Hello Everyone,
This blog will be our central place for learning about Blogger. Starting a blog is easy (see post below) but before you do that, please click on the Comment link below this post and share with
- us who you are
- what your experience with blogging has been
- what you hope to get out of this group.
That will help us decide where to begin and what directions to pursue.
This blog is moderated, meaning I have to approve each comment. The reason for that is to prevent comments from spammers. So don't be surprised that your comment doesn't show up immediately. I will try to respond promptly.
There are a lot of things you can do with a blog! Here are some blog examples from adult educators, and there have been other examples posted to the list last week.
I look forward to hearing from you and getting our conversation started!
Marian Thacher
OTAN
HI everyone. I'm Debra Hargrove, Director of Florida TechNet, a technology and DL grant project here in Florida.
ReplyDeleteAs a "one man band" so to speak, my time using SoMe has been limited, so I'm actually just now beginning to use Blogs and Twitter.
I'm interested in learning more about blogging for PD, as I'd like to integrate it with our PD Moodle courses.
Hello Everyone,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Alesha Anderson, I have been lurking in the background with PD posts on social media. I am interested in learning more on how to use blogs as educational tools. I am an Program Officer at ProLiteracy and work in our International Department. I am happy to participate in this group because we have recently started our own blog (Global Literacy Matters)and are constantly looking for more ways help our partners with easy web-based tools to improve their work. Looking forward to meeting everyone and learning more about blogs.
Hi Deb and Alesha,
ReplyDeleteThanks for being the first to introduce yourselves.
Deb, hopefully you will get some ideas for using blogs in PD. The discussion group might be an example, if it works out. Using a blog to communicate works if you want to have conversations on particular topics kept together.
I hope you all notice the link at the bottom when you post a comment to Subscribe by Email. It's a good idea to do this, that way you will be reminded to come back and check out new comments.
Alesha, it will be exciting to have your international perspective in our discussion. Thanks for sharing your Global Literacy Matters blog. How did you set it up? Do you have a Web master who manages it, or are you using a different service?
ReplyDeleteHello everyone. I am Laura Harlow and I am studying Adult Literacy in grad school. My former life was in business and industry where my skills were in management and negotiations. I have found that those skills have been very transferable.
ReplyDeleteI can't think of a more proactive to way to improve the world than through literacy improvement. This subject and field are something that I am very passionate about and I am working hard to master.
You are correct Marian, generally setting up a blog is an easy task, especially once someone walks you through the steps. What I am hoping to learn is how to improve the effectiveness of a site, how to determine what is good blogging v just journaling and how to manage the site and your time. I have set up one site for reaching out to women re-entering school and I want to set up another one on literacy research.
Another point that is important is which type of email address should be utilized when answering blogger questions. Would you agree?
I am looking forward to this week Marian and others.
Good evening, I have finally found my way here as I'm on annual leave this week and having difficulty finding all the study groups I signed up for :) I am Education Director for a small Tribe in Washington State. I have taught online classes using Moodle, Blackboard and other combinations. As the Education Director I am responsible for supporting students k-college. We also have a study group for GED students. I am exploring tools to use with all of the above. On a personal note I have used a blog to document some of my personal experiences. I am looking forward to learning more about what I could have done and can do!
ReplyDeleteHi Laura, great to have you! I'm with you on your passion for literacy - it's good to feel that what you do makes a difference to someone, and I do believe that education is the key to improving life in many cases.
ReplyDeleteSince you already have one blog, would you mind posting the link so we can check it out and add it to our list of links? Both your topics sound like good ideas!
There is a lot to read about what makes good blogging, but the first thing is thinking about your audience and meeting their needs. You will attract the audience that's right for your style.
The second thing, though, is to be consistent. If you don't have new content on a regular basis, people stop coming back to read you. If you post fairly regularly, your readers get used to your voice and your perspective, and look for it. It's hard to do, though. I started out with great enthusiasm, but then my job changes and I had less time to surf the web and discover interesting sites, and to read about technology developments, so my blogging decreased and so did my hits.
The good news is, when you come back, readers start to find you again through search engines.
The other thing is to build community with like-minded people. Visit blogs similar to yours, leave comments, build relationships, when you have a new post that you're proud of, post a link to it on Twitter.
So, how do you reach women returning to school?
Welcome Tracey! A blog might be a good way to get GED students writing and sharing their writing with each other. Or are you thinking more of supporting teachers? Either way, I hope you will start a blog here (instructions in first post, in case you need them) and help us experiment. You don't have to keep it, but you may end up writing there for a long time, you never know!
ReplyDeleteHi all! I'm Kate Daly from the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center. I work mainly in professional development for adult literacy and ESOL educators. We're interested in new ways to connect the state's instructors in a way that would encourage the sharing of ideas and resources. I think a blog would be one great way to start this process.
ReplyDeleteI've used blogs in my own ESOL courses, and I found that students were generally happy to contribute.
I'm looking forward to learning more about how other instructors have used blogs to engage learners.
Hello all! I'm Andrea from CASAS. I've been working with CASAS for the past 10 years as part of the Professional Development Department. We're looking for ways to improve our PD delivery and format and am looking forward to learning how blogs and Blogger can help. The main benefit I see for using interactive technology is the ability to create a sence of community where there wasn't one previously. So - I'm anxious to hear how others have used Blogs to increase interaction and participation among folks who might not normally come together.
ReplyDeleteHello, I'm Bonnie Odiorne, and I currently teach online (a first-year returning adult students transitions course)at Post University (in CT, not to be confused with C.W. Post, although we were formerly Teikyo Post, and I believe there are a few Teikyo Universities still in the States. Now we are a for-profit (though not your ordinary for-profit school--we have dorms, NCAA II teams, a real campus, and a viable day division program, as well as a growing online and on site accelerated degree programs for returning adults. I've just been playing with YouTube just this morning, and not for the other group: there's an APA format video used in my class that's quite good, and a committee member in our Advantage Team Leadership group, used to promote leadership skills in our traditional students, recommended that we watch the T-Mobile ads--the one she recommended was Liverpool Station, but there's also one, a "Hey Jude" singalong in Trafalgar Square, that will make your day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM. (I don't know how to make this a hyperlink here). As for my blog... already posted, the title Read-Write-Learn links to a course I'm teaching for at-risk students on reading strategies, and linking that with the idea that we not only learn to write, but write to learn; writing itself is a thought process, not just a grammar exercise, can help people become better communicators, as well as 'finding their voice.' My 'chatty' style comes from the idea of e-presence, give the students in an online course the sense there's a person behind that keyboard and screen. and that's a deliberate choice of writing style as well. I don't know where this will take me, except that once someone asked me if 've "published" anything about my ideas, and I had to say no, but I guess blogs count...
ReplyDeleteSo here's me and what I'm excited about.
Hi, All,
ReplyDeleteI think my previous post was interrupted. My name is Staci Van Art and I'm an instructor with the Pennsylvania Distance Learning Project. I blogged about my hobby for several years, but I haven't posted for about an year.
I am interested in starting a blog for our program. I'd like to use it as a place to post information for students, as well as extra fun or interesting activities that they could use to enhance their learning.
Hi - Mev Miller here (finally). I am the Director & Founder of WE LEARN (Women Expanding Literacy Education Action Resource Network) http://www.litwomen.org/welearn
ReplyDeleteWE LEARN is a national organization -- and each year after the conference our members have wanted to find more interactive ways to stay connected with each other - both in local/regional areas but also across the globe. We also have had members want to connect to us through Facebook, make donations on line, and use other SN apps for various purposes. So, I'm pretty overwhelmed by all the options and possibilities (as reflected by others in the PD conversations).
This year I have received a Fellowship from the Rhode Island Foundation for research and development for the "next best thing" for our organization. To that end, I am currently doing extensive/intensive research on ALL the various SN options. I will be working with our Board to develop a Connect-(Net)Working Plan to integrate the creative and interactive benefits of web-based (social networking & Web 2.0) and communications technologies to support and advance WE LEARN’s learning/teaching communities. These efforts will bring greater connectivity across the country (and internationally) for our constituents, and build stronger foundation for expanding our current projects.
For the past 3 years, we have used blogging as a way to share "real-time" happenings at our annual gathering (for 2010, see http://welearnconference2010.blogspot.com/ ). Volunteers have worked to establish this site and to do the actual blogging. Other than viewing it, I've had little interaction with it.
So, I'm investigating all the ways the many social networking tools can be used effectively for WE LEARN -- not only for our conference - but for some other areas of our website and projects - especially to develop writing for Women's Perspectives and to add book reviews to our resource list. I've been encouraged to consider re-designing our complete website using blog software. Due to our complex needs, I'm NOT convinced this will work. However, I could see ways to integrate some blog spaces into various sections of the work we do. I'll play with some of that here.
YIKES - also - this "profile choice" really threw me off! I didn't know what to do or choose - since I don't have or or really want any of these options!
Andrea, Bonnie, Staci, and Mev - Welcome! This is such a busy group, I can hardly keep up with you guys! But this is much more fun that writing our annual report, which is what I'm supposed to be doing this week!
ReplyDeleteMev, I added your blog to our home page. I'm not sure what your concern was about the profile. I think you can add as much or as little info as you want, and make it shared or private. I look forward to your explorations of the social networking world. I think you're right to really look hard at everything before you commit to a strategy. Sometimes we jump in with enthusiasm, only to find we've gone down a dead end. So are you going to use your WE LEARN blog for this group, or start a new one on your own. It might be helpful to start one that you can just play around with.
Andrea, looks like you have a clear direction, and you're off to a good start. And you created a customized banner!
ReplyDeleteI hope all of you will add a picture to your profile. You can do this by clicking on New Post on the upper right, then on Dashboard in the same location. You will see a link there to Edit Profile.
Hello everyone,
ReplyDeleteSeveral things. One I have added most of our blogs to my blogroll. Two, I have tried several blogs over the years. My philosophy is that I learn from each one and just keep trying. Third, the NIFL has announced a great webcast coming up on Sept. 1 on teaching Reading and what the Results (or scientists) tell us. Jere it is:
http://www.nifl.gov/webcasts/readingresults/10read
It is too early to sign up but check back.
Laura
Hi Laura - good work adding to your blog roll! For some reason I'm having trouble making our link to your blog work. It keeps going to the xml code for your feed instead of to your blog. I've deleted and added it several times, but it keeps happening. I'll keep working on it, but meanwhile, everyone, see Laura's blog at http://literacyforallbylaura.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteHi Marian,
ReplyDeleteThank you advising me of the problem.
Any idea what is wrong with my e-blog? If it is something I can fix I will. Or more importantly if I can't fix it then it might not work for what I want to accomplish.
??
Laura
Ii don't know if it's your blog. It might be some kind of a glitch with Blogger. I will work on is some more when I get a chance.
ReplyDeleteHi-
ReplyDeleteI'm Phyllis Bonneau and I work for EASTCONN, in the northeast corner of CT. We provide Adult Education classes for that area. I coordinate our programs in the Danielson site. I'm feeling more and more left behind in the technology world and I know it's a must to be more "literate". I see many possibilities, especially in our rural area, but I don't have the know how. So here I am, trying to find my way through!