Blogs Used Positively in Education

'Blogs are much more than online journals when done right. They offer much more than the traditional tools in terms of giving voice, building community, enhancing learning not just from a writing standpoint.' Will Richardson

- Used as a venue for student collaboration: The CyberPals Project (click here)=
This collaborative project is designed to create a shared writing space for students who are geographically distant, by young writers from Washington DC to young writers from Western Massachusetts.

- Used as a class website: Class Digital Anthology (click here) = One colleague from the National Writing Project commented:“I enjoyed the blog, and your students' work, enormously, Maria!!! Thank you for sharing such a fascinating project. Please let us know how your students react to the comments, from each other and from the world at large“.

- Used as a school website: The Jefferson Online Journal (click here) = The information portal (Jefferson Online Newsletter) has a national and international readership. Thus, it transcends the scope found in many newsletters dealing only with local news. In this sense, it echoes the World Future Society's challenge to THINK GLOBALLY and ACT GLOBALLY.

- Used as an online magazine: Quill and Keyboard Online (click here) = QUILL & KEYBOARD is the newsletter for the District of Columbia Writing Project (DCAWP) & Howard University School of Education.

- Used as a venue for teacher collaboration: Pinoy Teachers Network (click here) =
PTN is already a growing e-community forged with the values of commitment and cooperation. The same values that inspire its members to continuously collaborate with in the network and outside of it. Using technology to reach out and connect with people and organizations, PTN is a living example on how collaboration can bridge the distance and fill the gaps.

- Used as a venue for teacher collaboration: Educational Bloggers Network (click here) = eBN is a collaborative of teachers and organizations using weblogs in education. Its purpose is to help its members, kindergarten through university, to access and use weblog technology for the teaching of writing and reading across the disciplines.

- Used as an E-Journal: Students' Adventures in Costa Rica (click here) = The kids were chosen from Coolidge, Banneker, Eastern, Dunbar and Luck C. Moore High Schools. They will spend approx 4 weeks studying and living with a family in Costa Rica for two weeks and then traveling for two more weeks throughout the country.

- Used as a teachers’ bulletin board: DC Area Writing Project's Blog (click here) = This WEBLOG or On Line Journal is the DC Area Writing Project's forum for conversation, mentoring, and exchanging information.

- Used as a personal educator’s website: Special Education Teacher in Washington DC (click here) = Welcome to what I call my "cyber classroom". I am going to present different ideas in my entries. Everyone is welcome to agree or dispute, let's have a healthy discussion, this is a free thinking "cyber classroom".

- A Rewarding Opportunity for Teacher Bloggers : "Best of the Education Blog" Awards (click here) = To showcase bloggers who are making a difference for educators and students around the world.