Using a blog to support communication

I'm a great fan of blogging and as this very busy educational year draws to a close (and not a moment too soon), I thought I would share one really simple and effective blogging idea.

Every year a number of staff take our grade 10s to the Cederberg where they hike with staff and on their own; they cycle along country roads; challenge themselves on the banks of the Clanwilliam Dam and work with school children at Elizabethfontein in the Northern Cederberg . At Sanddrift and Jamaka they learn a range of skills and contribute to the upgrading of the environment in which they find themselves. We have named this journey the Bishops Epic. The boys experience a wide range of activities which test them physically and mentally and allow them to appreciate the landscape as well as the people and the history of the area.

Obviously the boys' families want to follow the journey and so we use this blog to communicate. Internet access is not always possible and the staff have limited access to technology. They do, however, have their cell phones and so we set up the blog so that it will automatically upload an email (with photo attachment) as a post on the blog. We chose to have a proof reader supervise the posts before accepting publication. Making possible a simple posting process worked really well. 16500 hits!