After day one of my new job (!) as an integration technology specialist, I was asked to think about how to help a teacher who wants his class to start a blog. He teaches robotics, and he doesn’t want to moderate the blog. I have been mentally gathering my classroom-blogging resources, and have come up with some blogging platform choices for his class. I will know more when I speak to him and find out what his goals for the blog and his students are, but in the meantime, these are my top choices:
1. Blogger, which is a Google service. It is free and very easy to use. 2. Edublog, which seems to be an extremely popular choice for classroom blogging. Teachers say that it is easily customizable, and allows users to add videos, photos, podcasts and text. 3. Google sites, a service offered on Google Drive. Users say it is easy to use and anyone with a Google account has access to the service. 4. Weebly for education, a personal favorite. Weebly is easy to use and has a professional look and feel to it. Weebly makes it easy to add links, buttons, videos, forms, etc. to a blog or Website. 5. Wordpress, which is the first choice of a tech-savvy teen who acts as my “first responder” to any tech questions. Wordpress needs to be installed onto a server, I read, and I am not sure if the free software is limited in its customizable features. More research will be done on Wordpress, for sure. 6. Tumblr, a blogging site that has great reviews from teachers and students. It seems to be the most popular choice for college professors to use in their courses. Once I talk to the classroom teacher, I will be able to help him choose which platform will work best for his class. I need to ask him what his goals for the blog are. Who is the intended audience? Will each student have a blog, or will they take turns posting to one class blog? Will he assign blog posts to be graded? I need to find out what kind of privacy settings need to be included, and what the school’s expectations are about online privacy of students. Will their last names be included? Are they allowed to post photos of themselves or other students and teachers? Do parents need to give permission first? Have the students had lessons about online safety and protocol? (Note to self: ask this question first!) A lot of groundwork needs to be covered, but it’s an exciting first assignment and I am really looking forward to helping this teacher get his class’ blog off the ground!
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AuthorMom to two sons, married 23 years to college sweetie. Instructional Technology Specialist for a vocational high school. Educator for 20+ years. Love to read, do anything crafty, and spend time with friends and family. Passionate about education, technology, and the combination of the two! I'm a proud foster-failure with Big Fluffy Dog Rescue, having fallen head-over-heels for our first foster and adopting her :) Archives
September 2017
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