Greetings to students and parents!
Here are some basic information about using this Eduspaces on-line learning space... and students should Start Here to get things going.
1. Each student will have their own personal learning space called a blog. These blogs will be used just like Leonardo Da Vinci used his Journal or Scrap Book to write down ideas, sketch, and curiously explore the world. Other students and I can read these blogs and even add comments, but only the owner of the blog can add new entries.
2. We have several learning spaces and social spaces that students will also contribute to. The learning spaces known as Dialogues are shared spaces that are specific to topics or classes, and students are expected to contribute to theirs on a regular basis. The Forums are social spaces where students can choose to chat between classes, and use however they please, as long as they respect the basic rules. (Note that in this link, students must contribute an agreement to use the forums and blogs appropriately before contributing to any forums. The rules for using the Dialogues are slightly different than the social forums since these are specifically shared learning spaces - see #3 Learning.)
3. To maintain privacy, and to use the internet safely, students will be asked to always click on the "Access restrictions" drop-down menu and set restrictions to either the forum they are in or to:
"Group: DaVinci07" before they post... this way our comments stay private for members of our classes only. Personal Blog/Journal entries should also be saved with "Group: DaVinci07" access only.
To demonstrate how this works, click on these two links Public Version of Basic Rules (this is the same link as above), and the Private 'DaVinci07' Version of the basic Rules in the Social Forum. The basic rules are posted in both links, but in the first link to your Learning Space I made the rules public so that you could see them here, and in the second link I restricted them to "Group: DaVinci07" members. You will only be able to see the second rules if a student is logged in.
5. Students will have a profile page that they can use to tell others a bit about themselves. I have made my profile public so that parents can see it. Students will restrict their profile to "Group: DaVinci07" members only and they will not reveal any information that is personal (such as last name, school name, phone number, address or age) in their profile, or anywhere on this site. I would rather that student DO NOT USE THE PROFILE PAGE - we all know who we are already!
Whenever a student contributes to this learning space a small photo is included next to their entry. My photo can be seen at the top of this blog entry. I don't use a normal photo because this education blog site has a 'View Most Recent Posts' page where photos are public. As long as students click on the "Access restrictions" drop-down menu and set restrictions to: "Group: DaVinci07" before they post their blog, forum or comment posts, only students in our class (and I) can see this. Students will have the option to change this photo to an image other than their photo, or use the provided image.
8. Access to computers at home would be beneficial but is not necessary. I have taught this class a number of times without the use of computers and many options will be provided to create wonderful projects without their use. Students may want to make entries into their personal learning blogs and they will be required to do so in the shared Learning Dialogues, but class time will be provided for this.
13. There is a lot of leeway for students to find a topic that interests them and explore it to their hearts content. With this freedom comes responsibility. It is expected that students will put considerable effort into this project!
21. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me.
Every page in the Da Vinci Project On-line Learning Space has a...
... link located near the top right of the page. There is no other way that anyone visiting this site can contact the students or me, except by clicking on one of these links. If you are a parent reading a paper copy of this and you would like to contact me another way, please feel free to call or visit the school.
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Remember to visit the
RENAISSANCE FAIR
Held at the school Thursday May 31st, 5:30 to 7:00pm
*Students are expected to attend the fair for the entire time
so that they can showcase their projects*
Keywords: davinci07
