Module 2

In this module, I learnt how to set up the Blogger account and also joined Twitter. I joined BBC news, The New York times and also am following Barack Obama. There was an interesting video that I watched about how school teachers were being laid off due to not being able to afford them in the US. Barack Obama talked about his philosophy about education and class sizes and future generations as the key to a smart nation. I tweeted a comment as you can see on the screenshot I took of tweets that I follow.
I learnt how to put an image on Blogger by watching a video on You Tube called "Adding pictures to blogger" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b27653-fVlE This helped me put the screenshot on this blog.

I believe that students can contribute their thoughts to the world wide web and have their ideas validated or dismissed with twitter. They can follow their interests. It does not necessarily have to be related to what they do in class. All students have different interests. I think that using twitter to discover more about issues and reading messages from around the world opens up issues and ideas that they may not have thought of before. If I were to prescribe students to use twitter it would be to follow news of current chefs or shows such as Masterchef. This would definitely add to discussions about current food trends in teaching my subject, which is Hospitality.

My Year 11 students will be using E Portfolio which has been set up for them by the IT department on the school intranet network to blog their work placement. E Portfolio is individual. Each student has their own user name and the teacher can access their work. Students can add photos as well.  It is different from Edmodo. With Edmodo, the teacher and students can see all the other students work. E Portfolio is only shared with the student and teacher but the student can invite others to view their work if they so desire.

I decided to use E Portfolio rather than Edmodo for the students to blog their work placement. I had considered students to use Blogger and set up individual blogger accounts but this would have required me to access each account and set up a Wiki.

With E Portfolio, students can access this from their computers at school and at home from the main page of the school intranet. There is a link that takes them to the E Portfolio page.

Each student will be going on work placement in the school holidays for Hospitality. I have written guidelines that they need to follow when writing their five day blog. The students will do their first blog in class time, so they know how to use E Portfolio. Previously students had to hand write a daily diary entry on their work placement. Now they will be using a blog to write their entries.

The first blog will be done in class time, to make sure that all students know how to use E Portfolio. They will be writing an introduction blog on the restaurant, the location of their work placement and the dress code. I will also show the students how to insert a photo. They can find a photo of their restaurant or a map of the location.

Students have an electronic copy of the requirements of work placement and the blogging task. This has been put on the school intranet under their course, Hospitality. It is on a Moodle platform.  The students cannot lose handouts as they are also electronically on the school intranet. If they do lose their handouts, they can print them off.

Each blog, for each day of their work placement, has a different focus. I have written their blogging task so that students can focus on one aspect daily. This is the task that I have written for them to do.

A DAILY BLOG
You are required to write a blog each day. Include the information below PLUS your BLOG FOCUS of the day.

1.    Date your blog.
2.    A report of your daily activities.
3.    Equipment and utensils used.
4.    Describe the food you prepared.  Photos need to be included in only two of your blogs.
5.    Your own experience and practice of Work Health and Safety.
6.    Reflect and evaluate your work for the day such as skills learnt, what you could improve on, what you did well.

BLOG FOCUS:  For each blog, there will be a focus.

Day 1:  The Work Environment. This is your very first day at your restaurant or catering company. You are to focus on the work environment. 
You will notice people doing different jobs. Use your own observation to write about the jobs you see staff do. Some examples include dishwashing, security, food service, beverage service.

Day 2:  Equipment. What are the names of two pieces of large equipment and how are they used?

Day 3: Work Health and Safety. What have you noticed about Work Health and Safety in your workplace? Look around to find evidence of posters, check the flooring and emergency procedures and first aid kit, fire blanket.

Day 4: Working with colleagues. Who do you work with? How do they help you? How do you communicate with them?

Day 5:  Storing stock. So you have been busy chopping onions (or another ingredient) for an hour or more, where are they stored? How are they labelled? Where is other stock stored?

This is the first time I have used blogging for assessment of my Year 11 students work placement and I am looking forward to reading their blogs each day.