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Rob_Hugo@PortNWHi everyone,
Mark inquired about the use of a web forum similar to this one for his classes, and if you are interested as well, you may want to look at this site: http://www.blurty.com/support/faq.bml
Blurty is a free online journal that was introduced to us by one of our former seminar participants. She taught a World Literature class and used the site to create a journal / forum in which she had her students complete online assignments. Her site is still up, although the comments function has been disabled.
If anyone currently uses similar online journal / web forum programs in their teaching, please share your experiences here.
Thanks,
Miranda
AnonymousMiranda,
This web site won't work for public school children. There is a button marked "random" that I thought would take me to different teacher's forums, but it took me to some Russian web site that was filled with naked people.
...Is there a university sponsored web site that would host an educational forum that you know of? Or would USC be willing to dedicate a section of its web site to public school teachers to set up a forum like the one that we are using now? Because I'm telling you, the one that you sent is scary to go to.
clay dubeHere are some free blog hosting services. For a fee, you can purchase your own domain name (e.g., hooverhistory.org). The free version would be something like hooverhistory.wordpress.com. Some services will require that you permit search ads (e.g., supplied by Google), but they would allow you to choose a "no adult ads" option.
http://www.typepad.com/pro/index-3.html
https://www.blogger.com/start -- a Google product (look at the "team blog" and "private blog" options -- this will allow you to restrict access to the site)
Any blog software can support a conversation -- you can ask a question and then students could "comment" on it and what others say.
A paid option is 1and1.com -- this is the largest web host in the world. They have reasonable prices, but there are many other web hosts who will arrange for your domain name, etc. 1and1.com has a $4/month option that includes plenty of space, etc.
Be sure to check with your school's webmaster. The district may have a free option that they can provide.
AnonymousThank you. I wish that I had been smart enough to read your "thread" before searching for several hours for "blog" sites this weekend, and while also waiting for some of my colleges to return my calls about this subject. (You score extra point for being so quick with your posts during such a busy week... 😀 ) I did look at 1and1 but I like the following sites better.
I also found http://www.livejournal.com/ But I like the edit features of: http://en.wordpress.com/features/
and the reliability and name recognition of: http://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g
so far, but I also found out this afternoon (Monday) that there is a computer teacher at our school that is using one of these programs already with his 11th and 12th grade computer students, and since I'll be teaching history, economics and government to the same 11th and 12th grade students within our AOIT academy, I will probably use the same program that he is using, which I believe at this point is Blogger, in order to create some consistency.
I will update this post when I find out which program is used at our school. I will also post the reasons why our computer teacher made the choice that he did, along with the pros and cons of each. Hopefully, this may help other teachers that may be facing the same decisions about which "blog" sites might best meet their needs in the future.
Anonymous(My Final Evaluation)
Here is a collection of suitable websites that can be used to set up and maintain a forum similar to the one that we've been using at USC. I will start with the one that I plan to use next year, and I'll include a colleague’s explanation of why he found it to be the best forum site at the end of this entry.
1. That site is called: http://en.wordpress.com/
2. A second site is called: http://www.blogger.com/tour_start.g
This site was bought and improved by Google, so if the name recognition is an important selling point for your administrators and parents to support your decision to create a forum, this may be the site for you. I would rank it slightly behind wordpress in ease of set-up and administration.
3. A third option is provided by: http://www.livejournal.com/
This free site has been down a couple of times since I've been looking at these sites, and for that reason alone, I'd have to hesitate recommending this site.
The next two sites have beautiful pages and have advanced features like one-click integration with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, plus built-in search engine optimization. However, they are free to set up, and have a free trial period, but then charge a small annual fee to maintain. Again, if you need to "sell" your administration and parents on the valuable aspects of setting up a forum, then these commercial/business sites may be the way to go for you.
1. http://www.typepad.com/pro/index-3.html
2. order.1and1.com/xml/order/Home
Finally, there is a site that Miranda mentioned in class and earlier in this thread. I DEFINITELY can NOT recommend it. It was called blogger, and when I explored that site, I found it to be more like a diary for teens. It might be good for educational forums, but I really work hard on screening any sites before I make a recommendation to parents, students, administrators or friends, and the first three that I've mentioned I would feel better about using and recommending than the others.
Now, I promised to include the reason why my colleague chose http://en.wordpress.com/
So I'm going to include his email that I received earlier this week on this subject. I hope that you find this information helpful, and feel free to email me during the school year if you would like to hear how the use of a "forum" is working in my U.S. history, economics and U.S. governments classes in 2009 - 2010.
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Mark,
I set up a blog using wordpress.com and then put my questions/assignments on it. The kids all have an account as well and can access my blog and comment on my entries as well as what other students are saying. At the NAF conference this summer I heard several other ideas using wikis or a classroom Facebook type forum but I haven't used them yet and am looking into trying some of them this fall.
If you go to wordpress.com it is very simple to sign up and get started--it is very user friendly and pretty much walks you through the process. You can look at samples of my different class blogs at:
http://mhoskisson.wordpress.com/
http://mrhosk2.wordpress.com/
http://mrhosk.wordpress.com/
The first two are ones I use for class and the third one is one I let the kids come up with questions for they want to discuss when we have open class discussions so it may be a little less "scholarly" and more raw. You have full control of the content and what gets posted. You can click on the "comment" link on any post and see the comments. I love using these blogs and the kids like them too--saves paper and kids are less intimidated than in a face to face discussion. Anyway, hope this helps. Let me know if you have questions--I'll be glad to help.
Mark H.
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There you go... It was great meeting you during our adventures through East Asia together this summer. Have a great year, and best wishes in all that you do.
Mark
[Edit by="mshadonix on Aug 6, 12:47:30 AM"][/Edit]
AnonymousMark, thank you so much for the idea of using WordPress! I love the idea of getting kids on-line as a teaching tool and as a way to utilize technology in the classroom. This allows kids to share ideas and respond with feedback. I also think it is a great way to allow parents to see what we are studying in class.
I enjoy using Google Docs with my students when we do group progects. The students work together on a research project in class and save it all on Google Docs. Then they are able to work on it at home as well. This allows students to work at home without having to save work to disks or email it to themselves. It is a living document that can be edited by only the people who have permission to enter it. The program is free of charge. It is modeled after Lotus Notes.
AnonymousHi all,
Last year I set up an account free of charge with http://www.nicenet.org and invited discussions on class readings and it was a great experience!
AnonymousAnother site that our school has paid for is http://www.turnitin.com. The students are asked to post the research papers and essays and it gives a really good feedback on plagirism! It also deters students from copying each others essays!
AnonymousTurnitin.com is a great system to combat plagiarism, if your district is willing to pay for it. Mine is not, so last year I looked into the cost for myself. Unless they changed their pricing, it was very expensive and I think you were limited to only about two turn-ins by students. I'm sure it is a much better deal for a whole district, but it was impractical and cost prohibitive for just myself.
Instead, I just take the portion of the student document in question and type it between quotation marks, into google or another search engine, and Voila!