Online Forums and Student Writing

This guest post written by Elaine Hirsch. Thanks for your contribution to this online dialogue about how technology (and online tools) offer potential to the future of education.

At first glance, web-based forums may appear little more than a medium for exchanging comments. However, teachers are realizing that online forums can be powerful tools for developing students' writing skills, whether in a master's degree program or primary school.

First, online forums instantly showcase examples of students' writing to the entire class. Teachers and fellow students can then post their opinions on the writing as direct responses: this both broadens the range of feedback each student writer receives and delivers that feedback much more quickly than waiting for a marked-up paper to be returned.

This type of instant and collective feedback can help students' rough, early drafts grow into fully developed first drafts. Teachers can keep tabs on the writing as it develops and assess students' progress in a more fully realized manner.

Online forums also augment peer discussion. Students reluctant to participate in classroom conversations, because they're shy or unwilling to fully express their opinions may find it easier to type their thoughts. On the other end of the spectrum, students who speak without much forethought in class may be more reflective and thoughtful when contributing their comments in written form.

Online forums also take advantage of the average student's familiarity and comfort with the Internet. Most students these days have lived with the Internet their whole lives and probably have posted on forums before. Their understanding of the rules and decorum of forums may help make them more comfortable with discussing writing.

Tracking posts is also a great way to gauge student participation. Counting the number of successful posts is much less subjective than gauging students' participation in a live classroom - as you can literally see how much they're contributing.

Perhaps most importantly, forums expose students to the writing of their peers and help them learn from each other. For example, one student may wonder why another used particular words in a specific section of writing. The peer can explain the choice of words as well as the meaning they were attempting to convey. This instantaneous feedback and discussion on the forums provides simultaneous learning not often possible in most classrooms.

The easiest way for teachers to integrate forum discussion writing is to create their own private forums. Many educational websites enable teachers to create and administrate their own free private forums. For teachers looking to take a first step into technologically enhanced education, using forums for writing assignments is a simple and effective option.

Using Technology in the Classroom: Blabberize

One of the greatest assets that a web 2.0 tool can have with respect to teaching practice is "ease of use." Many teachers are comfortable with their technological skill level and will even venture into the realm of the unknown from time-to-time; but in order for many teachers to dive in and plan for its use in their classroom - it has to seem worth it and 'hassle free."

In these days of time-saving, cutting-edge and tech-savvy classroom lessons, one program holds a great deal of potential as a teaching tool for both elementary and secondary teachers - blabberize.

Blabberize.com is a web 2.0 tool that can be used with no prior experience and put to practical use in little time. The idea behind this website is to upload a photo or picture, and then record voice (using a microphone). The final product is a photo (you have chosen) that has a moving mouth (which you manipulate) and saying the words that you record.

As a program that students as young as primary can play a large part in using, blabberize can be an ideal way to use a technological tool for "writing in role" and "empathy" lesson activities. Have students research a particular culture or citizen of a country and then write in role how their life compares to ours. When students are finished, they can show the class their chosen person (with a photograph) and listen to them explain their way of life and daily activities.

This tool is also a terrific way of utilizing peer helpers and 'buddies' in your school. Have junior and intermediate students pair up with a primary student or pair of students. The older child can work the technology aspects to the program, while the primary student can focus on the writing in role and speaking presentation. It is a great collaboration opportunity and will help your peer mentors demonstrate leadership skills, initiative, and possibly even, conflict resolution (depending on the group dynamic).

Here is a brief list of the strands of Social Studies that could lend themselves to blabberize:

Grade 1 - The Local Community

Grade 2 - Communities Around the World

Grade 3 - Urban and Rural Communities

Grade 4 - Medieval Times

Grade 5 - Ancient Civilizations

Grade 6 - First Nations and European Explorers

Grade 7 - New France/British North America

Grade 8 - Confederation/Settlement of the West

*For each of these units;

1. A character could be researched or taught about in class

2. Students write or speak about what life is like for them (and how it relates to life today)

3. They upload a photo of the character and create the shape of the 'moving mouth.'

4. Students get to listen to a "guest speaker" in class - a character from their Social Studies unit that explains to them information about their lives.

***My one word of caution is to preface any lesson that you undertake with an explicit message about stereotypes and generalizing. Students should write and record "in role," but they must take caution not to use overt stereotypes or poke fun at a particular cultural group/way of life.

You could have a great deal of fun with accents and dialects (as components of you Oral Language program) and even incorporate Shakespeare through soliloquys that would otherwise not make it from the student's mouth to the "stage" by using blabberize.

Give blabberize a try! I would love to hear about how it goes with your class and even have you post a reply that shares YOUR IDEAS about how to use blabberize in teaching.