Weblogs for School to community communication
Philip M. Young Jr.
SCHA 731 School and Community Relations
Professor Janet Baker Fall 2007
Online Communication for Professional Dialogue
Purpose: Utilize weblogs to increase school to community communication
What is a web log?
- Usually abbreviated “blog”
- Web page
- Accessible to public
- Personal Journal
- Updated often
Why do people weblog
- Codify Your Thoughts
- Connect with coworkers/employees
- Build confidence in your ideas
- Share knowledge
- Establish a written report of activities
- Increase collaboration
- Obtain a value for different perspectives
- Connect with like minded people
How will blogging improve our schools?
- We as stakeholders in the education of our youth must be aware of the future of our students.
- Communication between individuals with similar interests will be done face to face less and less in the years to come.
- Weblogs is one tool of many that educators must be aware of and informed about.
Weblogs are about reading and writing. Literacy is about reading and writing. Blogging equals literacy. (David Warlick)
What does blogging do for students?
- Helps them find a voice
- Creates enthusiasm for writing and communications
- Engages students in conversation and learning
- Empowers students
o Learning to write for lifelong learning purposes
o Writing about thoughts and ideas encourages growth and trust
o Bridges the gap between students who write from the heart and adults who write from their mind.
Why should administrators consider developing a blog.
- An administrator’s blog should be topic specific. Not a personal online journal.
- Promotes shared decision making with any other person that is interested.
- Improves the public’s view of the leader’s perspective and insight.
- Leads to understanding of others thoughts and ideas.
- Will ultimately lead to an increased awareness of the stakeholder’s wants and needs.
Helpful sites