WEBSITE AND CLASSROOM BLOG CREATION TOOLS

Name: Eric Britt

Directions: Using the template below, describe how students could use a blog, wiki, or other website-
creation tool to learn required learning standards in your content area: For an A grade provide an idea that
reaches a Level of Technology Implementation of 4 or above. Remember higher levels (4-6) require that
students assume adult/professional roles; engage in higher-order thinking; and use technology create/publish
original content for their classmates and/or others beyond their school/classroom. The learning activities and
products should be engaging and meaningful to the students and to others who will view/use/benefit from
students work. Review your handouts on Engaged Learning, Authenticity, and LoTi.
Grade Level: 12th
Content Area: Current Issues
Technology Used (check all that apply):
X Blog Wiki Other Website Creation Tool (list):
Content Area/Grade/Standards/Topics Addressed: There are currently no GPS or GSE for Current
Issues.
ISTE:
1. Creativity and innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and
processes using technology (a, b, c)
2. Communication and collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including
at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. (a, b, c, d)

Brief Description of Learning Experience: What learning standards will be addressed? What will
students and teachers do? What products will students create? How will the project be introduced? How
long will it take to complete? What audience will use/care about the product(s) students are creating? How
broad is this audience? (Overview should be a minimum of 2 paragraphs).
Students will be asked to create a blog that is relevant to a current issues topic that is important to
them. This blog should bring to light different views, opinions, research, statistics, and other
information pertinent to the topic. Students will need to create a blog that not only informs others
about the current issues topic but also that allows for the input of others. Students want to be able to
take this learning outside of the classroom and have experiences with students outside the school
grounds. So for example a student might pick the War on Terror. So this student will create a blog
that defines the WoT, when it started, why it started, all the background, important people, add
pictures and videos to this blog but also allow for other people to comment on it and provide their
own feedback or opinions.
This will be given to students as a final project, as a sum of the class. Given about a month to work on
it students will formulate ideas and create a blog that illustrates their thoughts, and opinions on the
topic however students must respect others when responding or developing their blogs. Students can
target any audience, whether they want to allow their blog to be publicly accessible is up to them or to
just their classmates.

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 WEBSITE AND CLASSROOM BLOG CREATION TOOLS
Blooms Level of Critical Thinking Required (check all that apply):
See http://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomy
Remembering X Understanding X Applying Analyzing X Evaluating X Creating

Student Engagement/Level of Technology Implementation (LoTi): What LoTi would this lesson be and
Why?
This shows both LoTi level 3 and LoTi level 4.
LoTi 3 because this activity requires higher order thinking that challenges the student to think complexly
about the topic and form conclusions and develop an argument centered on their topic. Students will have
analyze information, apply it correctly, and then evaluates their product. This will be more teacher centered
as students still have to receive instruction before taking this outside the classroom and completing it.
LoTi 4 because students are starting to apply this current issues blog to the real world. Students are
organizing their information into ways that attract new audiences outside the classroom. Students are
performing higher order thinking and creating authentic and relevant media. Students take control of their
learning and responses.

Importance of technology: Why is using a website-creation tool critical to the project? Could the project
be completed without this technology? What would be lost without using it? What other types of
technology, if any, are going to be used in the learning experience?
Using a tool like this is important because students can start to experience how to use different types of
technologies that they have a higher chance of seeing and using in the real world. It is critical to this class
and project because Current Issues is a discussion and opinion based class so this allows for a new outlet
and an exchange of information between groups of students and other individuals. The project specifics
could not be completed without the blog however another variation could be developed if need be. Students
would lose that interactive technology feature that they are so inclined to using and feel comfortable
controlling so allowing them to create a blog to express themselves gives them more freedom in showing
their true feelings.
Inspiration (optional): If you used existing example as a model for your project (whether in part or
whole), include the URL(s) so we can visit. Explain what concepts you borrowed from others.

Internet Safety and Student Privacy: Briefly discuss some possible issues surrounding Internet safety and
student privacy that could arise while implementing this learning experience and explain how you would (1)
minimize risks to students/yourself; (2) alleviate any fears by parents/administrators, and (3) follow
common Internet Safety/Acceptable Use Policies.

Some issues that might arise from this activity are related to FERPA and CI{A which are essentially federal
laws that protects student recordsand privacy on the internet. Giving the students the ability to
communicate outside the room via social media like platform could lead to potential issues if some users
choose to remain anonymous or use avatars not related to them. This can be combated by assigning each
student a specific avatar or username that they will have to use when responding to others or completing
their blog. Parents will have access to the links of the blogs as will administrators and myself as teacher.

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Describe your personal learning goal for this activity. What are you trying that you have not tried before?
What do you hope to learn from this activity? How do you hope it will help students learn?

The goal of this activity is for students to be able to communicate on different platforms and be able to share
their feelings on different topics. Some times students feel more comfortable speaking through technology
than face to face, this provides the student with differentiation and the ability to express themselves. Giving
students more freedom to take the learning outside of the classroom and develop social media tools on their
own is a big step but it allows the student to have freedom and control of the learning and expression.
Other comments about your proposed activity:

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