PracTICE: Using Blogs For Home Work To Get ICT Skills and Creativity

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This is the second blog about “Blogging” and in the first one ===> PracTICE: Using Blogs for Critical Thinking and Proactive Thinking <=== WE were talking about WHAT would be the BEST way to introduce the students (learners) to blogging. NOW, lets go for a practical example where the teachers (educators) tell the students (learners) to create a blog on a specific topic. It should be a topic WHERE there will be a lot of engagement from the students and from WHAT they would get a maximum out of ICT SKILLS, creativity, use of the technology (camera, smartphone, photo camera…), Social Media knowledge, communication, Social Learning, preparation knowledge, privacy knowledge (not publishing blog…), working in a team, collaboration…

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SO… WHAT could that be for a topic? Well, I think that something everybody could do is to write a blog about WHAT any single person makes probably different, ===> WHAT are WE eating at home? <===

Of course, if someone of YOUR students (learners) OR parents don’t WANT and allow to use that topic, leave it FREE to them to chose another topic! Make sure ALSO that the parents sign a paper that they agree with such an action as it goes into PRIVACY!

Other possibilities could be: pet, sport activities, reading (my books…), games (games which I play…), my hobbies (some have more than one hobby…), my friends hobbies… Talk to YOUR responsible psychological person in YOUR school, in case if YOU have kids with problems to find out WHAT could be the BEST way to get THEM also ===> engaged in that learning process… <===

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OR perhaps about an excursion which YOU made with the students, I recommend to visit my following blog to find out about the possibilities:

• https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2012/06/30/tutankhamun-exhibition-in-cologne-de/

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Have a look below, please, how this could look. I prepared myself a blog about what’s served on a table in Luxembourg (Europe), to give YOU an idea:

• http://gustmeeshobbyen.wordpress.com/2013/08/17/cooking-menus-from-my-country-luxembourg/

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Depending in which country and/or state YOU are living, this could cause problems as well because of social status and privacy and certain parents wouldn’t allow such actions (NO one needs to know what’s happening in our family…)… Feel FREE to prepare a form which YOU handle out to the parents to hear THEIR opinion about it and tell THEM that THEIR kids (students, learners) are NOT forced to apply to it and could use another topic as already mentioned above… YOU will NEVER get a 100% agreement, BUT YOU could make the project a worth way to create together a project THAT shows the different ways HOW people THINK and HOW to show THAT it is STILL possible to create a COMMON project WHERE people are working together!

YOU will face the problems of REALITY from the REAL-WORLD by using the possibilities of the VIRTUAL-WORLD and YOU will be able to discuss these problems as well with YOUR students (learners) ===> Critical-Thinking and Proactive-Thinking… <=== Do YOU have this courage!???

Explain THEM also WHY it would be a good idea to agree to that project because of:

• Students would work together to exchange about life, about the REAL-WORLD…
• Students will learn from each other about different ways of life…
• Students will learn how to use their smartphones and how to blog, learning about Social Media, blogging, getting 21st Century skills, how to combine smartphones, tablets, using THEIR creativity, working in a team, how to edit and correct photos for BETTER quality…
• Students will learn how to stay private while using blogs, securing their privacy so, because the teacher (educator) WILL FIRST HAVE A LOOK ON IT AND GIVE ADVICE before publishing the final version…
• Students will learn to accept each other whatever their social status is…
• Students prepare first THEIR own blog and than later a selection of the photos from each student will get used on THE COMMON COMMUNITY BLOG, where the students write also THEIR experience to document it…
• …

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The needed Tools And Services-The Preparation

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First of all, WE need a FREE blogging service. I recommend WordPress as it is very easy to use and as it allows the students to chose from a variety of templates, so each student could use its own template to show its creativity. Then WE need ALSO an easy to use and a multi-platform (any OS compatible) PHOTO-EDITOR, where I recommend PHOTOSCAPE for Windows users ONLY, and GIMP (Windows, Linux, Mac) see below the links:

• WordPress
• WordPress Themes
• WordPress Help
• PhotoScape
• PhotoScape Download
• PhotoScape Screenshots
• GIMP
• GIMP Downloads
• GIMP Documentation
• GIMP Tutorials
• Online Photo Editor PIXLR
• PICASA
• PICASA (remove a geotag)
• …

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Keep It Private Till Everything Is Checked In Depth

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As already mentioned above, students blogs should get kept private, WordPress offers this (check left hand screenshot) till the teacher(s) checked them in depth to make sure that their isn’t any privacy problem such as:

• Students took photos of parents and sisters, brothers: do THEY agree to that the photos will get published on the internet?
• Photos are using the GPS tracking and show WHERE the real location is! THIS is NOT good and the tags should get removed before publishing!
• WHAT is Geotagging?
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotagging

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Check out the video below, please, to understand WHY it is important to remove the EXIF and GPS data!

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How To Remove The GPS Tracking Of Photos

The GPS Tracking of photos SHOULD get disabled first of all in any device, smartphones, iPad, iPhone! SHOW the students (learners) how to do this while following the tips of the below links:

• http://www.scoop.it/t/free-tutorials-in-en-fr-de/?tag=Tracking
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Another trick is, while using PhotoScape, to remove the EXIF information and any other information, see screenshot below.

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Camera information – Exchangeable image file format (Exif)

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exchangeable_image_file_format
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Useful Tips For Creating Blogs

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To make sure for NOT loosing the topic of the created blog(s), I suggest to add at the bottom some reminder, the keywords which explain about WHAT the blog should be and ALSO the guideline for the students (learners), as shown below.

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===> create blogs private, teacher checks blog & discusses with learners in a group, photos will get later ALL published in one blog as a TEAM blog, blog will get used with other students on a global view, like Skype, global exchange of habits to know each one better, social global approach… <===

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This blog was created to make YOU THINK, to know about possible problems, to make YOU Critical-THINKing persons and Proactive-THINKing persons, use it as such, please 😉

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Stay tuned for next blogs 😉

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