Blogging
Free blogging tools
If you are a beginner to blogging, or you are not sure how it could work in the long term, then a free solution is your best bet. This is not an exhaustive guide to blogging tools, but they are ones that have been tried and tested in Scottish classrooms.
Blogger
Blogger is owned by search engine giant Google and is immensely popular with first-time bloggers. In just a few minutes, you can be writing to your own website, playing with a wide range of colour schemes and templates and getting readers from other parts of the blogger community.
Disadvantage: each blog has a 'next blog' link that is tricky get rid of. The button means that people leave your site to go onto a random blog of another user. The teacher or school cannot guarantee that the next blog does not contain unsuitable material. To get rid of Blogger’s Next Blog button, you have to go into the template and find the <body> tag. Just in front of it, type <noembed> and right after it type </noembed>. Andrew M. Brown, ICT Education Support Officer for Argyll & Bute, has produced this screencast on his blog to show you how.
Blogmeister
Blogmeister is a free blog service for teachers and students from edublog expert David Warlick.
Pivot
The blogging software for Pivot is stored on your own school server. The advantage of having it on your own server is that you 'own' it. When subscriptions to pay-for blogging applications are stopped, all the material placed on the blog is lost, unless you back it up yourself – and with the sheer amount of content, it’s highly unlikely you will be able to do this.
Disadvantage: this requires someone with some technical know-how to get it set up initially. John Johnston at Sandaig Primary School, Glasgow, says: 'It takes a bit longer than, say, Blogger to set up and start posting. But the same goes for all the more "serious" blogging applications, like Wordpress or Typepad. You would probably need the technical support person in your school to set up – and I wouldn’t like the idea of not having control over the process myself.'
John continues: 'Once up and running it’s relatively simple to operate. It’s easy to set up different users and limit where they can post. The look of a Pivot blog is very customisable. As with everything like this, reading the instructions and taking your time helps. There is one further downside to Pivot: there is no pre-moderation of posts, that is, you can’t check what your pupils are writing before it is published. There is a good blacklist extension that keeps unsavoury sites from commenting and you can turn commenting off.'
So while Pivot may not be suitable for individual pupil use anywhere, any time, it could provide a useful diary tool for in-class work. Sandaig Primary School's Otters Blog is exactly this, and has been very successful.
'Pay-for' blogging tools
Pay-for services offer the look, support and functionality required by most educational establishments. Above all, they offer the ability to moderate comments and posts before they go live on the site and to create multiple blogs under the same address. Also their helpdesk support is second to none.
Typepad
Typepad offers all the functionality required for a school setting: customisable designs, password protection on any part of the site, multiple blogs, multiple authors, large online storage space, pre-moderation of posts and comments, and so on. Check out the pricing guide on the Typepad website.
It’s relatively low cost (the 'Pro' version, perfect for schools, is around £10 per month; the cheapest option for one blog is only £3 per month), paid for by the month or by the year. There’s a month’s free trial well worth taking. Musselburgh Grammar School’s award-winning blogs were set up using this. Pupils and staff find it easy to operate from home and abroad. It even allows updating via mobile phone. Also, any MP3 file placed on the blog automatically gets turned into a podcast, being distributed to thousands of listeners.
ePals SchoolBlog
From the ePal Corporation comes ePals SchoolBlog. ePal Corporation is best known for helping create international links in schools.
Find out how to make podcasts with the MFLE podcasting guide.
Other blog applications are available. If you use another one, please tell us about it in the discussion forums.
Customising your blog
Find your ideal template
Getting the blog ready for writing doesn’t take much. Find a template that pleases you and stick with it. Don’t confuse your readers, who will come back expecting the same look and feel they had the last time. Remember that if your blog is for children, the type size should be larger than you might normally use.
Features
Features will vary depending on which service you choose and, ultimately, how much you pay. For school use, the following features are recommended - most come with the services already mentioned, but check before paying for a particular pricing plan:
- capacity for pre-moderation of posts
- capacity for pre-moderation of comments
- IP banning (to block unwanted visitors)
- ability to handle photographs and graphics.