blogging

One of the things we all like to do here at TEK is throw stuff at the wall and see if it sticks and I have to say that most times in education you have to run up to the wall and push it on extra hard to make it stay.  This can get exhausting as between us we only have a limited number of arms and every now and then something new and shiny distracts us and we forget to hold up the old stuff.  As we have probably mentioned before the key is getting buy in from the staff and/or students so that it stays stuck by itself.

I have set myself two ‘ICT’ related goals to achieve before I head back to work next week.  The first is to create a blogging site for Mt. Maunganui College, the second is to create a wiki for Technology Teachers to submit relief work so that none of us have to come up with relief lessons on the morning when we feel the worst.

Both these things are reasonably straightforward to setup but they require a reasonable investment of my own time, not only installing the systems but also generating awareness and then supporting users (all without financial reward).

The second goal is the easier of the two.  Go to Teach Tech and you will find a basic mediawiki install where teachers can share content.  Contacting those likely to contribute will be done through the BOP GTTA (Graphics and Technology Teachers Association).  After that it is just a case of waiting for the emails to come flooding in, I hope.

The first goal is a little harder as it has been requested from senior management after seeing what happens in other schools with blogging.  Having set up a blog server at Katikati College I am aware that only a couple of keen teachers have really used it so far although it is growing in popularity.  The thing I am most scared of is that I put this thing in place and then have to tell the whole staff that they have to use it, or I am only given half an hour in staff meeting to sell it.  In short I will have to do it well to avoid a backlash.

I have decided to go with WordPress mu again but this time using the Buddypress plugins.  This makes WPMU look and feel like Facebook or Bebo which enables users to add friends, create groups, post their status etc.  The idea is to get users to use the platform to generate content without it feeling like work and once they are used to the interface then the transition to blogging will be smoother.  One of my problems is that in my head the target audience are the most cynical teachers (you know the ones I mean), if I can sell it to them then I should get everyone else.  I am probably being too hard on myself, I will be happy if a handful of people use it, blogging isn’t for everyone but we shall see if it sticks.