Tech Exploration - Kidblog

Kidblog is an online resource for classes that allows students to create and write their own blog. It is ad-free and simple to use, making it a safe and easy way for kids to maintain their first blog. The hope is that it will make writing fun for students to encourage them to practice their writing skills and learn to be good digital citizens. It is for students in grades K-12, and the basic version is free. To access more features, schools can pay $5/month per class or $25/year per class. Kidblog defines a class as 250 students, with unlimited teacher accounts under the premium version.

This would probably not be as useful for kindergarten and maybe not even first grade, at least at the beginning of the school year, as their writing skills are often not strong enough to really make typing out a blog on a regular basis practical. I also think it might be too childish for high schoolers, especially those that regularly access social media and blogs on their own. The name “Kidblog” would probably not seem very cool to a senior in high school! But it would be very useful for second grade through upper elementary and possibly junior high school to practice their writing skills, sharing what they are learning and thinking with the class and their family, while learning what is appropriate to write and publish online and what is not.

I think this is fantastic for the appropriate grade levels and it is not expensive. I would pay $25/year for my class to be able to access safe blogs and practice writing if I were teaching 2^nd-5^th grade.