Design
I decided that a blog would be the best solution for this project by meeting the needs of the administrators and the superintendent. Blogs are used for a variety of reason, but most are used to elicit comments, responses or for reflection of thoughts and ideas. I created the Madera Unified Administrators’ PLC Blog using Edublogs, a WordPress technology. Edublogs is an blog site provider for educators and students. Edublosg contains features not available from other free blog developers and it caters to education. Edublogs is made by educators, for educators, they are familiar with ways to effectively use blogs in teaching and learning
The PLC b log will serve multiple purposes, the blog affords the district administrators the opportunity to think about district issues and discussion items and a chance to reflect on the prompts topics included in the blog. It also provides administrators with the opportunity to discuss controversial issues with their own staff members for additional input. The first two prompt inquiries were derived from the discussions at the 2008-09 CHARGE! conference. Prompt inquiry questions will be added to the blog at least twice monthly throughout the 2008-09 school year. Reminder emails with the inquiry questions and the blog address included will be sent out one week before each PLC gathering. The blog prompts and comments will be discussed at the PLC meeting.
The PLC blog will continue throughout the 2008-09 school year as an ongoing project. The site will be evaluated during the first year and needed adjustments will be made to the site’s format and content.
