a featured presentation at WordCamp 2008
Among the 100+ million/gazillion blogs estimated that are “out there” quite a few belong to educators using several flavors of WordPress. Edublogs.org (WordPress MultiUser) alone provides free blogs to nearly 200,000 educators. The spread goes far beyond teachers blogging their experience.
We’ll start with an appetizer of ways we at the NMC have tinkered with the WordPress recipe to power full featured websites. Moving on to the main buffet, we’ll sample ways WordPress is used to provide university hosted blogging services for students, as a place for elementary age students to stories, as electronic portfolios, as electronic publishing platforms, as nifty plugins that connect learning resources, as alternatives for course management systems, as resources for home schooled students, as platforms for narrative, as sites for projects. and more.
Slides (as it were)
Presentation video
video by John P One Mans Blog and now it appears on WordPress.tv!
Edu WordPress Sites
This list includes sites I hope to fly by at WordCamp; feel free to add more! This is by no means a comprehensive list, more of a buffet sampler
- My Blog (WordPress powered, of course, as are all that follow) http://cogdogblog.com
- NMC WordPress Web Sites
- NMC Campus Observer http://sl.nmc.org
- NMC Virtual Worlds http://virtualworlds.nmc.org
- Pachyderm Services http://pachyderm.nmc.org (see WordPress Dissected for details)
- NMC CommentPress (WPMU) http://wp.nmc.org (see Wrangling WordPress MultiUser for details)
- WordPress EduBlog Hosting (WordPress MultiUser)
- Edublogs.org http://edublogs.org almost 190,000 free edublogs hosted and EduBlogs Campus edition http://edublogs.org/campus/
- University of Mary Washington http://umwblogs.org (see UMW Screencasts “supporting UMW blogs one screencast at a time” and wpmu documentation from the irrepressible Jim Groom)
- University of British Columbia http://blogs.ubc.ca/
- Blogs@Baruch http://blsciblogs.baruch.cuny.edu/
- University of Calgary http://ucalgaryblogs.ca/
- Discovery Education Network http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/
- Homeschool Journal Dot Net http://www.homeschooljournal.net/
- Global Teacher (Victorian Education Channel and the School Library Association of Victoria) http://globalteacher.org.au/
- Student Blogs / ePortfolios
- The miniLegends (Adelaide, Australia) http://minilegends.edublogs.org/
- Roblog (student portfolio, University of Mary Washington) http://roblog.umwblogs.org/
- Macaulay Honors College Eportfolio Collection (CUNY) http://macaulay.cuny.edu/eportfolios/
- Judges 5:27 (student blog, University of Mary Washington) http://blogs.elsweb.org/nsftmfx/
- Sheridan School Showcase (http://shershowcase.edublogs.org) and Cherokee School Showcase (http://chshowcase.edublogs.org) spotlight some of the projects from these K-4 schools in Lake Forest (IL) School District 67.
- AP English student portfolios http://filamentlaunchpad.pbwiki.com/Student+Blogs
- Twenty2 – A Class of Grade 4 students in Auckland NZ.
- Jim Groom blog as a CV/resume http://jimgroom.net/
- Teacher/Educator Blogs
- smARThistory – General Musings about using Technology to Teach with Images by two art historians Beth Harris and Steven Zucker http://smarthistory.us/blog/
- Miss W. and Her SmartBoard – progress of a middle school teacher in Tasmania http://tasteach.edublogs.org/
- (the new) bgblogging – Barbara Ganley http://bgblogging.wordpress.com/
- Mr. Mundorf’s Class (5th grade) – Marco Island, Florida, USA – http://jmundorf.edublogs.org/
- Fred Koch’s Technology Blog (http://fredkoch.edublogs.org) – for Lake Forest (IL) School District 67 teachers, staff and parents.
- Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day (for teaching EFL, ESL, ELL) http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/
- Julia Zangl Colby, Instructional Technology Specialist, Plymouth, MA “Technology in the Education Arena” http://jzcolby.edublogs.org
- Adventures in Science-join Mrs. DuBose and her students as they adventure through the wonderful world of science and have fun integrating all the cool Web 2.0 out there.
- Teaching High School Science http://sciteacher.edublogs.org/
- Alperton Science “This Blog has been developed personally by Mr. A. Shah and has Items of interest for Science Students, Parents and Teachers right across the World.” http://alpertonscience.edublogs.org/
- Digital Doodling, blog by high school teacher that focuses on educational technology for teaching art and photography.
- Mr Kampmann’s Social Studies, blog of a high school social studies teacher on the use of technology in the classroom.
- Mr Moshé’s Critically Thinking… Are You? “I use my edublogs site as a portal for everything I do. THe students are either walking to an assignment, out of one, or through one using the portal. I have been using edublogs for just over two years as a main resource for an advanced and gifted reading class… . I am this year going to use it for 3 Language Arts classes, and one Enrichment class.” See especially the Study Halls and information pages for parents and students.
- An Expat Educator in Asia is a blog by Paul McMahon a teacher with a lot of experience of using ICT for learning now working as an independent EdTech consultant to schools in the Asian region.
- The Global Sociology Blog – sociology and global studies at a large Midwestern community college http://globalsociology.edublogs.org/
- Borg’s Blog talks about the evolution of education and technology from the perspective of a computer science professor and engineer with 20+ years of teaching experience. Find teaching tips, technology reviews and more. http://borg.edublogs.org/
- My Blog of Potential – k-12 teacher on technology http://ibloghere.edublogs.org/
- Tre’s blog- science teacher http://tgreer.edublogs.org/
- Multifaceted Refractions Thoughts and Reflections from Vinnie Vrotny, Director of Academic Technology at the North Shore Country Day School, Winnetka, IL, US http://vvrotny.org/
- Avenue4Learning “a place for educators to share ideas, especially related to digital literacy, Web 2.0, engaging students, and preparing students for THEIR world” by a former teacher, currently coordinating technology professional/staff development in a suburban school district.! http://avenue4learning.com
- Course Blogs
- Eighteenth Century Audio (University of Mary Washington) http://ecaudio.umwblogs.org/
- Modern British Architecture @ Yale http://brst440.commons.yale.edu/
- Rock/Soul/Progressive: Transatlantic Crossings in Popular Music– Class aggregation site for student blogs http://intronewmediastudies08.umwblogs.org/
- Collaboration Nation 8th Grade Social Studies
- Academic Reading & Writing Ninth grade English classes (Luther Burbank High School) respond to prompts related to the thematic units http://burbankarw.edublogs.org/
- 13 year old French students post multimedia “revision” materials and reference videos http://haythorneg.edublogs.org/
- Education 843: Technology for Educators Course (Loyola Marymount University) http://tilgunas.edublogs.org/
- Homework assignments based on recent news http://wormbins.edublogs.org/
- Blogush- 8th Grade social studies blog- Connecticut http://blogush.edublogs.org/
- StearnsFatherblog–10th grade writing and 12th grade AP English blog http://nstearns.edublogs.org
- Publishing Platform
- Features at Nonce- student literary journal (University of Mary Washington) http://noncejournal.elsweb.org/
- The Multimedia Art History Web-Book (Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY) – This web-booksite is being developed by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker as a dynamic enhancement (or even substitute) for the static traditional art history textbook http://smarthistory.us/site/
- 2008 NMC Horizon Report (CommentPress) http://wp.nmc.org/horizon2008/
- The Knowledge Tree – an e-journal generated by members of the Australian vocational education and training (VET) system to enable the sharing of research and learning innovation in national and global e-learning practice. http://kt.flexiblelearning.net.au/
- Orwell Diaries – The Orwell Prize, Britain’s pre-eminent prize for political writing, is publishing George Orwell’s diaries as a blog. From 9th August 2008, Orwell’s domestic and political diaries (from 9th August 1938 until October 1942) will be posted in real-time. http://orwelldiaries.wordpress.com/
- TechHEeds – Technology in education podcast from University of Denver http://www.techheds.com/
- Project Blogs / Resource / Informational Sites
- The Outsiders student created dictionary for “The Outsiders” novel – middle school http://byrdmiddle.org/outsiders/
- LaPaz Home Learning – resources for one home school family http://lapazfarm.homeschooljournal.net/
- A Blog Divided (Dickinson College) support for a blog community idesigned for teachers and students who are interested in nineteenth-century American history, especially the period before, during and after the Civil War. http://housedivided.dickinson.edu/blog
- Fredericksburg, Stafford, Spotsylvania Historical Markers, documenting Fredericksburg City, Stafford County, and Spotsylvania County Historical Highway Markers of Virginia http://fredmarkers.umwblogs.org/
- Knowledge Bank Online Events – a busy portal to online events in Elluminate Live http://knowledgebank.globalteacher.org.au/
- ESL/EFL Student showcase Blog used around the world to share student presentations. http://esleflstudents.edublogs.org/
- Top Shelf- the “best stuff for school librarians” http://topshelf.edublogs.org/
- EDUCEDGE “Lawless Sky and Little Green Dragon” Read about my finds of interesting tools that could potentially provide educational edge, some projects I’d like to get started, and conferencing comments, etc…. My musing, my searching, my frustrations, my suggestions. http://educedge.edublogs.org/
- Dayle on OET Masters of Education blog University of Adelaide http://oetdayleh.edublogs.org/
- ChickSpeak Our website exists to be the most entertaining and engaging reflection of women’s life in college http://chickspeak.com/
- UMW national Society of College Scholars http://nscs.umwblogs.org/
- Information Technology Services Lafayette College http://its.lafayette.edu/
- Saint Anselm College an entire college web site built on WP http://blogs.saintanselmcollege.net/
- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library Catalog http://catalog.ust.hk/catalog/
- Educational Plugins / Themes
- http://scholarpress.net/ e.g. CourswWare plugin http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/scholarpress-courseware/ and WPBook which allows your WordPress content to be accessible as a Facebook application (see History 120 example)
- DonorsChoose WordPress Plugin – “Possibly Related Classroom Projects” by Social Actions Labs – enables you to share relevant classroom projects from DonorsChoose.org based on the content of your posts. http://www.socialactions.com/labs/wordpress-donorschoose-plugin See my small exanple of its success in action
- WP College Education Theme http://www.wordpressthemed.com/free-wordpress-theme-wp-college-education/
- Applications Built on/with WordPress or interesting things wrangled with WordPress**
- The Lyceum – a stand-alone mutli-user blogging application, designed for the enterprise http://lyceum.ibiblio.org/
- CommentPress http://www.futureofthebook.org/commentpress/
- Digital Tatto (University of British Columbia) http://digitaltattoo.ubc.ca/index.php
- Hitchhikr – aggregates educational conference tagged content http://hitchhikr.com/
- David Wiley’s Blogs, Wikis, and New Media Course – course content automatically published to WordPress.com from Open CourseWare content http://newmediaocw.wordpress.com/
