Internet Safety

I just found this link to a prepared course at two levels for younger learners.

http://www.ikeepsafe.org/iksc_about/

A very short survey...

I think it might be fair to say that for many of us the amount of time required to read and comment on other blogs has been a challenge on this course. I am sure we all have busy lives and only a cerain amount of time. I know that's the case for me!

With that said can I please ask you to give this survey a few minutes?

Many thanks

John
http://Click here to take survey

The purpose of this blog

It was interesting to take part in a WiZiQ session today as part of the course. Karin was sharing her experience of blogging.
These are the points that I brought from this session...

Most first blogging attempts fail, mostly as a conversation does not get started, there are at least 25 Blogs on ELT and WEB 2.0 etc already and may not be room for any more, and we should really be reading, and replying to others so as not to be reinventing the wheel...

Taking each in turn then - I hope my wee blog here will help me with my main purpose. I will keep it open until the end of July 2010. As there are a lot of blogs on this area already I am glad that I am building my blogging skills on a subject that is well covered. And finally - I have a lot of reading to do!

So to kick things off I have just one question...

What is the biggest challenge in using blogs, or other social media in your teaching?

My first blog post

Hello all and welcome to my first posting, on my first blog. This blog was set up as part of week two of an online course 'Widen your classroom with blogs'.

My interest here, and on the above course, is mainly based on the final part of an MA I am doing this summer. I am looking into 'literacy as social practice' and to what extend teachers are...

1. aware of the wider literacy practices of their students and

2. recreate these practices in the process of teaching and learning

If students are blogging, sending instant messages and creating/sharing video on youtube then these are skills that can be put to good use in, and more importantly, 'around' the language classroom. We can 'widen' the classroom in both time and space.

A lot of technology can be just a new way of doing an old thing - and not really innovative. Giving students a space outside the classroom where they can collaborate is relatively new and the possibilities are exciting. I am very much aware that I am NOT that fluent in these wider social media practices - hence this course!

Before the end of this course I may post a link to a questionnaire on this blog, I hope some of you will have time to answer it.

That's all for now, thanks for reading!

John