blogs

What is a Blog?
[|Commoncraft Video about Blogs] Communication from one person with the opportunity for others to comment Elaine's [|blog]

What is a Discussion Board?
Moodle has a discussion board called a forum. All users participate. More focused on topics for discussion

How __do__ they contribute to Professional Development experiences?
Use them to reach teachers. Set up a Ning - 120ish teachers logged on. Forums are used by both teachers and facilitators. Use blogs to link to instructional videos. Use a blog/discussion to inject humor. Are you posing questions in the blog/discussion to elicit responses? Use blogs/discussions to give feedback. Some visitors to the blog/discussion read and others "lurk." They are the most popular 2.0 technology in education. Lots of different nings to see. Kirkwood - focused on some professional aspect. A good use is for curriculum evaluation discussion. Think of it as a "walled garden." Who is the administrator for the Ning? Classroom 2.0 Steve Hargadon Blogging is a feature in the Ning. Blog to post reflections. The discussion forum is more back and forth. As an Instructional Tech Dept, do you blog/discussion individually or together? Can be used by curriculum and instruction departments. MOSIP How do you promote a single tool for use by teachers in your district? Do we want to control it? Does it die a natural death? TIS Blog What is the purpose of the thing? Use it a a daily work journal as a summary of the day. Curriculum coordinator has a blog.

How __could__ they contribute to Professional Development experiences?
Powerful if used by an ITS group. Train teachers to use these tools as a follow up - so that training is not a one shot deal, but instead more ongoing. Active after the PD. Seems to be more discussions than blogs. Is a avenue for good reflection. Do we require it as part of PD? Offering online course to develop the k-12 technology curriculum.

Sites for Blogs and Discussion Boards for Professional Development
What is a good tool to create a discussion? Is there such a thing? Ning, SharePoint, and Moodle are some of the tools used by us.