Coker needs help with this whole Blog thing
That’s the title of the email that I received from Lee, a student in Dr. Pullman’s class. Remember, that’s the class who have been exploring weblogs with great interest. Lee is the kind of student (teacher) who you really like to help - eager to learn, receptive, inquisitive… I requested and got his permission to post this email - that’s another thing I like about him, willing to ask for help and willing to share his beginning frustrations with us as he learns. Anyway, here’s his email to me.
Usually I am fairly adept at learning new software/technology. This time, I’m either missing some fundamental thing you said to us or I’m overthinking (or I’m really tired).
What I would like to do is figure out how you made your blog like you did (what prefs and admin decisions had to be made) and gain an understanding as to how the blog works from the users end (which will be from my students perspective). What permissions do I need to give them? Do I create News Items or Stories or Discussion Groups for them to respond to?
Minor details like these are what I’m missing.
Would it be possible to meet sometime on Monday after 3:00 or Tuesday before 10:55? If there is an online blog 101-like resource that you would recommend (or a book) I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks,
–Lee Coker
Now just think about his questions. He is doing some good thinking and trying to get a handle on it all. There’s a lot of pieces to explain. I have really been thinking on the teaching part of all this (to other educators). There is a lot of confusion in this learning process. What is that old saying, out of chaos comes order or something like that? I keep searching for the best way to introduce this and teach it. I think we’re missing something really important here. Maybe at NECC we can all discuss this. I’d sure like that.
I think this speaks to what Pat and Will posted today. Will and Pat talk about generating interest but I think that’s the easy part. The part that is hard is finding the time to help them over the long haul. I think a lot of people give up on it because this particular tool is easy to get into but not so easy when you want to control it and make it into what you want it to be. Also, it is a web design tool that is totally different than what they are used to. Many try to make it into a typical static home page. When I sit down and try to write how-to’s for teaching I really get lost in a maze of how to sequence it, how much info to give on each part, etc. The Manila documentation is poor. Bits and pieces of help are here and there on the web. I am sold on the educational value but I keep thinking about how many weblogs have been created by teachers that lie dormant. What are we missing????
Oh yeah, I did meet again with Lee. I’m planning to keep in touch with him so more will come on the above thoughts.
Anyway, the day is late and I need to pack. It’s been a busy day finalizing plans for the Georgia Educators & NECC and wrapping up things at the ITC. I’m leaving for Seattle in the AM on a 7:00 AM plane!! I’m looking forward to NECC!
June 28th, 2003 at 1:00 am
There’s some news scheduled for Monday morning on the eBN site that may have some implicit responses to your post. Stay tuned. And tell Lee to hang in.
June 28th, 2003 at 3:00 am
Comment isn’t working right. Lost most of a post. News will be on eBN home page http://www.bayareawritingproject.org/eBN on Monday morning.