogging with your students.
There are so many excellent reasons to have a class blog, such as:
- communicating with families
- providing an authentic audience for students
- collaborating with other classes
- learning about digital citizenship and developing technology skills
We know there are many educators who see the benefits of blogging, yet feel like they need support to get started or improve their program.
We have an amazing FREE opportunity starting January 15th, 2018!
Please note: registrations for this course have now closed. We will let you know of future opportunities for supported courses! In the meantime, check out our Teacher Challenges for free self paced professional learning.
Unlike our self-paced Teacher Challenge professional learning series, this program will offer you a ten week fully supported course.
- Each week you will be personally emailed information to set the scene for the weekly topic.
- A blog will be used for learning, connecting, and reading published course content.
- A closed Facebook group will be used for discussion and collaboration.
- We will be focusing a little on the technical side of blogging and a lot on the pedagogy, process and potential of a high quality blogging program.
Who Is It For?
This course is designed for educators from anywhere in the world who are working with students.
You might be interested in starting/improving:
- a class blog (K-12 or even higher ed),
- a subject area blog (eg. science, art, history etc.),
- a school news blog, or
- a speciality blog (eg. a lunchtime club or elective subject etc.)
This course would primarily suit:
- Complete beginners who’d like to start a classroom blogging program in 2018, or
- Educators who have dabbled with blogging in the past and want to relaunch a classroom blogging program in 2018, or
- Teachers who use a blog with their class but feel like they could do it better.
Outcomes
You will learn how to:
- Set up a class blog and create quality posts, pages and comments.
- Use your blog as an online hub and incorporate a variety of online tools in a meaningful way.
- Connect your class blog with students, parents and the world to enhance learning outcomes.
Who Is Running The Course?
Me! My name is Kathleen Morris and I’m an Australian primary school teacher. I started blogging with students in 2008 and I love helping other educators learn more about blogs. You can read more about my story in our Global2 post.
We will also have support from our fantastic team at Edublogs and some other members of the educational blogging community.
Timeline
REGISTRATION OPENS: Now! Scroll down to find our registration form.
REGISTRATION CLOSES: January 14th or earlier. We will only be able to accept a limited number of participants so we can provide support to everyone involved. Get in quick to avoid missing out!
WEEK ONE: Begins Monday January 15th.
WEEK TEN (FINAL WEEK): Begins Monday 19th March.
Why Are We Running A Free Course?
Edublogs is run by teachers for teachers and we have always had support at the forefront of the service we provide. For example, we offer all our Edublogs and CampusPress users free 24/7 email support.
Our self-paced Teacher Challenge courses have been popular with educators for many years. These are not going away and we will continue to monitor and update them. If you prefer to work at your own pace and pick and choose what you want to learn about, these are the courses for you.
We know there are many educators who would like coaching, support and accountability to set up a class blog that will enhance their students’ learning. This is exactly what Better Blogging With Students will offer.
As well as having me as your own coach, you will have the advantage of a likeminded community through our private Facebook group!
What You Will Need
Apart from the following essentials, all you’ll need to bring to this course is a willingness to learn, share and connect!
You certainly don’t need advanced skills with technology. As long as you can navigate your way around the internet, you’re good to go.
The two main components you will need are:
- A blog! If you haven’t already set one up through Edublogs or CampusPress, you can check out our quick start guide, or simply set up your blog in week one.
- A Facebook account. It will only take you minutes to sign up for Facebook if you don’t have an account already. And if you aren’t interested in using Facebook publicly or befriending anyone, that’s not a problem. You only need the Facebook account to access our private, closed group (only our group members will be able to see what is published in there).
Professional Development Credit
All participants in our ten week course will be issued with a certificate of completion that outlines the modules covered and the time frame.
We expect to have participants from all over the world. Naturally, different schools and districts have different criteria for awarding professional development credit. Therefore, we can’t guarantee our certificate will comply with your school’s specific PD criteria. But we hope it does! This will be an amazing learning opportunity.
What Happens After You Sign Up?
You can relax and look forward to the fun beginning on January 15.
We’ll be emailing you a few days before the launch of our course with the course overview, links to our blog and Facebook group plus everything else you need to know.
Feel free to share this information with any friends or colleagues who might be interested.
Please leave a comment if you have any questions about the course.
We have set up a class blog and some of them have approved post. Is there an easy way to approve post? It takes for ever and you have to wait in between approving every thing.
Hi there,
Are you using My Class? http://help.edublogs.org/set-up-my-class/
This is the easiest way to manage either student blogs, or students’ posts on the class blog. If you need further help, feel free to email [email protected] and the team will be happy to assist. 🙂
Great. I am trying to set up a class blog and have all my students join edublog.org. We are on our way but have hit a couple of snags.
Great to have you on board, Peter! You should have all the information in your inbox now. 🙂
Need and desire to inject new ideas into teaching and learning
Fantastic. You’re in the right place!
Hi Kathleen,
I have attempted to complete the registration but have not received a confirmation. Can you please let me know if my registration worked?
Really looking forward to this course – it is just what I have been looking for!
Hi Kirsty,
So glad this is the sort of course you have been looking for! It’ll be fun. Don’t worry, I just checked and I have all your details. We are just doing some finishing touches on the blog today so hoping to send out an email later today with all the details for participants.
Thanks!
Thank you Kathleen!
i used your blog as a reference for my blog because i am new at this i used it by seeing what a good bloger does