Instructor
Bernie Dodge, PhD
Office: NE-288 | Blog
bdodge@mail.sdsu.edu

Motivating Student Writing with Weblogs

Weblogs or "blogs" are public journals that are easy to set up and use. They encourage self-expression and reflection and can be integrated into the language arts and social studies curriculum. Learn creative ways to channel your student's motivation towards active reading and better writing.      Meets 9/10 & 9/17     Schedule # 11303

 

Overview

This course is designed to be practical, current, interesting, empowering and thought-provoking. It is built around active learning and collaborative thinking. When we're done, you'll have your own blog and a complete lesson for using blogs in your own classes.

Audience

This course is targeted at teachers of English, foreign languages and social studies at the K-12 and college levels. Basic familiarity with internet use is assumed.

Learning Outcomes

In this course you will learn how to

  • characterize the weblogs of teens and teachers along a number of dimensions;
  • describe important tools and resources available to support classroom weblogging;
  • explain ways in which weblogs can be integrated into coursework and corporate communications;
  • create and maintain your own weblog as a vehicle for self-expression and professional reflection;
  • manage the flow of information from blogs using RSS feeds and bookmark tools;
  • develop policies and procedures for blog use in your own setting;
  • design a complete lesson plan or action plan incorporating weblogs.

Resources

A growing list of course-related links is available here and will be maintained after the course is over.

Final Projects - Spring '05

 

Course Outline

Session 1: September 10, 2005

Week-In-Between

Read and discuss in your blog:

Also: Explore online resources supporting classroom use of blogs and reflect on them in your blog. Post preliminary ideas for a lesson incorporating blogs to the central class blog and critique the ideas of classmates.

Session 2: September 17, 2005