Kidblog.org: a free blogging platform for the elementary and middle school classroom
Blogging is a means of self-expression that extends to nearly every social sphere — moms, entrepreneurs, soldiers, athletes – bloggers can be found in every walk of life, every niche, profession and people group. Everyone has something to learn or share in a blog community. It is that idea that makes blogging such an ideal method of learning for children.
Surely Matt Hardy, an elementary school teacher, had this in mind when he created Kidblog.org, a blogging platform exclusively for elementary and middle school students and teachers. The platform creates a safe and simple environment for students to publish posts and participate in discussions within a secure classroom blogging community.
Below Hardy answers some general questions about his free blogging platform, which has seen explosive growth in the past few months.
What gave you the idea for Kidblog?
Kidblog.org was created out of my own need for a blogging platform that was safe for my 3rd grade students to use, with essential post/comment moderation features for the teacher. Other blogging platforms did not offer the level of user management and content oversight I needed, so Kidblog was developed.
What sets Kidblog.org apart from other blogging websites like Google Blogger and WordPress.com?
Kidblog is a free service that has many advantages for teachers and students in elementary/middle school. Our streamlined backend interface provides only the features and menus that are relevant to students. The teacher’s control panel contains additional features that facilitate post/comment moderation. Teachers have range of unique blog visibility settings that allow blogs to range from totally private to fully public. User creation/management is extremely easy, and no student emails are required. Our customer support is also personalized and responsive, providing teachers with peace of mind, knowing we’re here to help with technical support issues, and even ideas for successfully implementing Kidblog in various contexts in the classroom.
How do you think students can learn from creating a blog on Kidblog?
Blogs provide motivation for writing and discussion within an authentic context. The process of blogging engages students and provides a venue for readers/writers to share ideas and discuss topics that are important to them.
What can teachers learn about new media and managing blog networks with Kidblog?
Kidblog allows teachers to explore blogging with their classes in a teacher-friendly environment. It’s easy to set up a class and give blogging a try. As students begin to navigate their way through their class members’ blogs, teachers will gain a sense of the organic interaction that springs forth from this type of communication sphere.
Teachers can also invite other classes and guests to participate in the class’ discussions, thereby broadening the readership audience and increasing motivation for students. Multiple teachers can also collaborate within a Kidblog class and share moderation responsibilities (e.g. all of the teachers in the English department in a middle school could moderate blogs collectively across the grade level).
What about the Kidblog environment makes it safe for children?
Teachers have full administrative control over all comments, posts, and privacy settings. At Kidblog, the core element is the “class.” As the administrator of the class, teachers have the ability to preview and approve (or unapprove) content published by students (and other visitors, if allowed by their privacy settings).
Kidblog does not collect any personal information from students, making us a perfect choice for students under 13 (in accordance with COPPA guidelines). Furthermore, students are never subjected to advertising of any kind, so teachers can feel comfortable knowing that the publishing environment is free from unpredictable distractions.
What went into the code development process? Did you build the Kidblog CMS off an existing open source CMS or was it coded from scratch (I’m guessing you built off WordPress)?
Kidblog is based upon a highly customized installation of WordPress MU. We capitalize on the stability, security, and software maturity of WordPress, while integrating our own proprietary features. Kidblog is not a simply a “plugin.” Our service is based on thousands of modifications to the WordPress core, providing native support for our
array of unique features.
How many classrooms are currently using Kidblog.org and where do you expect to see Kidblog in the future?
Within the past few months alone, thousands of teachers have set up classes and registered over 60,000 new student accounts. From Australia to Taiwan to the UK to the US, classrooms across the world are reaping the benefits of Kidblog.
Our goal is to become the most popular, most trusted blogging resource for teachers and students. From humble beginnings in a single 3rd grade classroom four years ago, Kidblog is quickly becoming one of the hottest Web 2.0 tools in K-8 education. We look forward to wonderful things to come!
Tags: blog security, blogging platforms, security
« 25 excellent ideas to blog about
Increase Online Exposure and Business Leads with a Company Blog »
Wow! I wish they had this site when I was still teaching! Who knows how many writing projects I could’ve tricked them into with this!
This is a really great site. Thanks for sharing it!
Neverheard of kidblog. Thanks for introducing this to us