Kidblog.org - Finally a blogging tool designed specifically for teachers

Blogs have tremendous potential for the classroom. In my experience observing, talking to and attending presentations by teachers, I have been log be used in the classroom in a number of ways. Some examples are:

• Class portal
• Online filing cabinet
• Collaborative space
• Communication
• Portfolio of student work
• Portfolio of class work

There are also the classic obstacles that teachers face when choosing to use a blog with their class. The first is getting accounts set-up for students. Most online services require that students sign up and create an account with an existing email address. This is not a n ideal situation for a teacher. Some students simply don’t have and/or are not allowed to have an email address. Even if the students have email addresses, this is a whole lot of hassle to manage.

The second obstacle is privacy. Most blogging tools have privacy settings that will suffice for teachers using it with a class of students. But it requires the teachers to delve into the settings. Plus these settings are clearly not designed with a classroom context in mind, so it requires some testing.

These obstacles were such that I found myself hesitant to recommend a blogging tool to a teacher who didn’t have some experience or confidence using a blogging tool. But I am happy to report this is no longer the case. I finally discovered a blogging tool that was designed specifically by teachers for teachers:
Kidblog.org.

Kidblog has made the process of creating and monitoring a class blog safe and efficient. Sign-ups are fast and simple, making it easy to co-ordinate a whole class of new students. At the same time, the blog’s privacy and security is protected by default. This makes life incredibly easy for the teacher, allowing you to get straight in to the fun bit of blogging!


The primary differences between Kidblog and any other free blogging platform is the default class-only privacy level and the superbly easy way of bulk-adding user accounts for students without requiring email addresses and confirmation of invites. Anyone who has ever tried to set up a group-run blog can attest that it’s sometimes a little tricky to ensure the technophobes verify their invites. Imagine doing that with a class-full of kids! The Kidblog system means you skip all of that fuss and move on to the blogging straight away. If you have your .csv (Excel) file ready, you could sign up and have your kids blogging in less than five minutes!

I encourage you to go sign up for a teacher account and familiarize yourself with Kidblog. It looks like an excellent classroom tool that will meet the needs of the classroom teacher.