Whether you are new to blogging, or want a refresher on all of the features that blogging can offer, there is a great opportunity to join Edublogs for a four week crash-course as they guide you through the process of blogging with students.

This course covers:

• Setting up class and student blogs
• Teaching quality comments and posts
• Working with widgets
• Images, copyright, and creative commons
• Connecting with other classes
• Tons more!

Initially, part of the Teacher Blogging Challenge of 2015, which has now closed, this four week course is still open to educators to participate at their own pace. Go to go to: http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/blogging-with-students/.

Edublogs affirms that the main reasons why educators use blogs include:

• Share information and class news with parents, family and caregivers.
• Provide students with a way to access assignments, homework, resources and information about their class online.
• For global collaboration and authentic audience.
• To inspire and motivate students.
• The benefits of class blogging include:

• Blogging opens up the possibilities of audience in new ways. When students are writing or publishing for an audience other the teacher, it impacts how they view what they are doing and the intrinsic motivation they have.
• Students love seeing their work on the Internet and adore getting comments from people. It motivates them to write as it gives them an audience that is real.  The blog opens up a whole new world of people who can offer encouragement and feedback.
• The blogging experience forces the students to do more reflection on their learning and allows them to showcase products they have produced with online tools.
• Blogging provides an authentic educational experience, where what they write is not only seen and commented on by their teacher, but by their peers and the “public.” For most students, it’s a bit of extra motivation knowing their peers will see their work.
• There is an authentic audience – a global audience – one that is willing to connect, share, challenge, discuss and communicate with classes. This audience can provide further information, opinions, suggest resources, seek answers to questions and so on which pushes blogging further.
• Blogging develops a learning network. Exercise books etc need not be pushed and crumpled in school lockers only to be placed in the rubbish bins at the end of the school year, but student work is out there for their school lives.

For more information on blogging with students, visit edublogs.

To create your first blog, visit Global2.