TASKs for democracy

3. Show the first post in the blog, setting the stage for blogging.
4. Explain how participants can respond or make comments and raise questions on the blog.
5. Give participants the following information about the blog and their role in the activity.
The blog is found at this url: ... (for an example see: http://spraakliv.blogspot.com). Accessed 18 November
2014
You will have to read my initial message in connection with the novel and then post a comment to it.
Your comment should consist of an interesting observation or a piece of information you want to
share with the group about the novel.
Then you may ask one or two questions.
I will respond by answering your questions and posting a new comment on the blog.
After the practice session, there will be no other way of asking questions about the novel.
6. In order to gain some practice in posting comments, participants form pairs and reflect about what they
could post as a first comment. When they have finished, the pairs add their comments to the blog.
7. You show on the projected screen how these appear and how you will respond to comments and
questions.
Step 3 (debriefing – 20 minutes)
1. Initiate a discussion about how a blogging project may promote a critical perspective in students on
aspects of social networking. Discuss with the participating (pre-service) teachers how such a project
may be interesting with regard to bridging the gap between home and school use of media. You may
want to use these questions for the discussion.
To what extent does such school-initiated blogging reflect your own normal way of communication,
your media habits and needs?
In what way does such a blog project in the school setting differ from your private use of blogs or
other Web 2.0 applications, and in what way is it similar?
How or to what extent could a similar type of blog project in a primary or secondary class reflect the
students’ own normal way of communication, their media habits and needs?
What are some implications if the home and school settings are very different and the school does not
address these issues (e.g. when socio-economic background influences the level of media literacy)?
What human rights issues need to be discussed with a class of learners when using blogs in a course?
How is a teacher supposed to handle very different levels of knowledge about Web 2.0 applications
in a class (from no knowledge to more knowledge than the teacher’s)?
2. To close this face-to-face session, explain what participants will have to do as an assignment at
home: read a longer post uploaded by the trainer and respond to the questions (e.g. the blog post
on the novel Ett öga rött [One Eye Red] – a post by Ingebjørg where the post is in red, the comments
in black, with some information in English: www.khemiri.se/english/one-eye-red). Accessed
18 November 2014
Step 4 (evaluation – 5 minutes in class and/or 15 minutes at home)
1. Ask participants to write a one-sentence summary of the session and a question about blogging in
general on a piece of paper. Collect these and use them to inform your further planning of the online
blogging phase and any subsequent face-to-face sessions. Compile the participants’ summaries.
2. The second, more detailed evaluation activity may take the form of a discussion or a written questionnaire
administered electronically a few weeks after the session, where some of the following aspects
could be dealt with. Select from the ideas below.
Were you more hesitant asking questions openly on the blog than by way of mail or in class? If yes,
what do you think the reasons are?
Were there any practical or technical problems that occurred when you posted your contribution
and question(s)?
TASKs for democracy Page 144