The use of blogging to document life and learning at the Russell Street School seems to be very natural. Each class has a blog and it appears that students must also have their own blogs to document their learning growth. I enjoyed viewing video creations by students and video that documented class activities, as well as other ways learning was shared.
Two things really caught my attention. First, I think the site is well thought out with a variety of resources for the whole learning community in an easy to access format. Links to important information for everyone are found posted on the right side (information for supporters, parents, etc.) of the site. I am curious if this was always so or if the blog grew into this layout over time. Because of the thoroughness of this site, I think it serves as a good model for other school or learning communities wishing to connect in a real-world, practical manner with parents and other community supporters.
I also took a look at the link on the right for student portfolio examples. I was interested in this since I am currently wrapping up my own portfolio for the EdTech program we are enrolled in (and am excited about finishing in August). Some schools in my own district have attempted to require students to create portfolios but I don't think any of them have gone digital which makes so much sense for learners today. With the requirement of completing a senior project in my state as well, I would think documenting all parts of the project online would be a hugely practical and appropriate use of technology. In the district where my children attend school, students give presentations to the school board (using Power Point software usually) for their senior projects. If these students' entire project was documented through a blog it could easily be adapted to demonstrate their learning growth and progress in their project.
After looking at the Russell Street School blog, I got to wondering what other quality school blogs are out there. I tend to refer to the Edublog Awards every now and then and found that they have a list of 2013 award winners. The Cougar News blog published by a middle school is one that I found interesting but it doesn't represent the whole school as the Russell Street School blog does. It is a nice example of a blog written by students though. I also found Edutech for Teachers while there and think the technology specialist author has some good information to share. With more and more schools participating in one-to-one device programs, I would think that presenting themselves digitally in the manner of the Russell Street School would make sense and that we would only see more of these kinds of sites.
Hi Lynn:
ReplyDeleteIt feels to me that schools are moving from a model where little to no information was being shared with home to a model where a ton of information is being shared. The question now seems to be what is the right mode to share that info without overwhelming families and having them stop 'listening'. We send out a digital school newsletter, have sms messages, have a school website, a CMS, an online grade book and most classes have their own blogs. As a result there is information overload and so parents read very little. I'm not sure what the right model is but having a central location for everything seems like a good start.
Bryan
Love your thoughts on digital portfolios; I am hoping to use blogs to create them this year. I like how easy it would be to see growth, and that parents could easily see what they're students having been learning and working on. It does make sense for them to move digitally in my mind- for ease of access, safekeeping, and sharing if needed! Plus you can always take pictures of hand created projects, so it isn't necessarily comprised of entirely digital products. Great reflection!
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