BP5_Edublogs

The web 2.0 tool I am using to accompany my Action Research project on book blogging is edublogs located at www.edublogs.org. This will be the hub for my students during the cycle phase of my action research. Students will respond to prompts initiated by me, and then use the blog as a place to comment on other student’s readings, and write about interesting things that are going on in their particular book. Edublogs fits as a great site to use for my action research project as it seems fairly simple to set up a blogging site, and seems simple for students to use, as well.

As a trial of the site, I used this site as a spot for an invitation to my son’s 7^th birthday. I wished to see how user friendly the site was, and saw the birthday party as a great place to experiment with site use. I posted my son’s slideshow style party invitation to the site, and then guests were encouraged to respond to the blog posting. It worked very well, as I provided a link for parents to find the site. I was dealing with a lot of parents who have no prior experience using blogs, much as my research participants will have no, or little, experience with blogging. It was simple to manage the site for the birthday party, and there were a few things I really liked about the site for blogging. First of all, the site is set up for educators, so I feel parents will feel good about the children going to this site. Second, I can actually look at the responses and approve them before they go on the wall, which will keep comments unrelated to books off of the site. I also like the ease of uploading media including podcasts, video links, and images for students.

I am excited to implement edublogs as a tool for my action research project when I begin the cycle phases of my project. I am including a snapshot of my draft page of my book blog site below, as well.  If you are interested in using a class blog, consider creating one for communication with parents, students, or blogging about books. I find edublogs to be a great site for bloggers of all skill levels- this includes novices like my students and myself! Enjoy!  

Draft of Book Blog for Action Research