NWP Authors

Christina Cantrill
National Writing Project

Christina Cantrill is a program associate with the National Writing Project. ... She just figured out how to login and edit her Google notebook entry here so she's mucking around with it although the paragraph returns are being funny. ... Christina's current work at the NWP is to coordinate the Technology Initiative at the NWP.

By Christina Cantrill:

• Dipping into the 2002 Summer E-Anthology
  The Voice, Vol. 7, No. 5, 2002
• NWP Technology Liaisons: New Leaders at Local Sites
  The Voice, Vol. 6, No. 4, 2001
• NWP is Online @ www.writingproject.org
  The Voice, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2001
• Professional Conversations Online - A selection of ongoing conversations in cyberspace for educators
  The Voice, Vol. 4, No. 3, 1999
• E-Anthology Brings Teachers Together in Cyberspace
  The Voice, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1999
• NWP E-Journal
  The Voice, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1998
• NWP Adventures in Cyberspace
  The Voice, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1997
• NWP Network Expands into Cyberspace
  The Voice, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1996

NWP Blog Project

The NWP blog project is a pilot project that supports Technology Liaisons (TLs) at local writing project sites, and sites who are participants in the NWP Technology Initiative, in experimenting with weblog (blog) and content management systems (CMS) technology via a Manila platform. It is facilitated by members of the TL leadership team and NWP staff, and is coordinated through a National Writing Project contract with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools.

As a network interested in how technology can support effective practice in teaching and professional development, the NWP is interested in learning more about how new technologies can benefit teachers, students, schools, and writing project sites, as well as investigate the challenges presented by their use. Manila's system can be used for different or integrated projects of managing online content and weblog-style community publishing. In this way the NWP is learning more about how writing is changing and how online environments support local communities of students and teachers.

The Manila platform is an affordable, reliable, publishing system that can accommodate several thousand small websites, with a limited number of multiple writers on each site, on one server. It's basically an interactive database, allowing on-demand editing and immediate rendering of all of its contents, with many sub-editor and managing editor features that make it a potentially good tool for teachers and students to publish work on the web.  The Bay Area Writing Project first experimented with Manila software through a relationship with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools. Through that relationship emerged the opportunity for national experiments with these tools.

Using Joomla in the Classroom

Jan 23rd, 2007 by Eric Hoefler

For a few years, I’ve been using Joomla (previously Mambo) to run an “interactive” website for students in AP English, humanities, and creative writing classes at my school: WSHSBeyond.com. This provided some “social” web work before the term caught on. Now, with additional extensions, the site provides a pretty excellent (though not perfect) social learning environment.

In case there are others searching for a way to move their students online, I thought I’d give an overview of what’s great and not-so-great about using Joomla as a solution.

WHAT WORKS WELL

First of all, Joomla can provide an excellent “walled garden” for students, and it’s particularly suited for creating a social network built around a discussion forum. Here’s how we use it:

Profile System: This is the heart of site (thanks to Community Builder). Each student has a profile to collect their work on the site and their links to other sites. In our install, students use the following tabs:

• Comments: Like most social networks, students can leave comments; I don’t attach any “assignments” to this–I think building a genuine community is part of the point.
• About Me: Provides text boxes for students to share information. (An early requirement in the course is to complete the “about me” tab in a way that reveals the student’s personality and interests). These areas allow for HTML, so that opens up room for even more creativity.
• Contact Info: This tab mainly provides links to other off-site pages, such as the student’s Google Reader Shared Items page, del.icio.us archive, and Elggspaces profile.
• Course Info: Students list other courses they’re taking.
• Profile Gallery: Students can upload images.
• Connections: This works like the “friends” feature of most social networks.
• Blog Entries: This tab collects all the blog entries students submit to the site blog.
• Forum Posts: This tab collects all the forum posts students submit.
• E-Writings: This extension allows students to upload their writing, leave reviews and ratings, and discuss the writings in the forum.
• MyBeyond: This extension allows students to create HTML pages or to build other pages that collect RSS feeds, mp3 files, and images. We plan to use this as a way to construct an ePortfolio that collects the student’s “best work” throughout the year.

Members List: Students can browse through all the members of the site, sort by grade level or class, or search by name.

Messaging: Students can send on-site messages through each other’s profiles, or send emails through a form to other students. The actual email address of each student is protected in both cases. Only if a student replies to another student from their email account will their email address be revealed.

Forum: We use Joomlaboard to run the forum. It’s simple but effective for our purposes. Each post shows the student’s avatar and links back to his/her profile. The forum uses BB code to format text and insert links, and students can attach image and text files to a post as well as “subscribe” to topics to receive emails about new posts on that topic. Only the “Course Forums” have an assignment attached to them. The other forums are available for students to use or ignore (another aspect of building community). We allow posts to appear immediately without approval, but the option to approve each post does exist.

The assignment for the English 10 and English 11 forums are similar: pay attention to popular culture, the news, your friends, etc. and make connections between these things and the theme for the course. In English 10, the theme is “perceptions of truth, beauty, and goodness” in cultures around the world; in English 11, the theme is “perceptions of American cultural identity” as defined by various groups.

Our course forums are open to the public, so feel free to stop by and read what they’ve been saying.

Site Blog: We give students “author” privileges and use the “submit news” feature that comes with Joomla to create the site blog. Currently, we use this as a way to allow students to post about topics that will interest most of the users of the site, or for teachers to post site announcements or other information that students may find interesting or helpful. The only limitation is that each post sent from a student must be approved before it will appear. However, if you’re using Joomla as a walled garden, that might be perceived as a benefit.

Wiki: We use MamboWiki, which is really just a bridge install of MediaWiki. It’s a nice, seemless install and was our main wiki for a while. However, I’ve recently moved away from this because the requirements of using MediaWiki code to format the page is sometimes more hassle than it’s worth. I understand the value of learning this (since it’s what Wikipedia uses), but I also think MediaWiki (and Wikipedia) should move to a WYSIWYG format.

WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

While this is great for the most part, the limitations of the wiki and the blog are my only complaints about using Joomla.

Wiki: I still use the MediaWiki installation to create individual pages on the site that students can edit (for example, the “Help Using This Site” page). For the class wiki, though, I prefer WikiSpaces because they are so much easier to use. Unfortunately, this requires another login for students, but the ease of WikiSpaces seems worth it for me.

The Blog: The site blog allows anyone to comment (with links totheir profile). However, as I mentioned earlier, only “authors” and above can post, and these needto be approved by admins before they appear. This is good if yourconcern is for a walled garden with screened content, but not so great ifyou want to run Joomla as a multi-user blog platform (and the OpenWP bridge doesn’t quite cut it, either). Instead, my studentsalso have accounts on the “eStudio,” an Elggspaces site for their personal blogs and filesharing (over which they have genuine control). To make the connection between the main site and their personal blogs, students list their Elggspaces URL on their main profiles for easy linking, and include their Elggspaces feed on an RSS page in their MyBeyond tab. Again, though, this is another account and login for students.

Other than these two limitations, Joomla is pretty great. Perfect would be an integrated wiki as easy to use as WikiSpaces, with individual blogs fully integrated that were completely customizable by users and generated independent feeds (with podcast/videocast capabilities) like Elggspaces. (I keep trying to convince my programming friend to help me make that perfect tool, but he works 50 hours a week already!)

If you do give Joomla a try and discover some other ways to use it, I hope you’ll leave comments here or send me an email. Also get in touch if you run into problems, just want to share experiences, or are looking for ways to connect your classroom with others.

Happy webbing!

technorati tags:Joomla, MediaWiki, MamboWiki, WikiSpaces, ElggSpaces, eportfolio, education, walled_garden, social_networking, open-source

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Tech Dreams

Notes about what a "perfect" online educational tool might look like.

Safety & Openness

• Admins need to be able to set access levels for users, items, and sections that other users cannot override. This allows for a leveled approach to safety and strikes a balance between safe-but-disconnected and open-but-unprotected.

Administrative Control

• SuperAdmins should be able to control all aspects of the site and view the history of all site activity
• SuperAdmins should be able to decide which components (blog, calendar, forum, etc.) are available for each user
• Admins can give parents "read-only" privileges or select "write" privileges by component/section

Community

• Users should be able to find all other users [like most social networks]
• Users should be able to set privacy levels for every item (private, connections, registered, public) [like ELGG]
• Users should be able to create their own groups (for projects, etc.) [like ELGG] and each group should be listed in a centralized "groups" page.

Groups

• Users should be able to create their own groups (for projects, etc.) [like ELGG]
• Groups can be set to "open, request, or invitation only"
• Each group should be listed in a centralized "groups" page (along with whether or not the group is "open")
• Groups should be created using user fields as a starting point (i.e., all users in "English 10 - Hoefler" or all users reading "The Great Gatsby")
• Groups should be disposable ... easily created and removed

User Space

• Users should have their own customizable space that goes beyond a static profile. In this space, they should be able to collect all their work on the site (posts, comments, forum entries, wiki changes, rss feeds, etc.) as well as develop an e-portfolio and build pages that display and discuss some of their best work ... a "showcase" space.

Assignments

• Teachers can post assignemnts that aggregate to students based on class enrollment [like Moodle]
• Assignments appear on teacher/student calendars [like Moodle]
• Students can discuss each assignment (through comments like a blog post), and all discussions are aggregated by class (creating an immediate "forum" around each assignment)

Aggregating

• Taking a cue from Yahoo's Pipes and extending it: all items are easily tagged with user, class, and assignment information, which is then aggregated and redistributed through discussion forums, groups, and wiki pages. This way, all information related to a given item can be easily found anywhere on the site.
• All site activity relevant to a user (by group, grade-level, class, etc.) is automatically aggregated on the user's profile page [like FaceBook's "News Feed"]
• Off-site RSS feeds can be turned on or off for each section and tag, controlled by SuperAdmin

Blogs

• Each user should have an individual blog, and others should be able to subscribe to the blog, the comments, or both.
• All blogs should be able to be grouped by class.
• All blog entries should be listed together on the main blog page, by category/class, or by tag

Wiki

• a working wiki, with wysiwyg and media/file uploads that are easy and that can be displayed in various ways

Forum

• a discussion forum that links to student profiles with entries that can be tagged

Messaging

• Users should be able to send private messages on the site, emails through the site, or text messages through the site
• Users should be able to send to groups and to create their own groups (withouth having to work through the "groups" section)

Chat

• On-site chat and IM capabilities ... and all correspondence should be archived

Integrated tagging

• all content should be "taggable" and then viewed in a tag cloud, clicked-through, or searched

Integrated search

• all aspects of the site should be searchable, with advanced searching that lets you choose which sections will be searched

The Killer EdApp

Feb 24th, 2007 by Eric Hoefler

This Wednesday (Feb. 28th, 2007), I’ll be talking with Paul Allison and others on TeachersTeachingTeachers.org about various CMS (Community Management System) solutions for schools. Specifically, I’ll be talking about Joomla.

I’ve written some notes on Joomla before, and have been talking to a few teachers in other districts about its potential for the classroom. For me, Joomla (along with WikiSpaces and ELGGSpaces) delivers much of what I’m looking for, but it’s not perfect.

What I’m more excited about is finding some way to create a “killer educational application” that combines all the best, relevant features from Joomla, Moodle, ELGGSpaces, Explode, Drupal, WordPress MU and so on into a software solution that allows students and teachers to take full advantage of “web 2.0″ tools, but within a controlled, leveled, safe environment. (A balance between “walled garden”–which provides safety–and true openness–which takes greatest advantage of being online–would have to be controlled on a user-by-user, section-by-section, item-by-item basis. This is the only compromise I can think of that could do both, and seems in line with Vicki Davis’s proposal of on-the-fly filtration.)

The “product” would be open-source software, so others could still customize it to their liking. Importantly though, it would be software, so that schools can install it on their servers and maintain control of the content.

I’m drafting up some ideas of what this solution would look like. I don’t have the skills or the time to create it, though. But I worry/wonder …

Is is worth trying to do this? Would we just be “reinventing” what other companies (Google, Think.com, tteach, etc.) are starting to do? Is this issue already a dead horse (something Stephen Downes would shoot down in a matter of words)? I know that others (like Miguel Guhlin and Chris Lehmann) have written about similar issues, but has there been any real progress along these specific lines somewhere? And if it is a good idea worth doing, who would be able and willing to do it?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section. If you have specific ideas about what the product should look like, edit the “Tech Dreams“ page on my wiki. If I’m crazy or already behind-the-times, let me know. If you think it’s a good idea, spread the word … collective wisdom and effort is better than scattered.

technorati tags:CMS, killer+app, school, social, software, solutions, safety, walled+garden

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Posted in Technology, Education | 18 Comments

18 Responses to “The Killer EdApp”

1. on 25 Feb 2007 at 12:28 am1Patrick

   Hi Eric,

   Just wanted to add some thoughts here. When I read Chris’ post initially a while ago, I was quietly hoping that it would spur some developer to jump forward and crown himself or herself as the owner of the killerapp. Unfortunately, that did not happen, and I am looking for the same thing that all of you are looking for: the perfect balance between transparency and safety.

   The powers that be in my district are looking very closely at Sakai, more for its content sharing capabilities with major universities, but it exists as an open source platform that is somewhat customizable for adding modules as needed. I haven’t jumped in and played around with it yet, but I am anticipating doing that shortly.

   I don’t think we are wasting our time here contemplating what we need to create. Every school system worth their salt in the next few years will be creating something to suit their specific needs, and eschewing this “one-size-fits-all” system. Just as we intend to try to match content with individual learning style and motivation through Web 2.0, so too should schools be using open-source opportunities to create their own apps to cater to changing student needs.

   Look forward to interacting with you on ReadingPros.

2. on 25 Feb 2007 at 2:19 am2Chris Lehmann

   Just in response to Patrick… Bill Fitzgerald over at OpenAcademic is very close to proclaiming himself that developer. Check him out. I put a TON of faith in his ability to get this done.

3. on 25 Feb 2007 at 6:39 am3Kevin

   Hi Eric
   I would love to keep tabs on the development of this EdApp, as I can see many uses in many classrooms for what you are envisioning. Thanks to Chris for pointing the wazy to OpenAcademic. I will check it out. I think you are correct in saying that all of these applications have something to offer us teachers, but navigating through it all is tricky for many people.
   I may try to drop in on Teachers Teaching Teachers, if I can, Eric.

   Peace,
   Kevin

4. on 25 Feb 2007 at 7:59 am4edbong

   We have been working on an open source platform that allows to create application with no coding (think salesforce.com).We just integrated it with Google Apps and are going into beta. have a look if you are interested. http://www.applicationexchange.com.

5. on 25 Feb 2007 at 8:19 am5Eric Hoefler

   Thanks to everyone for the comments so far. Good to know I’m not completely off-base here.

   Chris, I spent more time over at OpenAcademic. Seems like there’s still a long way to go yet, but from what Bill has posted there, it does look promising. Do you know Bill personally? Do you think he would want interested educators creating a “wish/suggestion list” on their wiki? (I sent an email volunteering whatever help I can offer.)

   For those interested, check out these pages on OpenAcademic:
   - ethos: seems on target to me
   - technology: reads much like my own wish list, but there aren’t enough details yet for me to be sure
   - news blog: to keep tabs on things
   - wiki: they set up a wiki to gather help/input from others! I’ll be watching the “roadmap” closely.

6. on 25 Feb 2007 at 9:12 am6Bill Fitzgerald

   Hello, Eric,

   I would definitely be interested in seeing educators posting a wish list — so much so, that I just created the page

   http://wiki.openacademic.org/index.php/Wish_List

   Please go in and edit away!

   RE: “Seems like there’s still a long way to go yet, but from what Bill has posted there, it does look promising.”

   Yes, and thanks.

   We have been moving fairly deliberately, and learning from the process. We design iteratively, and we are also doing the bulk of our development on our time, at our expense. We have been extremely fortunate to do work for some great people, and this client work helps move us along, but, for all the obvious reasons, client work takes a priority over our internal development roadmap.

   I have also been working more and blogging less over the last few months — I don’t particularly like this tradeoff, as it means that our development is not as transparent as I want, but there are days (weeks?) when I’ve been faced with the choice of talking about what we want to do, or *doing* what we want to do, and I’ve chosen to focus on getting things done.

   Cheers,

   Bill

7. on 25 Feb 2007 at 10:23 am7Stephen Downes

   To find the product you’re looking for you will need to look beyond the world of the educational bloggers you have mentioned, since most of them do not program and hence while they may speculate are not and will not be the source of any educational application.

   OpenAcademic strikes me as Yet Another Academic Portal. Merely combining Drupal and Moodle and the like together won’t produce the ultimate educational application. It just produces another content management system. This current effort is, like the recent wave of bloggers, more school centered and teacher centred. But I think we’ve been pretty much through the CMS approach, through and through.

   My own feeling is that the educational application you are looking for is currently being developed under the heading of the ‘Personal Learning Environment’. Some prototypes (eg., ‘Trax’, I think it’s called) have already been developed; you can find them by Googling for ‘PLE’. Also, George Siemens recently hosted a ‘Personal Learning Environments’ conference in Winnipeg. Also in the running is ELGG’s new application, Explode!, which is *very* embryonic right now, but which has a basic platform in place.

8. on 25 Feb 2007 at 10:47 am8Eric Hoefler

   Thanks, Bill, for the open invitation. I agree that, if forced to choose, it’s better to “do” than to “talk about doing.” I’ll be looking forward to learning more about your project.

   Thanks Stephen. It’s clear from following your blog and some of your presentations that you are much more knowledgeable about these things than I am. I appreciate the information.

   Here are some resources based on Stephen’s suggestions:

   - George Siemens
   - The “PLE” blog
   - The PLE symposium at the University of Manitoba (has notes, slideshows, webcasts, etc.)
   - A “Personal Learning Environments” wiki I found that contains helpful information and a list of possible solutions (including blog-based and ePortfolio-based approaches, and lists OpenAcademic as a project “to watch”)
   - I couldn’t find “Trax” … anyone know? I did find Plex, though.

9. on 25 Feb 2007 at 10:51 am9Bill Fitzgerald

   Hello, Stephen,

   Some very interesting, but entirely inaccurate, comments.

   OA is about more than “merely combining Drupal and Moodle” — your impression that OA is school centered is equally misguided — OA is about meeting the changing needs of students, teachers, and administrators — given the current state of technology, we are past the point where the needs of one set of stakeholders must trump that of the others.

   Within any system (or even between systems) an individual can change their role within the system depending on their context (ie, an administrator in one context can/should/must be a learner in another).

   The current PLE model is inherently flawed — PLE’s cover a part of the picture, but, without giving a nod to the social aspect of learning (in addition to the personal aspects of learning), the PLE runs the risk of isolating learners at the very point where connections can be made to facilitate learning.

   If you would like to learn more about what OA is, and about what OA isn’t, feel free to get in touch.

10. on 25 Feb 2007 at 6:18 pm10OpenAcademic :: bringing education to all

    […] for learning. Recently, on Eric Hoefler’s blog Sicheii Yazhi, Stephen Downes weighed in on this post with the following piece of commentary: OpenAcademic strikes me as Yet Another Academic Portal. […]

11. on 25 Feb 2007 at 7:00 pm11Eric Hoefler

    If you’re following this discussion, I wanted to let you know that Bill Fitzgerald posted a blog entry at OA that discusses further what OA is and isn’t. I like what he has to say about learning, schools, and technology, and he makes some important distinctions. Definitely worth the read.

12. on 25 Feb 2007 at 7:21 pm12Stephen Downes

    Plex. That’s what I meant by ‘Trax’.

13. on 25 Feb 2007 at 8:35 pm13Vicki Davis

    Don’t forget a 3-D virtual environment. That is absolutely essential and is needed in education. Second life is not a viable alternative for educators for multiple reasons (see my upcoming post). This could be exciting!

14. on 25 Feb 2007 at 8:44 pm14Zee

    Hello Everyone,

    This is Zee from tteach.com.

    Just a quick message to let you all know that we’re listening to every word - and are really really REALLY going to every extent to make tteach your “Killer EdApp”.

    We’ll be releasing the feature list in two weeks time, which I am certain (once you see) you will be very excited about. The public beta will be released shortly after.

    However, once we’ve launched - we need your thoughts on where we’re going wrong & where we’re going right and any other ideas you may have to improve the site. What I can promise you is that as long as you keep telling us, we’ll listen & find a way to make it happen.

    I can’t tell you how excited we are…Here’s to the future of online education.

    Cheers.

15. on 25 Feb 2007 at 11:20 pm15Bud Hunt

    I know I’m late to the game as a commenter — but this is an interesting discussion. Why do we need one killer ap? We need lots of them. As a language arts teacher, I don’t look to get every student interested in the same book — I look for books and texts that will work for the students. While there’re plenty of improvements, and plenty of good people, working to create the right tools, I don’t want to be forced into the one tool that a future teacher or administrator might find is the best. For example — I don’t want an 3-D environment right now — I’ve already got a great one in my classroom.
    I want flexibility. I want choice. I don’t want a killer app. I want lots of them.

16. on 25 Feb 2007 at 11:26 pm16Eric Hoefler

    This is a good point, Bud. Thanks for reminding us about this.

    It’s one reason why the app I would want would be 1) open source, 2) customizable, and 3) allow admins to turn on or off various options.

    But of course, monopolies are bad for everyone but the monopolizer. I’d be happy with lots of “killer apps.” So far, though, I haven’t even found one that does everything I’m looking for.

    But I’m getting more and more hopeful …

17. on 25 Feb 2007 at 11:35 pm17Doug Noon

    I’ll echo Bud’s statement, about having a great 3D environment in the classroom. I’ve been using Drupal with my students now for about a year. It’s not “killer” but it does what I need it to and more importantly, it seems to work for the kids. I think we run into problems when we start talking about Education (capital E) as a monolithic enterprise. There are many locations, levels, purposes, personalities, etc. involved in teaching/learning environments. Flexibility is key. Drupal’s modular make-up lends itself to customization. Though, as Stephen pointed out in his blog, poor documentation is a problem. So….if there ever is such a thing as a “killer application,” I would expect it to be highly customizable.

18. on 27 Feb 2007 at 6:40 pm18Peter Rock

    Eric says:

    “This is a good point, Bud. Thanks for reminding us about this.”

    I agree. Thanks Bud.

    “It’s one reason why the app I would want would be 1) open source,”

    I know this may sound crazy, but this is not enough. It must be free (as in speech) software. An open source application may be subjected to restriction depending upon the architecture of the system as a whole. This is a critical difference and it is imperative that an application like this be free. This is the crux. Do you see why? The difference between “open” and “free” software is subtle and even irrelevant in some situations. But in other contexts, it is absolutely crucial. We’re talking about software that communities will use to communicate with each other both privately and publicly. It must be free.

    “2) customizable,”

    Yes, which is a given if the software is free (as in speech).

    “3) allow admins to turn on or off various options.”

    Yes, again a given if the environment is free (as in speech). If it is not, then who is “the admin”?

Framing Blogging - Making Connections

    One of my great frustrations lately as a teacher is that I am not having more success teaching blogging, as in blogging the verb ala Will Richardson, to my students.    The value of blogging, as I've come to learn, is in the way that it requires that I interact with source material, either another blogger or any other text that I can find to quote and think about.  That interaction with sources is what I think is so, so, so essential in the education of students.  If we are to teach students to teach themselves, we must focus our efforts on areas of basic communication and areas of interacting with other information.  I know that statement is probably preaching to the choir, but maybe not. 
    Lots of the "successful" uses of blogs out there are those that aren't really about interacting with sources.  Posting homework online, unless the homework is source-specific, isn't blogging, although it is a step in the right direction. 

    I've had some small successes here and there, but I'm finding it funny and sad that I am unable to successfully share the one best learning tool in my personal arsenal with the students that I work with.
  I could bemoan that the problem isn't with me, or with my methods, it's with the community/school/students/parents/etc.  But what good does that do?  Such excuses would make me feel better, but they wouldn't be me teaching -- they'd be me giving up.  As I step back from day to day writing instruction while my very able student teacher steps up, I'm thinking again about how to teach blogging rather than writing with blogs. 
    For two different quarters in two different school years, I have been attempting to better incorporate blogging into my speech course, English 10B, a standard course for students in the tenth grade in my district.    I figured then, and still think now, that using a blog as both a research log as well as a tool for reflection while preparing for a speech was a good idea.  To that end, I encouraged students to write three kinds of posts.   I'll admit that we all got a little stuck as we learned how to navigate between our own blogs and the blogs of our classmates.  We used Bloglines as our aggregator and Blogger as our blogging tool.  Too much software.  Elgg has mostly solved that problem, as it serves as both blog and aggregator.  Too cool. 

    While I was pleased that my students began to tentatively share their ideas with the world, I felt that my instruction was not as thorough as it might have been.  I understood that one of the powers of blogging is the ability to connect to the writing of others in some pretty tangible ways.  But I don't know that I communicated that to my students as successfully as I would have liked.

    This isn't a post about tools.  It's a post about content.  But the tools and the content are beginning to, or have always been, running together and affecting the other.  My students, or me, or you, or anyone can't learn how to write connectively without first learning how to make those connections.  I'm not an expert, but I think it makes sense to try to articulate the different types of links that are possible in a blog post.  I recognize that such a list is limiting, but I need to wrap my brain around these ideas a little bit.  (Here's a wiki version of my list, which is by no means complete.  Feel free to make it better.)  I see several different types of linking that I should be explicitly teaching:

1.  Connecting to locations.  The simplest of links.  When we write, we might write about specific places, people or events.  Often, those events or places have websites.  A very basic form of connective writing, then, would include creating links to those places.  (Ex. I like the Denver Broncos; Bob Ross was a great artist.)

2.  Connecting to ideas.  This is a basic citation.  Alan Levine calls it a linktribution.   One of my pet peeves about teaching blogging and hyperlinking is that so often, people will link to the parent page of a website rather than the page where they got their specific information.  The best part about linking to specific information is that it's very transparent.  I can trust you as a writer right away if I can see that your links are accurate and that the quotes that you use are reproduced accurately. 

3.  Connecting to self.  Sometimes the best ideas that we can find are ones that we had in the past.  The advantage to keeping and archiving a blog is that you can almost literally travel back in time to visit with the old you.  One way to connect with the old you is to quote yourself and respond. 

4.  Connecting for attention.  When students are writing for specific audiences, they sometimes need to get the attention of the folks that they are writing for.  One way to do so in an online environment is to include a link to a site or blog or wiki or something that their intended audience might be keeping an eye on.  When the audience searches for references to the link the writer uses, then that writer will discover the piece of writing.  Most bloggers that I know are aware of this, and they maintain an RSS feed (or several) of searches for specific links or terms that relate to them.  For example, I use Technorati to provide me with an RSS feed of any reference to the URL of this blog.   When someone writes about, and links back to,  something that's been posted on my blog, I find out about it and can go check it out.

    This is certainly first draft thinking; please keep that in mind.  How are you teaching your students to link?  What have I missed?  Is there a better list out there?  Again, here's the link to the wiki version of this list -- help me improve it.  I'm eager for some feedback, as well as conversation, about how to teach blogging and not writing with blogs. 

Posted by Bud at 10:02 PM in Blogging, Student Blogs, Teacher Blogging, Teaching Reflection, Wikis, Writing | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

NWP Authors Paul Oh Paul Oh is the coordinator of the technology liaison program for the National Writing Project. By Paul Oh: NWP Cyberspace Project Connects Youth Voices The Voice, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2006 Tech Liaisons Discover a Whole New World - and Themselves - Through Technology Matters The Voice, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2005