Objective
- To create a website (http://vikingbookreview.blogspot.com) that would keep a running record of books recommended by students, teachers, and other professionals.
- To advocate the completion of reviews, summaries, and analysis of
literature.
- To facilitate discussion of these books between users of the website.
- To encourage users to utilize the blogging software to post the reviews they have written.
Rationale
For my EdPsy 590Net final project, I sought to create and maintain a website that would serve as a literature resource for students and teachers. The website would be run through Blogger.com and would consist of book reviews, summaries, and analysis by and students and professional educators. Participants would complete their critiques of middle school-level books they have read, and this information would be posted to the blog. Then, other participants would respond to other books on the website using the "comment" feature of Blogger. The participant that wrote the initial review of the book would be responsible for responding to the comments he or she has received of the critique written. Furthermore, the posting of the book reviews would be done by myself with control of the blog being gradually shifted to the users of the website. Hence, the users eventually would post all of the information and maintain the content of the website.
Materials
Procedure
I first created the blog, the Viking Book Review, and posted information about a book to get the ball rolling. I then posted my project information at three different websites to acquire project participants: Global Schoolhouse, Tappedin.org, and the Google for Educators Discussion Group. Furthermore, I sent an email to every middle school teacher in my district. To view the information that was posted at these websites and in the email, click here.
Unfortunately, for my efforts I received no responses from participants.. Realizing I had to look elsewhere, I still wanted to seek the help of students and other teachers to assure the website contributors were involved in the education field, as is the goal of eventually using my blog in the classroom. I wound up with eight participants for my project: two elementary school teachers, one middle school teacher, one high school teacher, two high school students, one college student, and one law school student. These participants are family and friends, yet I still chose to conduct the project using online tools. I described the project using email and would update and correspond with the participants using solely electronic means. However, when the project ended, I did conduct verbal interviews with participants to ask them about their experiences with the project.
After my participants received the email explaining the project, I awaited their contributions to the Viking Book Review. The first five book reviews were emailed to me and I posted them myself using Blogger. The participants then visited the website often, commenting on the various books on the site and responding to questions and comments about the book reviews they had written. I kept up with the website on a daily basis, often writing emails to my participants encouraging them to continue posting to the website. After a few books had been posted and discussions were formulated, I wished to gradually give control of the blog entirely to my participants. I wrote another email outlining the directions for posting information themselves using Blogger, the contents of which can be found here. Three participants utilized the software efficiently using the directions I provided, with one being somewhat familiar with the process of posting through Blogger in the past. These books were successfully posted, and comments were given and responses were made about these books on the website.
Results
The participants in the project did a tremendous job with maintaining positive discussion regarding the books. The users checked the website in a timely manner, posting many comments about different aspects of the books, including details on educational value, theme, plot, characters, morals, and what type of reader would be interested in the book. This wide range of discussion was encouraging, and I think the mix of teachers and students posting at the website definitely contributed to the array of questions and comments. For example, one of the books posted was Pobre Ana, a resource used by a middle school Spanish teacher in Spanish I. A question was posted to the contributor by a high school teacher, asking her if the book was part of a series that continued through higher levels of Spanish. The original contributor confirmed that the book indeed is part of a series, adding that the book is a great way to boost young readers' confidence levels with the language.
Furthermore, there was a mix of participants that had read some of the books posted and others that were learning about books for the first time. This only added to the variety of questions and comments on the website, making the website a useful resource for those wishing to discuss books they have already read and those wishing to learn about books they perhaps have not come across. To illustrate, a participant posted about the book The Truth About Forever. She received comments from readers saying they had read the book, thus creating a discussion in which each participant could relate their own personal experiences from the books. Also, questions were posed from participants that had not read the book, offering a different, inquisitive perspective to the nature of the literature.
Making new posts using the Blogger software was also successfully utilized by three participants. One participant said she was familiar with the format of Blogger and was able to post information about her book with no trouble. Another participant was using Blogger for the first time, but said she was easily able to navigate the software with the directions provided. She did express some problems with posting a picture through Blogger, and that took her a bit longer than expected. However, after doing it once on her own, she said future attempts to post pictures would be quite simple. As far as posting text is concerned, the participant likened the software to Microsoft Word, and expressed that it seemed so simple she probably could have figured it out without the directions provided by myself. The third blogger that successfully posted using the directions expressed he had no trouble posting the text, but had a somewhat difficult time placing an image into his post.
Conclusions
After interviewing participants from the project, a wide range of opinions were offered from student and teacher perspectives. They answered the questions below, depending on their professional/student status:
1. The website is extremely interactive and promotes positive discussion of differing viewpoints.
The Viking Book Club is a great tool to share book ideas to others as well as engage in a discussion of a book one has already read. One participant remarked it was fun to hear another person's perspective on a book they had both read, while also learning about new books that she was not aware of. Another participant was "surprised" at some of the books she came across, for she hadn't heard of some of the titles. After reading analysis of the different books and engaging in online conversations, her interest in the unfamiliar books definitely increased. The fact that different readers have so many different tastes will greatly add to the variety of books on the website. Furthermore, when this website is used in my classroom in the fall, the students will gain an interest in reading other books knowing that many of the reviews and comments come from their peers. Whether it is a discussion of a book that is foreign to a student, or a "comforting discussion of a familiar text" (as one participant put it), the website is a tremendous interactive community for readers.
2. The software is easy to use and very manageable.
The Blogger website is a very simple tool to use for a project such as the Viking Book Review. Not one participant expressed difficulty in making comments on the website, and the participants that posted the book information had little trouble using the software. One first-time Blogger participant remarked that the website was "easy to navigate with buttons and options that were extremely clear." The only hindrance seemed to be posting images, and although this was explained by my directions, I can understand why this would be troublesome for those using Blogger or posting in a forum for the first time. Nevertheless, when this project is utilized in my classroom in the fall, I plan on giving visual demonstrations on how to utilize the software so that roadblocks will be limited. There are bound to be a few students that will greatly excel in using the software, and these students can be part of a "student hierarchy," as one teacher participant put it, that foresee maintenance of the website.
3. The Blogger technology promotes student engagement with literature.
The fact that the discussion of literature revolved around technology will hopefully stimulate student interest in reading and analysis of literature. The online project caters to student excitement and enthusiasm with computers, and when this zest is combined with scholastic pillars, the website will have remarkable intrinsic value. One of my participants, a third-grade teacher, remarked that she often uses a classroom book that students are encouraged to insert book reviews and recommendations. She claimed that her students would definitely be much more excited to post reviews online, and the comment feature will make the book reviews even more engrossing and empowering for the students.
4. The website will be useful for teachers as a compilation of literary resource ideas.
The blog will be a tremendous tool for knowing all of the books the students have read over the course of the school year. This will assist in adding books to a classroom library, as well as keeping track of the popular genres and authors. Furthermore, parents can use the website if they are curious about what books their child and their child's peers are currently reading, providing tremendous insight into the middle school classroom.
Incorporation into the Classroom/Suggestions for Improvement
Ideally, I would have conducted the project with more participants for a longer period of time. If this project would have been launched in the school year with my students and fellow teachers as participants, I would have been able to more accurately judge my results. Nevertheless, from the small sample of teachers and students I utilized, I believe I was able to sufficiently judge how well people can use the software as well as get a feel for what types of literature discussions prevail in an online community.
I am very excited to use this tool in my language arts classroom beginning in the fall of the 2007/8 school year. I foresee this being an ongoing project throughout the entire school year, resulting in increased student engagement in reading, writing, and using technology. Furthermore, the website will be a vital tool for teachers in my district as well as teachers from other districts that may use the website. The goal with the website is for student involvement and discussion of literature, but the collection of books, resources, and opinions on the website will prove to be a vital and valuable resource for a teacher when creating a classroom library.
In the fall, the plan is for both teachers and students to use the software. Student-to-student interaction will hopefully not be the only conversations prevalent, but student-to-teacher and teacher-to-teacher interaction will exist as well. I also plan to email authors of books on the website to see if they would like to contribute to the discussion and collection of resources. Also, I would like for the website to be nearly entirely student run with facilitation done by myself. This will increase empowerment and engagement levels of the project if the students know that it is in fact "their project." I have not yet decided if I will give editing access to all students or merely a handful of students that will serve as the site coordinators. That decision will be made after a few months of managing the project in the fall and analyzing the results. I am not worried about students not understanding how to utilize the software, I merely harbor some reservations about every student knowing the editing password and some possibly abusing the software. Again, once the project is up and running I will be able to gauge my reservations more appropriately. Also, many of the comments on the website were "anonymous" or sometimes posted with an unregistered name. To increase accountability when the project is run in the fall, all students will be required to register to the website in order to know who is posting what information.
My participants in the study had some great suggestions for improvement. One suggested recording audio soundbytes as opposed to typing responses, which some students may excel at more or feel more comfortable doing. While this is not an option in Blogger, if I ran the project through Moodle this would be a viable option. Another participant remarked how she liked the visual layout of Blogger, but wondered if the books could be arranged differently, such as by genre. This was a tremendous suggestion, and I began to wonder about running the project through a website such as Moodle or EZboard. Then, perhaps the book titles could be arranged differently and be a bit more organized. Students could then search what books others are reading according to their own personal genre preference. However, with the site being run through Blogger, perhaps the current set-up could prove valuable for a student exploring books and genres a bit outside of their usual comfort level. This could open up a world of possibilities for my students when it comes to expanding their literary horizons.
Have any comments, thoughts, or suggestions? Feel free to email me jrjuliano@d47.org.
- The Viking Book Review through Blogger.com
- Various middle school-level books
Procedure
I first created the blog, the Viking Book Review, and posted information about a book to get the ball rolling. I then posted my project information at three different websites to acquire project participants: Global Schoolhouse, Tappedin.org, and the Google for Educators Discussion Group. Furthermore, I sent an email to every middle school teacher in my district. To view the information that was posted at these websites and in the email, click here.
Unfortunately, for my efforts I received no responses from participants.. Realizing I had to look elsewhere, I still wanted to seek the help of students and other teachers to assure the website contributors were involved in the education field, as is the goal of eventually using my blog in the classroom. I wound up with eight participants for my project: two elementary school teachers, one middle school teacher, one high school teacher, two high school students, one college student, and one law school student. These participants are family and friends, yet I still chose to conduct the project using online tools. I described the project using email and would update and correspond with the participants using solely electronic means. However, when the project ended, I did conduct verbal interviews with participants to ask them about their experiences with the project.
After my participants received the email explaining the project, I awaited their contributions to the Viking Book Review. The first five book reviews were emailed to me and I posted them myself using Blogger. The participants then visited the website often, commenting on the various books on the site and responding to questions and comments about the book reviews they had written. I kept up with the website on a daily basis, often writing emails to my participants encouraging them to continue posting to the website. After a few books had been posted and discussions were formulated, I wished to gradually give control of the blog entirely to my participants. I wrote another email outlining the directions for posting information themselves using Blogger, the contents of which can be found here. Three participants utilized the software efficiently using the directions I provided, with one being somewhat familiar with the process of posting through Blogger in the past. These books were successfully posted, and comments were given and responses were made about these books on the website.
Results
The participants in the project did a tremendous job with maintaining positive discussion regarding the books. The users checked the website in a timely manner, posting many comments about different aspects of the books, including details on educational value, theme, plot, characters, morals, and what type of reader would be interested in the book. This wide range of discussion was encouraging, and I think the mix of teachers and students posting at the website definitely contributed to the array of questions and comments. For example, one of the books posted was Pobre Ana, a resource used by a middle school Spanish teacher in Spanish I. A question was posted to the contributor by a high school teacher, asking her if the book was part of a series that continued through higher levels of Spanish. The original contributor confirmed that the book indeed is part of a series, adding that the book is a great way to boost young readers' confidence levels with the language.
Furthermore, there was a mix of participants that had read some of the books posted and others that were learning about books for the first time. This only added to the variety of questions and comments on the website, making the website a useful resource for those wishing to discuss books they have already read and those wishing to learn about books they perhaps have not come across. To illustrate, a participant posted about the book The Truth About Forever. She received comments from readers saying they had read the book, thus creating a discussion in which each participant could relate their own personal experiences from the books. Also, questions were posed from participants that had not read the book, offering a different, inquisitive perspective to the nature of the literature.
Making new posts using the Blogger software was also successfully utilized by three participants. One participant said she was familiar with the format of Blogger and was able to post information about her book with no trouble. Another participant was using Blogger for the first time, but said she was easily able to navigate the software with the directions provided. She did express some problems with posting a picture through Blogger, and that took her a bit longer than expected. However, after doing it once on her own, she said future attempts to post pictures would be quite simple. As far as posting text is concerned, the participant likened the software to Microsoft Word, and expressed that it seemed so simple she probably could have figured it out without the directions provided by myself. The third blogger that successfully posted using the directions expressed he had no trouble posting the text, but had a somewhat difficult time placing an image into his post.
Conclusions
After interviewing participants from the project, a wide range of opinions were offered from student and teacher perspectives. They answered the questions below, depending on their professional/student status:
- How would you describe your experience in the Viking Book Review project?
- What did you learn from frequenting the website?
- Why do you think this would be a helpful website for students? How would this website be useful to teachers?
- What are some ways the website can be improved?
- How can this project be a successful tool in the classroom? (this question was asked to teachers only)
1. The website is extremely interactive and promotes positive discussion of differing viewpoints.
The Viking Book Club is a great tool to share book ideas to others as well as engage in a discussion of a book one has already read. One participant remarked it was fun to hear another person's perspective on a book they had both read, while also learning about new books that she was not aware of. Another participant was "surprised" at some of the books she came across, for she hadn't heard of some of the titles. After reading analysis of the different books and engaging in online conversations, her interest in the unfamiliar books definitely increased. The fact that different readers have so many different tastes will greatly add to the variety of books on the website. Furthermore, when this website is used in my classroom in the fall, the students will gain an interest in reading other books knowing that many of the reviews and comments come from their peers. Whether it is a discussion of a book that is foreign to a student, or a "comforting discussion of a familiar text" (as one participant put it), the website is a tremendous interactive community for readers.
2. The software is easy to use and very manageable.
The Blogger website is a very simple tool to use for a project such as the Viking Book Review. Not one participant expressed difficulty in making comments on the website, and the participants that posted the book information had little trouble using the software. One first-time Blogger participant remarked that the website was "easy to navigate with buttons and options that were extremely clear." The only hindrance seemed to be posting images, and although this was explained by my directions, I can understand why this would be troublesome for those using Blogger or posting in a forum for the first time. Nevertheless, when this project is utilized in my classroom in the fall, I plan on giving visual demonstrations on how to utilize the software so that roadblocks will be limited. There are bound to be a few students that will greatly excel in using the software, and these students can be part of a "student hierarchy," as one teacher participant put it, that foresee maintenance of the website.
3. The Blogger technology promotes student engagement with literature.
The fact that the discussion of literature revolved around technology will hopefully stimulate student interest in reading and analysis of literature. The online project caters to student excitement and enthusiasm with computers, and when this zest is combined with scholastic pillars, the website will have remarkable intrinsic value. One of my participants, a third-grade teacher, remarked that she often uses a classroom book that students are encouraged to insert book reviews and recommendations. She claimed that her students would definitely be much more excited to post reviews online, and the comment feature will make the book reviews even more engrossing and empowering for the students.
4. The website will be useful for teachers as a compilation of literary resource ideas.
The blog will be a tremendous tool for knowing all of the books the students have read over the course of the school year. This will assist in adding books to a classroom library, as well as keeping track of the popular genres and authors. Furthermore, parents can use the website if they are curious about what books their child and their child's peers are currently reading, providing tremendous insight into the middle school classroom.
Incorporation into the Classroom/Suggestions for Improvement
Ideally, I would have conducted the project with more participants for a longer period of time. If this project would have been launched in the school year with my students and fellow teachers as participants, I would have been able to more accurately judge my results. Nevertheless, from the small sample of teachers and students I utilized, I believe I was able to sufficiently judge how well people can use the software as well as get a feel for what types of literature discussions prevail in an online community.
I am very excited to use this tool in my language arts classroom beginning in the fall of the 2007/8 school year. I foresee this being an ongoing project throughout the entire school year, resulting in increased student engagement in reading, writing, and using technology. Furthermore, the website will be a vital tool for teachers in my district as well as teachers from other districts that may use the website. The goal with the website is for student involvement and discussion of literature, but the collection of books, resources, and opinions on the website will prove to be a vital and valuable resource for a teacher when creating a classroom library.
In the fall, the plan is for both teachers and students to use the software. Student-to-student interaction will hopefully not be the only conversations prevalent, but student-to-teacher and teacher-to-teacher interaction will exist as well. I also plan to email authors of books on the website to see if they would like to contribute to the discussion and collection of resources. Also, I would like for the website to be nearly entirely student run with facilitation done by myself. This will increase empowerment and engagement levels of the project if the students know that it is in fact "their project." I have not yet decided if I will give editing access to all students or merely a handful of students that will serve as the site coordinators. That decision will be made after a few months of managing the project in the fall and analyzing the results. I am not worried about students not understanding how to utilize the software, I merely harbor some reservations about every student knowing the editing password and some possibly abusing the software. Again, once the project is up and running I will be able to gauge my reservations more appropriately. Also, many of the comments on the website were "anonymous" or sometimes posted with an unregistered name. To increase accountability when the project is run in the fall, all students will be required to register to the website in order to know who is posting what information.
My participants in the study had some great suggestions for improvement. One suggested recording audio soundbytes as opposed to typing responses, which some students may excel at more or feel more comfortable doing. While this is not an option in Blogger, if I ran the project through Moodle this would be a viable option. Another participant remarked how she liked the visual layout of Blogger, but wondered if the books could be arranged differently, such as by genre. This was a tremendous suggestion, and I began to wonder about running the project through a website such as Moodle or EZboard. Then, perhaps the book titles could be arranged differently and be a bit more organized. Students could then search what books others are reading according to their own personal genre preference. However, with the site being run through Blogger, perhaps the current set-up could prove valuable for a student exploring books and genres a bit outside of their usual comfort level. This could open up a world of possibilities for my students when it comes to expanding their literary horizons.
Have any comments, thoughts, or suggestions? Feel free to email me jrjuliano@d47.org.