Developed back in 2001, this API allows users to hook up Blogger with other programs, interfaces, or environments. Will require some programming knowledge to get it going though 😐
Blogs as Exam
This posting off weblogg-ed resonate with one of the issues we have had when thinking of bringing blogging into classroom(s), yes, that of assessment.
Unless, of course the standardized exam is to identify and reflect upon the learning evidenced in the Weblog. It would be so simple, right? Take the goals and objectives of the class. Heck, for that matter, take the state standards and say to students “Here, find where you’ve done this in your Weblog. Reflect on what it took to learn it. If you can’t find evidence of the standard, reflect on why. What prevented you from reaching that goal or understanding that concept? What do you think you need at this point in order to master it?” – Will R.
If at a certain level (e.g. secondary? upper pri?) we can start introducing such thinking processes into our students’ learning, we are on the way to cultivate life-long learning. (Continual) assessment can be done based on blog postings and not just our usual one-off paper-and-pen(cil) tests.
Cyberportfolios in Institut StJoseph in Qu�bec
Cool! Thanks to Mary Nolan for sharing this example with us! This Canadian K-6 school has most of their 400 4 to 12 years old pupils and most of the teachers use blogs to capture everything and collaborate. These blogs are called cyberportfolios.
Though the blogs are in French, but taking a look at them still gives us some basic idea of the implementation. Truly, I am waiting for the day when we can see a similar attempt at school-wide adoption of edublogging in one of our schools.
[via: Loic Le Meur Blog]
BlogTalk DownUnder – consolidating learning points (part 1)
Back yesterday morning from Sydney, was hit most significantly and almost immediately by our most _wonderful_ weather here (29-34C, >90% humidity) *hmm*
It was a short, yet enriching trip. Heard many wonderful presentations and thought it would be most appropriate to capture my limited understanding here while memories are still fresh 🙂
There are two main streams of blogging in effect:
(1) Social blogging (with emphasis on political blogging)
(2) Edublogging (with more papers from higher education settings)
I’ll start by looking through the keynotes and invited speakers.
1. Thomas N. Burg on “technologyLog – innovating knowledge sharing”
The work on innovation “technologyLog” is introduced. It is a platform in development that has many features. And the whole thought behind this whole development is the need for innovation in order for a corporation to move forward. With social interaction and democratising innovation as the requirements for innovation, perhaps that’s why a major part of the engine is blog or blog-related.
Slide 6 is interesting, as it captures the adoption cycle of any form of innovation (not restricted to the use of blogging). Particularly the chasm, if we look at ourselves as early adopters/visionaries, we’ll need to bridge the gap(s) before the early major pragmatists will come on-board. This reminds us that when we introduce portfolio using blogs, we are in fact faced with TWO CHASMS and not just one to address.
Some other interesting discussion on this presentation can be found here.
(to be continued …)
National Interschool Blogging Championship – update
The NIBC 2005 launch was on last friday. Couldnt be there and heard from Guat Kheng that everything went smoothly. Looks like the news for this competition is catching up everywhere, locally and abroad. Check out some of them:
TODAYonline reports
SG Gov Official Press Release
Weblogg-ed
Couros Blog
Witness the competition here from 1st Jun onwards.
It’ll be interesting to see how some of (edu)bloggers from abroad react to the existence of the competition 🙂