Lord knows that I don't, but I want to share some llama love by rating the sites that I have had some firsthand experience using. I'm not paid (darn) and by no means are these reviews "official" but hey, who says they can't still be useful.
So here we go...Kidblog! It is a blogging site for teachers to host student blogs.
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Price Point
Okay, so I know we like free. I mean, we really like free. But this is one of few subscriptions I have felt has held its value.
As of September 2017, an account costed $60 annually. At $5 a month for it to host all my students...not a deal breaker.
Kidblog offers free 30-day trials for you to check it out and sometimes run seasonal specials for discounted prices (I've seen 20% offers at times).
Practicality
Kidblog definitely checks the proverbial box for practicality.
- Students login with a dropdown menu of the usernames associated with a given blog (can I get a "hoorah!" for not worrying about mis-typed usernames!!).
- The teacher dashboard allows you to lock down posts and comments (I require approval for both), it's easy to reset student passwords, and you can create bulk accounts using a CSV file.
- The account license doesn't limit how many computers use the site so students can access their blogs from home.
- Public versus private is a breeze. You can make your class's blogs public, private to only the teacher and students, or limited to students+ a specific list of email addresses.
Student Engagement
So, student engagement is key. In my class, if it's too far from being a "game" I get terrible final products from my classes. Kidblog scores full marks for student engagement.
- They have fun tools for customizing avatars and images for within a given post.
- Further customization can be done to individual blog posts including custom fonts, backgrounds, and header images.
- Plus commenting, commenting, commenting! Boy, do kids love to talk (as if you didn't know that already).
Reliability
Okay, so I know we like free. I mean, we really like free. But this is one of few subscriptions I have felt has held its value.
As of September 2017, an account costed $60 annually. At $5 a month for it to host all my students...not a deal breaker.
Kidblog offers free 30-day trials for you to check it out and sometimes run seasonal specials for discounted prices (I've seen 20% offers at times).
Practicality
Kidblog definitely checks the proverbial box for practicality.
- Students login with a dropdown menu of the usernames associated with a given blog (can I get a "hoorah!" for not worrying about mis-typed usernames!!).
- The teacher dashboard allows you to lock down posts and comments (I require approval for both), it's easy to reset student passwords, and you can create bulk accounts using a CSV file.
- The account license doesn't limit how many computers use the site so students can access their blogs from home.
- Public versus private is a breeze. You can make your class's blogs public, private to only the teacher and students, or limited to students
Student Engagement
So, student engagement is key. In my class, if it's too far from being a "game" I get terrible final products from my classes. Kidblog scores full marks for student engagement.
- They have fun tools for customizing avatars and images for within a given post.
- Further customization can be done to individual blog posts including custom fonts, backgrounds, and header images.
- Plus commenting, commenting, commenting! Boy, do kids love to talk (as if you didn't know that already).
Reliability
I am on year three of using this website and have seldom run into problems of the site being down for maintenance. Since it doesn't run flash or any other bells and whistles, there's little else that affects this site's reliability...other than your internet connectivity, of course.
Academic Value
The students like it - good. It works reliably - good. But does it contribute to learning? Any computer lab teacher worth their weight in RAM knows that activities must make the students more computer literate or what's the point??
So what skills does Kidblog enhance?
- Typing skills
- General site navigation (dropdown menus, signing in and out, saving work, etc.)
- Digital citizenship (cyberbullying through comments, appropriate post topics, secure passwords, and more)
- 'Netiquette (typing in ALL CAPS, spamming, replying to others)
Final ScoreWhat type of llama lover would I be if my scoring wasn't llamarific!!
With a solid rating in each category, it may not come as a surprise that this site gets a score of...
Academic Value
The students like it - good. It works reliably - good. But does it contribute to learning? Any computer lab teacher worth their weight in RAM knows that activities must make the students more computer literate or what's the point??
So what skills does Kidblog enhance?
- Typing skills
- General site navigation (dropdown menus, signing in and out, saving work, etc.)
- Digital citizenship (cyberbullying through comments, appropriate post topics, secure passwords, and more)
- 'Netiquette (typing in ALL CAPS, spamming, replying to others)
Final ScoreWhat type of llama lover would I be if my scoring wasn't llamarific!!
With a solid rating in each category, it may not come as a surprise that this site gets a score of...
5 out of 5 Lovely Llamas!
I'd love to hear from you! Have you used Kidblog or a similar blogging site for kids? Please share in the comments below.
Llama love,
Sam
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