One of the assignments for this first week of class was to look at potential sites to host an educational blog. Our review of the sites (a minimum of 3) was to be documented and shared by the end of the week. Some of the sites that were interesting for an educational purpose were: Xanga, Edmodo, 21 Classes, Edublogs, and WordPress. Each of these sites had attractive features that a classroom teacher should be able to find useable.
The Highlights
I was floored by the the ability of Edumodo to have assignments and grades for your classes on the site. This site really seems much like a Moodle type site for running a class and allowing a site that students could use to discuss class topics while not in class.
Xanga was interesting in the fact that depending on the activity on a certain blog, they were able to get different rankings. The highest ranked were linked on the homepage of Xanga. This allows users to see where and what the buzz is.
21 Classes is neat due to the fact that a teacher is able to set up blog sites for their students in a relatively safe environment.
WordPress is very informative with an extensive user guide to bring a user from "zero-to-hero" with regards to the use of the site.
We've also had the chance to read a bit of Will Richardson's "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other powerful Web Tools for Classrooms". The intro is a good history on the development of the ability to author things on the web. Things are much more plug and play compared to the start when to do anything, one would need to know how to code what they wanted to show online. Now, all one has to do to author web material is to sign up on a site.
I have tried edmodo and moodle. I really like the ease of use that is associated with edmodo, but I like the additional quiz features associated with moodle. I know that you have had experience with both. Based on what you saw, which do you prefer?
ReplyDeleteDoes your school have a policy on blogs? If so what is it?
ReplyDeleteCarl,
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have seen, I like edmodo a bit better, but won't be able to use it due to district policy. I'll try to get the tech guru's at Central Office to add the blog plugin to our Moodle site. This will help with one of the major drawbacks I find with Moodle.
Louis,
There is no school level policy on blogging that I know of. There might be a district policy, but I think it is mainly through blocking the social blog sites. I'll have to do some digging.