Going global – Challenge 3-March 2011 – Student Blogging Challenge

-by- Miss W. last updated - Mar 20, 2011 108 Comments

How many students and classes do you think are taking part in this challenge? If you guessed about 100 classes and 1300 students you were correct. In fact we are represented by 18 different countries of the world, so we are definitely going global.

This week’s activities relate to all things global – tracking widgets, maps, translators and other forms of global challenges.

Students

Activity 1 – How do you know where your visitors are coming from?

Do you have a widget tracking these visitors? If not, then perhaps you could put one or more of these widgets on your blog.

Clustrmap – embedding for free Edublogs, Pro Edublogs, Blogger,
Flag counter – embedding same as for free Edublogs and Blogger
Feedjit – same as for flag counter
Revolver map – same as for flag counter

Remember, if you have a free Edublogs blog, often you can’t embed widgets in your sidebar because of the coding. Check if your teacher has a paid pro blog where they can then upgrade 50 student or teacher blogs, then you will be able to use code.

Can you recommend any other tracking widgets suitable for class or student blogs? Leave a comment if you can.

Activity 2 – How do you read a blog written in a language other than your mother tongue?

Natasa, a teacher of one of the class blogs, is located in Serbia and her blog is written in Serbian. How can you translate that page so you can read it in English or Spanish if that is your mother tongue? Do you leave a comment in English, your mother tongue or Serbian?

A visitor from Colombia has come across your blog and wants to read it in their mother tongue, how will they translate it?

A good idea would be for you to have a translator button or widget on your blog. Visit the widget box to find one that you think will do the job of translating your blog into another language. Add the widget the same as instructions for the flag counter.

Activity 3 – Write a post in another language

Most students around the world have to learn another language as part of their school curriculum. This might be a challenge for those who are just beginning their language learning but for students like Dominique, this should be a breeze. Make sure you have a translator widget on your blog to make it easier for your visitors to read the post.

Activity 4 – Write a post about a global activity you have taken part in

Have you taken part in :

World Maths or Spelling Day
World Water Day – this is happening on Tuesday, March 22 – theme is water for cities
Earth Hour – this is happening on Saturday, March 26 – see video in class section of challenge

These global events often have widgets or buttons you can embed on your blog.

Activity 5 – Leave a comment on ten blogs

Each blog must be from a different country of the world. Check out the list of students and classes taking part. Remember there are actually 18 countries represented – some have only one person taking part, so you might need to check carefully.

Classes

Activity 1 – Complete student activities 1, 2 and 4

What other types of global activities have you taken part in as a class? ePals, postcards from home, quadblogging – tell us about it in a great post with images if possible. Or write a post linking to other global activity posts you have already written about.

Activity 2 – Take part in Earth Hour this year and write a post about how students, teachers and families spent that hour. Earth Hour began three years ago in Australia in one town – see how it has now grown to be a global activity.