Like many others in the ICT in education field, 2004 has been the year of the Blog! Most of the discussions I’ve had with teachers and teacher groups has included some level of discussion around what blogs are, how to set them up, and how they can be used in an educational context.
Blogmeister is the most recent blogging software that I’ve come across that has been designed specifically for education. It has been created by David Warlick of the Landmark Project (another site well worth a browse for teachers!!!!)
Back to Blogmeister, an online blogging tool explicitly designed with teachers and students in mind, where the teacher can evaluate, comment on, and finally publish students’ blog articles in a controlled environment. Unfortunately, it can only be used by US teachers at present, as it requires a School ID in order to set up an account.
However, it is well worth looking at this site and reading some of the background information. There is some useful thinking about the process of using blogs in classrooms, and links to a number of teacher blogs (which I’m sure will continue to grow!)