This is a screenshot of the home page for Kidblog.org
Hi There Finger Tappers,
Here is another Web 2.0 tool I found, this time using Web 2.0 Guru, that you might find handy, especially if you teach younger students. With the emphasis this month on blogging, and the clear benefits that can come from using them in a classroom setting, I was pleased to find a blog site created specifically for younger users called Kidsblog. (http://kidsblog.org/home.php)
Kidsblog allows teachers the ability to easily set up a free classroom blog site where students can create their blogs and comment on their classmates’ entries under a system overseen by the teacher. One of the advantages over other blog sites is that it gives the teacher the ability to monitor each student’s class blog. This can come in handy when issues of inappropriate or hurtful responses arise giving the teacher the administrative power to control the environment.
The About Kidblog page provides information on the site and its benefits.
This system also allows the teacher to authorize parent access to a student’s blog entries giving the students a chance to share content with parents.
It seems like a great way for students and teachers to comment and respond with each other to learning practices and events that they are doing in the classroom. The teacher could also use this as a handy tool in helping students understand good online etiquette, before they venture out into the broader world of blogging/texting, by modeling appropriate written conversations in a limited online environment as a social health lesson.
This is s screenshot of the News & Updates page.
To add to this, the News & Updates page on the site provides hints and tips for parents and teachers by those already using it. The controls that this site provides for the teacher makes it a much more usable site than other blog sites like Blogger and gives the teacher the ability to make it more of a personal classroom tool.
This looks like something I will definitely be using in my elementary classroom and sharing with my colleagues.
Peter,
ReplyDeleteAfter viewing your "commercial" for Kidblog, I'm SOLD. What a clever, collaborative tool and what a clever, timely way to sell it (that is, given the amount of blogging we've been doing in this present course.) KUDOS!
I, too, believe in the importance of peer-editing when it comes to the writing process. This website (and your discovery of it) understands that. It's also nice to know this can be executed under the watchful eye of the teacher - how comforting!
This, however, begs the question: What would your unit on "online etiquette" include.
I'm curious to know...
How would you convey your message, and to what age group?
When convenient, please let me know.
In the meantime, keep up the good - no GREAT - work!
A Friend,
Jeet Chadha