Easyblog

Easyblog is a simple way for students to blog and create digital portfolios to share w/ parents.  Best of all is the teacher portal that allows educators to create a class blog and add students.  Educators can then send a secure subscription link to parents.  These blogs can include, text, videos, photos, and more and is a great way to keep parents informed.  Best of all are the security features that lets educators moderate student posts, view comments, and protect student profiles.  There is even a free mobile app called ClassPack for users to download.

Below is a demo video...



I highly recommend checking out Easyblog by clicking here!!!

For a more detailed review click here.

Quadblogging

Quadblogging is a new term/concept that I just found out about on Twitter.  This is a great concept that has 4 schools blogging in a cycle that helps people view and comment on students blogs.  The way this works is once a class/user signs up they get entered into a "quad" and then a moderator makes sure things run smoothly.  Classes/students will start blogging from a school while others view and comment.  The following week another school/class will then blog and others will read/comment and the cycle goes on until all 4 schools/classes have blogged.

I highly recommend checking out Quadblogging by clicking here!!!

For my Pinterest board on Blogging in Education click here.

Comments4Kids

Comments4Kids is an ambitious site/blog that I found out about through Google+.  This is a site designed to find blogs for students & teachers to comment on and get posts on their own.  Also, this site goes over good etiquette and rules for leaving comments.  This is important when having to abide by CIPA/COPPA compliance.

I highly recommend checking out Comments4Kids by clicking here.

For my top 10 blogging solutions for education click here.

Youngzine

Youngzine is a site I just found out about from Free Technology 4 Teachers. This is an excellent site for kids/students to find out current information on the web. Here is a quote straight from their site, "Our goal is to help parents and educators create a vibrant community of globally aware young citizens in an increasingly connected world. Along with news stories written specifically with our young audience in mind, Youngzine strives to inform using fun trivia, compelling visuals and videos."

Also, there are some nice features educators get such as a classroom blog and an area to collaborate on w/ students. In this "area" a teacher can post assignments, comments, and use it for grading.

I highly recommend checking out Youngzine by clicking here!!!

Feed

I decided to do something a little different w/ this post and that is do a review of book that contains technology. I will do this from time to time w/ movies and books that I feel have a good amount of technology in them. Why? Well, I thought it would be a fun thing to do and I'd love to hear feedback from readers who share some of the same tastes as I do.

Feed is a book by Mira Grant and is the first book in the Newsflesh Trilogy. I like to compare this to a cross between Dawn of the Dead meets Primary Colors. Being a huge horror fanatic, I was super excited to be reading a book about zombies. However, that is just a small part about what this book is about. It is more about the political race of claiming a new president and the conspiracy of incomprehensible proportions.

What I really like about this book is how it treats "amplification" or the process of turning into a zombie. It treats it as a virus and how it spreads and so on and so forth. Now, this book does take place in the future so there is a lot of technology to be found. Most importantly how technology covers the news and that blogging is now the main source of finding out the most current and truthful news.

Anyone who is interested in blogging or has a blog of their own, should really give this book a chance as they will be fascinated at how blogging has evolved from the present day. It is very detailed and highly entertaining.

On a scale of 5 stars I would give it 4 1/2.

Other books filled w/ technology that I highly recommend and might review in the future are: Digital Fortress by Dan Brown, and the Stieg Larsson trilogy, Girl w/ Dragon Tattoo, Girl who Played w/ Fire and the Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest.

Click here for more info on Feed.

Kids Like Blogs

Kids Like Blogs is a site that I had the pleasure of just finding out about. It's a site that was created around teacher, Jon Schwartz and how he implemented blogging into his Elementary school class. Not only is it a very interesting read it is very inspirational as well. It talks about his effective implementation of blogging to his students (safely too) and how it has increased their love of learning as well as their technology literacy.

I highly recommend checking out this site and contacting him if you are interested in collaboration w/ your students, by clicking here!!

Webdoc

Webdoc is a a cool new (beta) site for creating multimedia type blog posts w/ comments. A neat little twist w/ webdoc's is that the comments that others leave are in a webdoc format. This means that a person can create their own little multimedia blog to respond to a post. Another nice feature is the ability to embed a webdoc into your site/blog.

Below is their demo video...

webdoc in action from webdoc on Vimeo.

I highly recommend checking out Webdoc by clicking here!!

Thanks to the wonderful, Free Technology 4 Teachers for the tip.

InstaBlogg

InstaBlogg is a great site for creating a single blog post. It's very easy to use w/ some nice features such as making the post public/private and turning on/off comments.

I highly recommend checking out InstaBlogg by clicking here!!

Thanks to Free Technology 4 Teachers for the tip!

Wordfaire

Wordfaire is a new site (beta) I just found out about from Free Technology 4 Teachers and it is ideal for introduce the concept of blogging. It's real easy to use, sign in w/ one of your favorite social media logins, name your blog, and then start typing. This is great for live blogging and you can even add photos as well.

I highly recommend checking out Wordfaire by clicking here!!!

21 Classes

21 Classes is one of my favorite blogging solutions for schools. This free site allows teachers to create student accounts (no email necessary) to post (up to 10). Also, there is a paid ($8.95 a mo) classroom package which allows schools to create a blog portal. This allows up to a 100 students to blog while teachers have control over what gets posted or if comments are allowed.

I highly recommend checking out 21 Classes by clicking here!!!

Top 10 Blogging Solutions

"A blog (a blend of the term web log)^[1] is a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. (wikipedia)"

Blogging is one of the most popular web 2.0 tools around and used by educators everywhere. Basically, it is "online journaling" and a great way for students/teachers to create online content. However, the key to a blog is it's collaborative nature and the ability to generate communication among others.

That being said, I decided to list my favorites blogging solution for educators...

Top 10 Blogging Solutions

1. Edmodo - A terrific solution for blogging in the classroom and it's free. It allows teachers to create student accounts and monitor all their activity.
2. Kidblog - A great free way for students to blog w/ no email account necessary, teachers have total control of student content.
3. Gaggle - A semi-free (paid version removes ads) way for student's to blog in a filtered environment. Gaggle will also filter Google Apps, provide forums, and filter YouTube as well.
4. Blogger - Google's free blogging service that is very easy to use and has a beautiful user interface w/ lots of: themes, gadgets, and options to choose from.
5. Word Press - One of the most popular free blogging platforms on the web. It requires an install and setup which means it has a bit of a higher learning curve then some other options.
6. Edublog Campus - A paid blogging solution for schools that is built around the Word Press Platform.
7. Penzu - Is a nice new (beta) site for blogging that allows users to choose if they want their posts to be public or private.
8. Live Journal - Is a combination of a blogging platform and social network that is very popular w/ a focus on social media.
9. 21 Classes - A wonderful blogging solution for students/Teachers. Teachers can create student accounts and monitor all blog entries before they are posted.
10. TypePad - Create excellent looking blogs w/ this very easy to use paid service.
    

Blog for Money

It has been no secret that times have been trying lately as I continue my search for employment. That being said, my wife came across a PT job that allows people to work from home while getting paid to blog on what they love most, for me that would be "web 2.0".

Having some apprehension but figuring I had nothing to lose I decided to send the company a post of mine w/ a link to my blog. A few days later I was contacted by their recruitment manager inquiring if I wanted to work for them PT as an independent contractor.

Although, I'm not sure how things will turn out, I will start sending them some of my posts to be published through their site. However, I want to assure people that I blog for the love of it not and for money. I will always keep this blog up and running and continue to collaborate w/ others as my PLN is a treasure more valuable then words can describe.

This is an exciting opportunity for me and for others who love to blog and I encourage them to click here for info on how they can pursue the same thing. I need to do what is best for my family and perhaps this is one way for me to help provide for them.

I want to give a heart felt thanks for everyone's support as my readers mean so very much to me.

If anyone has any questions please email me, and if anybody has any experience w/ blogging for money I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks again!!!

Blogging 4 Everyone

Blogging 4 Everyone is a simple little course I designed to help introduce the concept of blogging to students & teachers. Not only does this course offer tips w/ a tutorial video, but it lists my top 5 blogging solutions for education:

1. Edmodo
2. Kidblog
3. Gaggle
4. Edublog Campus
5. 21 Classes

Click here to access the course wiki and please feel free to use as you see fit!!!

It's Worth Taking a Look at this Blog!

I'd like to thank the following special educators who included me in their list of blogs worth taking a look: Shelly Terrell, Ozge Karaoglu, and Ana Maria Menezes. In following along w/ the rules of this process, I'd like to nominate the following blogs that I feel are worth taking a look at (excluding the ones who nominated me per rules)...

1. Larry Ferlazzo - Quite simply one of the best resource sharing blogs around!
2. Richard Byrne - Free Technology 4 Teachers - nuff said.
3. Naomi Harm - A master at professional development and technology integration and a close personal friend!
4. Alexandra Fransisco - Zarco English is quickly becoming a main stay in the technology scene.
5. Kelley Tenkley - iLearn Technology any list would be incomplete w/out Kelly's excellent blog!
6. Langwitches - Excellent blog and the creator of Around the World w/ 80 Schools.
7. Kathleen McGeady - A nice site for integration tips and one of the best online newsletters around.
8. David Andrade - One of the top bloggers around who also writes for T & L magazine.
9. Buffy Hamilton - The Unquiet Librarian who has to be one of the most innovative librarians around!!
10. Brian McKee - A well written/humorous blog that shares interesting ways to integrate technology into the classroom.
    

Edmodo

Edmodo is one of the most popular blogging solutions for students. I've mentioned it before and thought this was a great video to see Edmodo in action, click the link below...

http://abclocal.go.com/wls/video?id=7268097

Click here for more info.

Gaggle

At heart, Gaggle is a semi-free filtered email solution for students. Free being in the sense that the unpaid version includes banners/adds and really slows down a network. However, after using the purchased version of Gaggle in our district for the last few months, I can say Gaggle is so much more then just an eMail system.

Gaggle has a variety of components that makes it appealing for education such as: blogging, discussion boards, chatting, digital lockers, and email. Since all of this is "housed" in Gaggle it is all filtered.

Another nice feature is the admin user interface which lets you tweak settings to your hearts desire. You can set it to email yourself for blog comments, blocked messages, etc etc etc. Like any filtering system you can set it to as high/little as you like and include any keywords that might not be in the system.

Finally, one other great selling point is that it works w/ Google Apps. You can have Gaggle "house" a GMail account which is great if you like to par take in the Google universe or Googleverse. For more info on Gaggle/Google interaction click here.

If you are strictly looking for a blogging solution for education which is free, take a look at Edmodo. Edmodo is a microblogging solution for education which is very user friendly; think Twitter for education.

Great Blogs

Here are some of the great blogs in Education:

1. Cliotech - Jennifer Dorman’s amazing blog. She is one of the most influential people in integrating technology in the industry, and a huge inspiration for me. Her track record in the online community is second to none and her cutting edge ideas/work ethic make her a great resource for teachers.

2. Larry Ferlazzo - Larry is an ESL high school teacher who has a wonderful blog. His blog has many accolades and has been nominated for the coveted EduBlogs award two years running. His links and his ideas on how to use these resources in education are second to none.

3. Brian McKee - a very well written, thought provoking, witty blog that covers instructional technology. His experience in education as well as his travels help make this one of the more useful/entertaining reads around.

4. Always Learning - Kim Cofino’s blog is a great read for educators, she is the 21st Century Literacy Specialist at an International School in Bangkok and shares some great ideas on how to use technology in education.

5. Geeky Bird - Matt Monjan’s innovative blog on the Discovery Education Network (DEN). This is a great resource for up and coming technologies in the classrooms.

6. iLearn Technology - Great blog which I learned about after I originally posted this list. Kelly Tenkely, is a K-5 technology teacher who shares simple ways on how to integrate technology into the classroom.

7. Free Technology 4 Teachers - Award winning blog that has some of the best resources for education out there. Nicely written and has a very nice "blurb" at the bottom of each post which suggests how to use in the classroom.

Smart Technologies - Blog written by Smart Technologies on all their products. Great read to learn how to use Smart Resources and to find out about upcoming technologies.