EduBlogorama: Vote for your choices in the 2008 Edublog awards!

I started blogging because it was a requirement for an educational technology class I was taking a few years ago, and after I discovered I had followers, I never stopped.

It has been interesting to see how educators have grown to embrace blogging. Ideas once shared only in teacher lounges and workrooms now resonate across cyberspace, and networks of educators from around the world are sharing resources and collaborating like never before.

About a year ago, I discovered Classroom 2.0, a social network for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education. I figured at least some of the members of Classroom 2.0 might also be bloggers, so I posted a topic in a forum on Classroom 2.0: Let's Share Links to our Blogs! I was amazed at the flurry of responses! Educators of all kinds, from around the world, participated in the discussion, and as a result, the International Edubloggers Directory was born, the creation of Patricia Donaghy, an ICT teacher in Dublin, Ireland. There are now 465 members of this group.

My thoughts about the future of blogging were quoted in Technorate's series about the "State of the Blogosphere 2008":

“There will be more blogs used in education, particularly among K-12 students and teachers. Bookmarks will merge with blogs for those of us who use our blogs as note-pads or filing cabinets. Blog archives will be viewed as a rich source of cultural history. Blogs will be a means for more collaborative team work. People will expect businesses, media, and print organizations, even government organizations, to have some form of blog, in order to promote communication. Blogging will also help to provide insight to businesses about their consumers.”

BLOGORAMA!

Edublogs is sponsoring the 2008 EduBlog Awards, or "Eddies", the fifth year of awards. There are sixteen categories of awards this year, representing a wide range of edubloggers and blogs.

Since this blog serves as one of my on-line filing cabinets, I decided to post links to ALL of the edublogs nominated for the 2008 EduBlog Awards. If you have the inclination, visit some of these blogs, then go to the Edublog Awards website and cast your votes!

Best Teacher EduBlog: Teaching in the 408 Mrs Cassidy’s Classroom Blog Science Of The Invisible The Cool Cat Teacher Practical Theory dy/dan Web.Cad.6abc Kevin’s Meandering Mind Creating Lifelong Learners Teaching College Math Bald Worm’s Blog Betty’s Blog Songhai Concept Bellringers Science Teacher Sliced Bread The Journey Reflections on Teaching Cliff’s Notes Endless Forms Most Beautiful OllieBray.com Nashworld Box of Tricks Mysterious Teaching The Why of it all Always Learning On an e-journey with Generation Y ICT in my Classroom Educating Alice Kenneth’s ESL Blog

Best Individual EduBlog: Mobile Technology in TAFE Education Investigation Learn Online Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs Bionic Teaching SCC English Nadstar’s Blog Teachers at risk John Connell Doug - off the record Mathemetics Learning The Scholastic Scribe Newly Ancient Chrisina’s Classroom Early Childhood blog Cliotech ICTlogy Theology in the Vineyard Computer Science Teacher - thoughts and information from Alfred Thompson Darcy’s blog The Edublogger Teaching and Learning Design The Bamboo Project All teachers are learners - All learners are teachers Sarah’s Musings Using Blogs in Science Education Learning with ‘e’s What It’s Like on The Inside EFL20.com Generation YES Blog Betty’s Blog Teach42 Creating Lifelong Learners Always Learning The English Blog David Truss: Pair-a-dimes for your Thoughts

Best Resource Sharing EduBlog: Free Technology for Teachers Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day/ Mobile Technology in TAFE Videoconferencing Out on a Lim Woodchurch Science Teach J: For Teachers of Journalism and Media Langwitches Edina Publich Schools NUA Program http://blogs.scholastic.com/whats_new/ ZaidLearn Teaching College Math Around the Corner - MGuhlin Stephen’s Web meta-ot Discovering Biology in a Digital World Thumann Resources Creative Teaching Welcome to NCS-Tech Jane’s E-learning Pick of the Day Learning technology teacher development blog

Best Class Nominations: A really different place Risley Roarer’s Blog Learning Area 20 Al Upton Extreme Biology English Advertising Class Mr. Kootman’s Class Remote Access

Best Educational Wiki: eToolBox The 2008 Comment Challenge Kidpedia Educational Origami WikiEducator S.D.Public School, Pitampura Learning in Maine Digitally Speaking Clif’s Wiki Miss Baker’s Biology Class F-ALT Salks Periodic Table Flat Classroom Project 2008 School AUP 2.0 Useful Wiki Digital Media Across Asia

Best Educational Use of Video/Visual: Digital Ethnography Tamaki Intermediate School Geography at the Movies Flick School Video 2 Zero Steve Spangler blog Moving at the Speed of Creativity Murdoch University Island in Second Life Qik MAMK TEFL Clips The Common Craft Show

Best Educational Use of Audio: Wicked Decent Learning Project Xiphos Twenty Minutes for Tech Teachers Teaching Teachers Parents as Partners Bildum im Dialog Integrating ICT Bit By Bit Secondary Worlds Ed Tech Talk

Best Educational Use of a Virtual World: Jokaydia Discovery Education Second Life Drexel Island Edunation Oh! Virtual Learning! Literary Worlds

Best Educational Tech Support EduBlog: The Edublogger The Clever Sheep The Wired Campus UK Web Focus Geeked Tech Tutors Teach42 Teacher in a Strange Land Off on a Tangent efoundations JoeWoodOnline Teachers love Smartboards Langwitches Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org

Best Librarian/Library EduBlog: Lorcan Dempsey’s weblog UoL Library Blog Paul Walk’s weblog Hey Jude Joyce Valenza Blue Skunk Blog TechnoTuesday

Best eLearning/Corporate Education EduBlog: Britannica Blog eLearning Technology Presentation Zen Windows to Open Source Making Change Tech Tools Laurel Papworth TechnOT Andy’s black hole Janet Clarey

Most Influential EduBlog Post: The Future of Online Learning- 10 Years On - Stephen Downes Becoming a more reflective Individual Practitioner Why Can’t Inner City Kids Learn The Glass Bees Planning to share versus just sharing The Time is Now Be an elearning action hero President-elect Barack Obama The truth is Out There The New Digital Divide? Order for Closure Getting our Knickers in a twist? The Macgyver Project: Genomic Dna Extraction And Gel Electrophoresis Experiments Using Everyday Materials Monkey Business Ten Tips for Growing Your Learning Network

Best New EduBlog: Fled: Flexible Learning Education Design Yuichi’s Games Angela Maiers Huzzah Dkzody’s Weblog 2JE Shining Stars Chrisina’s Classroom Early Childhood blog Journeys on the road Human Teaching in Second Life Fiona’s Journey Christy Bowman Technology in The Classroom Thumann Resources

Best Group EduBlog: Salford University Occupational Therapy Education blog SCC English WorkLiteracy The Stratford Sentinel Mortarboard Blog Pontydysgu Brandon Hall Research Workplace Learning Today Scholastic News Blog Digital Learning Environments Tomorrow’s Trust The Chancellor’s New Clothes ECO group 360 Leader Talk PortablePD.CA Youth Voices

Best Class Blog: A really different place Risley Roarer’s Blog Learning Area 20 Al Upton Extreme Biology English Advertising Class Mr. Kootman’s Class Remote Access

Best Use of a Social Networking Service: EFL Classroom 2.0 Fireside Learning Classroom 2.0 Maine Holocaust Education Network Youth Voices MACUL Space Principles of Biology Ed Links Teen Second Classroom My Learning Space

Lifetime Achievement Award: Stephen Downes Scott Leslie Will Richardson Nancy White David Warlick Chris Lehmann Graham Wegner Michele Martin Jay Cross