I finally have a chance to have my own classes - at least for a term! I will be doing a term block in high school English which I am really looking forward to, and hope to be able to incorporate using Wikis with at least some of my classes. When I determine whether the school is happy to allow me to use these I will share my experiences here and hopefully be able to make the site public.
I have tried to find a blogging service which is not blocked by filters, but have so far been unsuccessful. I think blogs would be ideal in the English classroom, but will have to follow up whether this will be possible.
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Thanks for your comment on my blog, Karen. I use edublogs.org for my blog and for the blog we use at Year 11 (you can find it at http://conflictblog.edublogs.org if you're interested). It isn't blocked at school - I think because it is mostly used by educators or is tagged as an education site. Either way it should be available. It was created and is run by a guy from Melbourne who is very happy to help out with any issues you have (like getting IT departments to agree to unfilter it for example!)
Good luck with the classes. I've tried to use wikis with little success but am going to give it another go next year.
Hi Jen
Thanks for your advice. I had tried edublogs but it was blocked and I have since had advice that I will need to make a request to have it unblocked.
What problems did you experience with using Wikis? I am writing a paper on them at the moment and would appreciate some real experiences to include, as well as informing my own practice.
Hi Karen
Set up the blog from home, fill it with the type of content you envisage using, then make the request to the filter team. It helps them if they can see what it looks like and how you might be planning to use it. The 3 big issues are that no child is identified by lastname, that no photos of students will be published, and that all comments will be moderated.
It makes it hard I know, but small steps....
Thanks, Mark. I have created a blog in edublogs, however I was undecided as to whether to tidy it up first so your advice was timely and much appreciated. I'm looking forward to using blogs with my students if I can.
You write very well.
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