Childnet International have produced some useful blog safety starters and an accompanying leaflet. Blogging is part of a social and technological revolution that some people are calling Web 2.0. What’s different about it is the ease with which anyone can produce and distribute their own content and link with like minded sites to create a very powerful network for sharing ideas and influence opinion. Young people especially love this new environment because they can have a powerful voice to express their identity and opinions. However there are safety issues to consider for both young users,...

Some excellent ways to be creative and interactive with BBC projects. I’ve heard from people much wiser than me some negative vibes about how the BBC is slow in reacting to the internet in the light of Web 2.0 innovations. However, I actually like the way in which the beeb translates the hype around interaction and collaboration using the internet into projects that folks on the ground can understand and ‘get their teeth’ into. These projects seem to be springing up over the whole corporation like an Auntie’s version of Small Pieces Loosely Joined.

As I reached the brow of the staircase the pianist ceased playing, conversations halted and all eyes were fixed on me, or rather on my shirt that was clearly far too noisy for the silent majority. The ’Slaughtered Lamb’ pub from the film, American Werewolf in London would have offered a more friendly welcome.  Come to think about it – it may have been the fact that I had ordered a McEngland Meal, which I am sure is designed to lull unsuspecting foreigners into a false sense of belonging to the global McVillage. McDonalds in Graz is a family-run franchise...

Using blogs and other new collaborative technologies can be immensely rewarding as summed up by one teacher in the ECML blogs project above. Contrast that with the blogging experience of a student from another class in another country. Boredom, all the students i class alwazs have the same project topic. I”m not surprised, that other students don”t read our blogs.. They”re all ”bout the same! Same platform, same project but a very different experience.

There is much to reflect on already as the ECML BLOGS team look at the teacher and student evaluations of the project. Are there any surprises? Not really. From my preamble to the summary of the teacher responses to an evaluation of the project. It seems that the ECML BLOGS platform, like other blogging software, is flexible enough to be used successfully across a range of cultural and educational settings. Like a mirror, it also reflects the individual pedagogical preferences of teachers using it with their students. The platform is, in effect neutral. The vision of the teachers for teaching...

I’m off to Graz in Austria tomorrow to begin the evaluation of the ECML blogging project. Many things to explore but Gareth reminded me in an email of the potential of the World Cup for the ECML Blogs. Most students have stopped blogging but perhaps it is not too late to get some cross-cultural commentary on the tournament. I wish I had thought of this earlier.