In May of '06 I taught a 10 day course on Leonardo Da Vinci, as part of our yearly Renaissance Fair. I did this in a brand new way. I started the project off by having students create their own blog here on elgg. I also created a learning community/forum for each of the two classes, and a social forum to be shared by both classes.

There is one thing above all others that significantly impressed me with this experience: Students owning the learning, asking the important questions, and helping each other to learn. They showed an incredible willingness to contribute/share their ideas.

I wasn't sure what rules I should give around 'Safe Blogging' so I pared it down to some basics. In our school we have been slowly rolling out the ideas of Restitution and we have developed 4 basic beliefs: Respect, Safety, Inclusion, and Learning. So I thought why not use these beliefs as the guiding principles for the blogs and communities? Here is what it has evolved to (a work in progress I know...)

Note that #3 in the post below, 'Learning' is broken into two sections, 3a for the social forum this post is found in, and 3b is for the class dialogues and the student blogs. I like this separation, (good idea or control issues- I'm still undecided???), because it keeps the learning space a learning space, and still allows the students a place to be kids- with minimal 'cross pollination'.

I like having two different class blogs so that I can have kids reflect on things without giving away the lesson to the second class, but I also liked that the social blog was a place they could come together... In fact I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the conversation that often happened in the social forum! I ran a powerpoint presentation during the fair to showcase some of the online 'conversations' that occurred. The presentation (in two parts) along with some optional student feedback (all that was given to me) can be found here.

I've found a lot of posts in the 'edu-blogsville web-world' recently around Blog Rules with most of them emphasizing what NOT to do. I did find one positive gem, Arapahoe High School's Blogging Policy, with 3 sections: Safe and Responsible Blogging; Successful Bloggers; and a Sample with 'additive' comments.

- - - - - Here is the post with my BASIC RULES: 

 

MrTruss @ Our Community Forum

Here is a shared space to chat, share ideas, and get to know what others are doing in both classes.

There are some basic rules for using this forum, our class dialogues, and all personal blogs in this learning community.

The school beliefs apply to this forum and all personal blogs.

1.Respect- We are polite, kind and appropriate at all times. Remember that many students and Mr. Truss will view your comments.

2. Inclusion- Anyone is welcome to comment or join a discussion as long as they are respectful.

3a. Learning (in this forum)- You can have fun in this space, but if others are having a learning conversation either add to it positively or make your comments in a new post.

3b. Learning (in class dialogues and blogs)- These are places to reflect and learn. You are encouraged to: Ask questions; Answer questions; Share your learning; Synthesize ideas; Plan projects or assignments, and Reflect on the process of learning.

4. Safety- DO NOT REVEAL ANY PERSONAL DETAILS, either on the profile page, or in any posts. Never use any students' last names. Always click on the "Access restrictions" drop-down menu and set restrictions to either this forum or to "Group: Truss/Mirhaj Access Only" before you post... this way our comments stay private for members of our classes only.

Every Student must add a comment to this post. Under "Your Name" put your "User Name". Your Comment text will say, "I have read and I understand the basic rules to posting in the social forum, dialogues and blogs.". You can say more than this if you wish. (Mr. Truss has done one as an example.)

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In the class forums, (I call them class dialogues), I repeat these as the basic rules above without 3a. I also provide a definition:

This is a space for students to add to Mr. Truss' class learning dialogue.
Definition: dialogue |ˈdīəˌläg; -ˌlôg| (also dialog) noun
• a discussion between two or more people or groups, esp. one directed toward exploration of a particular subject or resolution of a problem. See 'conversation'.

Every student will contribute to this dialogue on a regular basis.

There are some basic rules for using this forum.

(The basic rules are repeated here in the post.)

 

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[Feedback appreciated]