I was reading this entry edublogs: Sleepless in Leith in ewan’s blog and spent a while writing a comment. Then I though I was probably just ranting rather than having a conversation (see “All I do to you is talk talk”) so I though I’d stick it here, where no one will find it:
Hi Ewan,
I read your blog in a browser, am suscribe in bloglines (twice I think) and also use netnewswire.
I was surprised that as many as 1 in 10 blog readers use a feedreader, I’d think that is quite a high number. I use both, mostly Safari at the moment ( see this image). I quite often find using a reader I spend a lot of time opening the blog in a browser anyway, sometimes it feels better for me to open a bunch of tabs and click through.
I gave a blogging talk to a bunch of ict teachers (ones picked as innovators too) near the end of last session. Not even half had heard of blogging ( none had heard of podcasting). I didn’t ask for a show of hands for feedreaders
Blogging to show blog power to the masses will not work if the masses don’t read blogs. Showing teacher will not necessarily work either, the response could be:
‘cool, but where will I get the time; time to read blogs, comment, think about it, set it up, organise the classroom, find I was reading this entry on time in a increasingly full timetable for the children to blog’.
I don’t know about secondary but in a primary school these are real concerns. I know there are ways round and through them all too.
I am fully convinced blogging is a good thing, but if I was trying to do it in the time I am paid for, no chance.
Aside: Checking the UK based edubloggers directory, there seems to be a lot more FE blogging than either primary or secondary why is that?
IMO for blogging to succeed in more classrooms, we need: more networked computers (with 2 in my class it is hard to give children the time to read other childrens blogs); blogs setup ready to go; probably less blocking of link – photo – mp3 sharing sites or the replication of these services in a child safe area (SSDN?).
The Edtech Coast to Coast folk may be frustrated (I’ve not had the time to listen) but that is because they are at the bleading edge with a full toolkit but we need to be eased into blogging, the ideas from the tech-savey crowd are way ahead of most classroom practitioners, way too many buzzwords.
In the longer run we will be ok, the next generation of teachers will be bloggers without thinking anything of it. Most of the Technorati found links to our school name are mentions in ex-pupils live journals, they will be old enough to teach pretty soon.