Student Contributor Plugin v 1.2

An update to the Student Contributor Plugin is ready for release. The main change is as follows:

• The comments column from the ‘All Posts’ list and the comments option from the ‘screen options’ drop-down have been removed.

Many thanks to Luke from High Lawn Primary for spotting the need for a plugin update for the WP 3.21 version

If you blog with Creative Blogs, the NorthantsBLT or Primary Blogger then you do not have to do anything as the plugin is already being installed on your sites 

For other interested parties, feel free to visit the Student Contributors Plugin Page.

Student Contributor Plugin v.1.1

An update to the Student Contributor Plugin is ready for release. The main changes are as follows:

• The ‘Right Now’ dashboard widget has also been removed for contributors. It adds little of value for student contributors and Askimet, when activated,  pushes summary links to comments through this widget. Thanks to Andrew Chadwick for taking the time to point this out.
• Removed the ‘Tools’ and ‘Profile’ menu items for contributors from the admin sidebar.

If you blog with Creative Blogs or the NorthantsBLT then you do not have to do anything as the plugin is already being installed on your sites  For other interested parties, feel free to visit the Student Contributors Plugin Page.

Student Contributor Plugin v-1.0

Many schools, classes and students are enjoying the benefits of using WordPress blogs in a myriad of ways for more engaging learning, teaching, communication and collaboration. Often pupils are given ‘contributor’ rights to allow them to write content that must first be approved by a teacher before being published and ‘going live’ to the world. This process generally works well but recently it came to my attention that a child logged in as a ‘contributor’ could also view the whole list of unmoderated site comments via the dashboard widgets or the links to the comments section in the menu bar. Although they could not approve these comments and publish them, they could still view potentially unsuitable input before it was dealt with appropriately by the teacher’s moderation processes.

Therefore, I’ve recently spent some time pulling together a plugin that removes the ability for ‘contributors’ to view any comments via dashboard widgets and also removes removes the link to comments in the menu navigation bar. My initial fix built on an existing plugin and took these features away for all levels of user but the brilliant John McLear spent time tidying up the code and limiting the effect of this plugin to ‘contributors, leaving other user roles unaffected.

I worked on this with the WordPress multisite set-up in mind, mainly because existing plugins might do the job on a single site but would not transfer their settings across to other sites when network-installed. This potentially meant installing the plugin on hundreds of individual sites. The Student Contributor plugin removes this as an issue as it can be network activated and will only impact on the pupils set up as ‘contributors.’ In fact, I think the new contributor’s dashboard is less cluttered and more useful for use by children. Here’s the dashboard view for a ‘contributor’ with the plugin installed.

In summary, if you have a self-hosted individual or multisite wordpress blog and have pupils set up as contributors then the Student Contributor Dashboard plugin is worth using for extra peace-of-mind that students are not exposed to any unsuitable comments.

If you blog with Creative Blogs, PrimaryBlogger, or the NorthantsBLT then you do not have to do anything as the plugin is already being installed on your sites For other interested parties, feel free to visit the plugin page, read the instructions and download it.

London Monopoly Challenge 2011

Craig Charteris, head at Trinity Lower School in Aldwicle, came up with an idea for a Monopoly-style, techno-challenge around London after watching an episode of the Gadget Show one weekend. I was minding my own business but was run over by Craig’s ideas bandwagon. This collision of creativity and chaos has resulted in the Northants BLT Monopoly Challenge 2011.

The Northants BLT Monopoly Challenge is designed for teachers and pupils to explore the opportunities offered by mobile and internet technologies to enhance learning before, during and after an educational visit. It should hopefully demonstrate both the scope and limitations of using a range of technologies in such contexts.

Every out-of-school visit is traditionally founded upon a pre-visit to a destination to assess the potential risks and gather the worksheets to keep the pupils occupied during the visit proper. Re-imagineering the concept of the ‘pre-visit’ is also a goal of the BLT Monopoly Challenge. A pre-visit could perhaps be more a practical CPD or action research opportunity combined with a chance to put ourselves in the pupils’ shoes and experience a trip from their viewpoint. Then perhaps we would be more inclined to remove the worksheets from the itinerary and explore what technologies might  be used instead to capture, collaborate broadcast and celebrate learning on and from a school trip.

The pre-visit is taking place next Friday. Let’s see how many worksheets we can avoid making…

2010 Northants BLT Review

The Northants BLT – or Better learning using Technologies – officially launched in September 2010 without bacon, lettuce or tomato. Preparations and pilots of various varieties had taken place in the months leading up to the launch. However, it would be the last quarter of 2010 when we would find out whether there was actually any appetite among educators in Northamptonshire for sharing their ideas and experiences of using technologies to make learning better.

I’ve written here about why I think a network with sharing attitude is crucial to educators in Northamptonshire (and beyond) in the era of almost infinite information and innovation in which we find ourselves. It was by no means certain though, that the Northants BLT would be viable. I relished that uncertainty. All too many initiatives from local authority or government are ‘inflicted’ upon schools and teachers. Made to work in the short term, over a longer period these projects often fizzle out due to a lack of ownership and funding. The building where I work is littered with remnants of such escapades.

Blogging the World Cup – View from the Wings.

When John Sutton asked if I would take a flyer and set up blogtheworldcup.net, I was happy to oblige. His idea was a collaborative World Cup site with schools ‘adopting’ a competing nation and developing a blog around that country’s performance in the tournament,  as well as other aspects such as its geography, culture and sporting heritage. The World Cup would present a  great opportunity for teachers and learners to explore and the blogging medium in a purposeful and engaging context.

Momentum in the ‘Wings’

The site was set up using a multi-user WordPress install (pre WordPress 3.0) with the BuddyPress suite of plugins to add some social networking features to the mix. A little competitive spice was added through Ian Haycox’s World Cup Predictor plugin for WordPress. It did not work fully out-of-the -box with multi-user sites but with just hours before the first match, Ian was kind (and talented) enough to hack the code to make it work. It worked perfectly throughout the tournament and provided another common purposeful element to the project. It was really exciting to see teachers pit their wits against students right up until the final match, only to lose out to a young student from New Zealand.

The prediction competition was not crucial to the project’s success but did help to build some momentum in the ‘wings’, providing informal connection points and fun common experience away from the centre-stage. These ‘side-shows’ undoubtedly add to the community feel of any project and can generate a beneficial motivational buzz.

The same principle was demonstrated in the set-up of individual country blogs by teachers. Sites were customised to display engaging multimedia content and widgets showing comparative weather statistics or latest newsfeeds. Designed initially to engage and motivate the local learners, the appeal was not lost on the wider project audience. Effective design ideas and content were emulated by teachers across different blogs, with effective mutual support and encouragement being freely available via blog discussion, using Twitter and on the project’s ‘closed’ teacher’s group.

This ‘window’ into the dynamic preparatory and collaborative processes adopted by teachers in the set-up phase was fascinating and generated a sense of expectation that the project would be well-received. In short, more was accomplished together than could have been reasonably been achieved when setting up in isolation.

Tight-loose Freedom

Despite the tight focus of the project, there was considerable freedom for teachers to engage with the project to fit in with their own context, interests, or curricular constraints and freedoms. Some teachers dropped everything, re-jigged planning and made BTWC a significant curricular focus. Some tied the project to a particular class project, while others took it extra-curricular in ICT Clubs or Study Support sessions. A small number signed up to the project and did not make any significant use of their blog. The ‘tight-loose’ nature of BTWC allowed schools to develop their own space and enjoy the outcomes of their work in its own right – without being reliant on others adopting the same approach or investing the same amount of time. Furthermore, it fostered a ‘light’, collaborative climate without coercing teachers and students to comment across blogs.

The custom use of BuddyPress was also instrumental in this regard, providing students and teachers with an authentic social networking experience for lightweight communication and collaboration. More importantly, BuddyPress provided a real platform and opportunity within school to discuss and engage responsibly with the real life issues that students face using social networking site outside the school gates.

Professional Development Showcase

As a lasting professional development showcase, BTWC demonstrates a whole range of approaches to making effective use of the internet technologies for better learning and teaching. It has a ‘teachmeet’ flavour to it but allows one to ‘poke around’ the processes, outcomes and reflections in a helpfully ongoing way. John Sutton’s seven-minute  Teachmeet introduction to the project was simply an invitation to explore further. The opportunities to easily emulate aspects of this project – in isolation or in their entirety – are amplified by the evaluative and sharing approach of many of the teachers and learners involved.

For example, Simon Widdowson’s Web 2.0 + Interest = Enthusiasm and David Mitchell’s ‘Around the World in 28 Days‘ provide welcome insight into how they practically tackled the project, and a crucial ‘head start’ for others considering the development of  similar ideas in their own contexts. This evaluative willingness-to-share embodies a ‘Teachmeet-style’ ethos, a way of working that is not only crucial to the replicable success of online projects in the 21st century, but also to continuing professional development in general.

The project appears to have been a success from most angles. Statistically, there was a lot of interest and traffic – 645 members, 500,000 hits, 7000 predictions and hundreds of comments. From my perspective, working in the wings, the project was a joy on many levels. However, the learners and teachers must take the most credit for their beautiful efforts centre-stage. It is only fitting that they have the last words, with their own views on the BTWC Reflections blog as to how much they enjoyed the limelight.