Student Blogs — Media By Example
Blogging is an excellent way for children (and adults!) to practice digital leadership, document their learning journeys and reflect. There are several ways to set these up and a variety of different platforms available so that you can choose the best fit for your students and contexts.
Website builders such Google Sites are not designed for blogging (although you could make them work). Blogs are unique in how they are live, ongoing and regularly updated. The word itself, blog, comes from the merging of two words: web log. Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order and readers have the opportunity to engage through comments, likes, etc. As a blog is built over time, the curated content becomes a portfolio and a rich reflection of its creator.
The suggestions below are blogging platforms that are specifically designed for education (but depending on your context, you might not need this). KidBlog is the only one listed that does not offer a free version.
Seesaw is best known for family communication and its portfolio capabilities, but it also offers one of the simplest ways to create a class blog, especially if you’re already using Seesaw. After content has been posted to a student portfolio, it just takes one more click to post it to the class blog. These shared blogs can be public or password protected and all content and comments must be approved by the teacher. Furthermore, teachers can find and approve other Seesaw class blogs worldwide for the students to view and connect with. Start by enabling the blog in your class settings.
Kidblog offers a safe and simple platform to create class blogs. When students publish new posts from the child-friendly editor, the content is posted to the class homepage. The privacy of each individual post is flexible: teacher only, the class, the public and/or to connections (connections are other Kidblog classes that your class connected with). The teacher can pre-determine which sharing options are available for the students to choose and which ones require their approval. The teacher can also pre-determine which of the audience options can leave comments and which ones require teacher approval. Unfortunately, Kidblog is a paid platform with no free options. You can, however, trial it for thirty days without any commitment.
Edublogs is the education project of WordPress, the world’s most popular website builder. If you’re familiar with WordPress, the layout and interface is mostly the same. Students can create their own individual, sophisticated and personalised blogs, but Edublogs allows the teacher to manage them all centrally. The class management tools include the ability to moderate posts and comments, provide private feedback to students and control the privacy. The useful Edublogs homepage shows a breakdown of how the free and paid options compare, as well as responses to FAQs.
Weebly for Education offers a simple option for creating individual and shared blogs. It is free for up to forty student accounts and has paid options for those who need more. The drag and drop editor is easy to use and allows for a full range of media options. After students have been added, they will have access to the student page with a simplified interface. Weebly for Education also offers a website builder with the same features. During setup, the first step is to choose a site or blog theme from the 70+ customisable options. Please note that Weebly for Education blogs can only be password protected with an upgraded paid plan.
If you create blogs with your students, please share the content with us on Twitter (or email the information to us privately). We’d love to see your students’ hard work and offer some encouragement.