Griffin+Science+Teacher+Response

Here is the response from Sam Harrelson. The teacher who maintains Griffin Science Main Points 1. He reads all the student blogs (using Google Reader) 2. He has discussed safety concerns. He hasn't experienced problems. 3. Time: 30 min - 1 hour a day on content. Much longer on the technical side of things. 4. This is his second year at the school but he has been blogging since 2003. Selling blogs to parents, "a learning experience".

Hi Kathreen-

Thanks so much for writing and I'm glad your students found GriffinScience helpful in their studies!

1. Do you have any concerns about your students blogging? Do you read all the content in their blogs? Are there safety concerns that you have had to address?

// We started the year with me asking them to set up some sort of a web publishing presence. That could have been a blog platform (we looked at a few examples) as well as Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Posterous etc. Most students chose Blogger because of our school already uses Google Apps, so they had a account there linked to their school web id. //

// I do read all of the content on their blogs. I keep up with that via a dedicated folder in Google Reader using the RSS feed from their sites (which also allows me to check on things from my mobile etc if I'm not near a laptop). //

// Here's what that looks like from my end: //

// As I scroll through the entries (mostly response to assignment tasks, lab data analysis, homework thought questions and so on) I click over to respond on their actual blog. I also encourage them to interact on one another's blog and work on hyperlinking to each other on collaborative assignments. //

// Safety wise, we've had numerous group and one-on-one conversations about the positives and negatives of using web tools instead of more traditional notebooks for producing homework. I'm very much of the "model and encourage" mentality when it comes to using web tools for learning purposes. It's worked well so far! //

2. How long do you spend updating the Griffin Science site?

// I typically spend anywhere from 30 mins to an hour each day posting on the site itself or making podcasts/vids that augment our lessons from class. What takes considerably more time is the backend setup of the site and making sure everything is backed up and running efficiently since I'm hosting the blog myself. //

// I'm also working on a GriffinScience iPhone/iPad app and close to finishing the Android app. Both will allow for easier mobile access since I find that more and more students are forgoing laptops for smart phones in their personal preferences. //

// Nonetheless, I've never felt like it's been a burden from a time perspective. The students really do seem to appreciate the site and how it impacts our classroom (and allows us to have fascinating discussions/labs we might not be able to have otherwise b/c of the out-of-class time savings). //

3. How long have you been using the Griffin Science site as an instructional and communication tool? How has it evolved?

// This is my second year at Spartanburg Day School (our mascot is the Griffin), so this is GriffinScience's second year. I previously taught at Hammond School in Columbia, SC (mascot there was the Skyhawk) and had a similar blog starting in 2003. Selling a class blog to students and parents at the time was definitely a learning experience for me! //

// Thankfully, the tools and cultural awareness of the web have steadily improved over the last few years so most of our learning community sees the educational validity of having such a space! //

// Video and podcasts have been the biggest additions to the process over the last two years. Also, sites like Scribd.com makes it insanely easy to embed docs and share journal articles etc that would have been printed out just a couple of years back. Plus, our Google accounts and the ability to share calendars, documents and lab data sheets has been a tremendous asset to this experience. //

// As mentioned above, I think class sites (and student sites) are incredibly valid and valuable for what happens in the physical classroom. They become not only extensions of the class experience, but they free up time to accomplish real learning. However, I do see the shift towards mobile continuing to change the landscape of the web. I'm trying to wrap my mind around what GriffinScience will look like in a decade and I'm pretty sure it will be a mostly mobile/iPad type experience. So, if I were a student going into education now, I'd brush up on my Objective C and Java coding languages :) //

// Please let me know if there's any more clarification I can provide. I'm excited these types of conversations are going on among future teachers because we definitely need to play catch up in the tech area! //

Feel free to call, Skype (samharrelson) etc me.

All Best to You and Your Students- Sam

-- Sam Harrelson Physical Science and Robotics Spartanburg Day School

Mobile: (864) 381-7374 sam.harrelson@sdsgriffin.org http://griffinscience.com