| Blog Selection
Need:
- method of sharing action research
project work among teachers, program, and school district coordinators
- do not impact email accounts
- eliminate multiple paper copies.
Criteria:
- free or low cost
- easy to learn and use
Selection: bblog (open source)
PD Application
- Enabled the teachers to expand their
skills in a new technology
- Served as an immediate method of sharing
project progress
- Sustained records of each teacher’s work
- Examples to other teachers who sought
examples of action research.
During the six month duration of the
program:
- teachers met for two hours monthly with
the project coordinators
- primary purpose of the meetings: answer
the teachers’ questions and share information of a general nature.
- time was allocated at each meeting to
assist and instruct teachers to use the project blogs.
The blogs were to decrease the amount of
discussion time necessary at the meetings as participants could use posting,
reading, discussion, and reflections.
Blog Training
- special session for using blog
- instruction sheets
- extra help one-on-one (after meetings)
Blog Contents
- action research proposal
- ongoing literature and background survey
- experimental notes
- data
- final report
Participants were encouraged to read each
other’s blogs, make comments to the other teacher’s blog, or reflect in
their own blog.
A website was set up for the project
at http://www.nefstem.org
Program web site with links to participant
blogs.
|
Terence
W. Cavanaugh Ph. D. 
