Just finished a day long Web logging/Manila session with 14 teachers and I can say, after over a year of doing these workshops, that I finally feel like I’ve boiled it down to the essential ingredients that allow teachers to start creating sites without overwhelming it. News, Stories, Pictures, RSS. That’s it. The hit of the day was when I showed them how to use Bloglines…that whole concept just blew them away. Paperless is a reality! Anyway, no server problems, just a minor glitch or two, and at least a half a dozen new serious converts. Cool.
Days like this I like Manila, when people “get” what it can do. Elizabeth Lawley is taking another path with MT, trying to figure out what it can do as a customized course blog. I like what she’s done with the calendar/due date idea, and I’m sure that wouldn’t be a difficult tweak in Manila. The comments that go along with the post are worth the read as they pretty much echo the debate/searching that many of us have ongoing about the best choice for classroom apps. No mention of Manila, but I’m starting to think that much of that is because most can’t get past how unintuitive it is (when IS the new version getting released?) or because MT had definitely become the Web log software du jour. But it seems as more and more programs come out, everyone is tweaking them for their unique needs anyway. And Manila has a pretty good record of classroom use that I’m just about ready to let that whole debate float off into wherever released angst goes.
I’m gonna have over a dozen teachers making Web logs this year, plus a couple of departments like athletics and the library that are chomping at the bit. And I have a feeling there will be more in the wings once we get things all set up. I’ll take that.