Room 613 Talk has been our class site for the first half of the year. I used the site to house our class podcast, to post photo and text updates on classroom activities, and to post a limited selection of student writing. Although satisfied with the site, the fact that I had to transcribe student handwritten work or cut and paste emailed paragraphs into posts made the process of including student work cumbersome resulting in a minimum amount of student authored material.
Last week I finally took the next step with my class weblog. I set up a weblog for my students called the Room 613 Student Blog. This is much more student centered than my past attempts at classroom websites. The students can post text, pictures, and links to the blog as well as comment on classmate posts. Some of the discussion topics are teacher generated, while others are original ideas from the students. Some posts are homework assignments, and others are voluntary. I insist on two overriding requirements:
- All posts should be related to student learning
- All language and topics must be socially appropriate.
Within these very general parameters, the details of form and function will be allowed to evolve. All posts and comments are moderated prior to being published.
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If you are interested in doing something like this for your students, here is the quick how-to:
- Go to James Farmer’s Learnerblogs.org, and register a WordPress blog for yourself. This will become the main class blog where all student posts and comments will appear. You will be the administator of this site and will control all posts, comments and access.
- Go back to Learnerblogs.org and register a blog for each of your students, using only their first name or a first name last initial as the username.
Use your own email address for each student’s registration.Since the October 2006 upgrade, WordPress no longer allows multiple blogs to be registered to the same email address. If you have a gmail account this can be easily resolved by generating and assigning a seperate email address for each student. To do this, just add a + sign and the students first name after your gmail address. (youraddress+student1@gmail.com) Each student’s username and password will be emailed to you. Organize the emails by homeroom if you a dealing with more than one class. **See 10/15/06 update below.
- Login to YOUR main class blog and go to the Users then Authors & Users section. Scroll down to the "Add User To Community" box and type in the user name of your first student. On the line below set that students role to CONTRIBUTER and push enter. Repeat this proceedure for each of your students. This will allow your students to post and comment to your class blog, but still allows you to moderate and approve the posts and comments before publishing.
- Put each student’s username and password on an index card and distribute. Have them write down YOUR class blog address on the card. Do not give them the address to their own site that came in the email. This will only confuse things and is not needed for them to post to your class blog. To make the first blog posts, the student will go to YOUR class blog address, scroll down and click on the login link and enter their user name and password. They then click on write and start their posting.
- Give your students an easy to answer prompt for their first blog post. What is your favorite ice cream, food, vacation spot etc. More importantly, ask them to tell you WHY in their post. If possible, have the students do their first posting from the school computer lab so you can help them through any problems..(yes..there will be problems…usually a wrong address typed in the address bar, or someone typing in the google search box instead of the address bar, or someone misreading an l for a 1 or o for 0 in the password..if you are a teacher, you know what I mean.)
- Later in the day, log into the class weblog (as you – the administrator), go to the MANAGE page. The student posts will appear on the manage page, and any comments will appear on the awaiting moderation page. Check the student post and if acceptable click PUBLISH. You can also edit the post for minor spelling errors etc. If you want the student to fix the post, edit the post, type FIX or PLEASE FIX in the title box and SAVE the post. The student will be able to see this, make the changes and resave for your approval. Remember, once you publish a students post, the students no longer have permission to access the edit function.
- As the posts start rolling in, you will want to set up some categories in your class blog. You can make each student’s name a category, as well as homerooms, subjects, and assignment numbers. In WordPress blogs, you can sort posts any way you wish by assigning each post a category. Go to the Manage, Category, Add New Category section and create as many categories as you need. Once created, you or your students can designate the category of an individuals post. By clicking on their name on the main blog, your students will be able to view their own posts on a single page.
Good Luck. I tried to limit this post to cover only the basics. If you have any further questions just send an email or comment and I’d be glad to go into further detail.
To see a running example you can visit our class weblog Room 613 Student Blog.
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Update – 9/4/2006 – If you decide to use a different PRESENTATION template to change the page look, do not use the Narnia template. There is a problem with the login link (it leaves out the /) on that template. Kate and I discovered this while debugging her new World Lit 4/5 class blog.
**Update – 10/15/2006 – Since the October 2006 WordPress update, users can no longer register multiple blogs from the same email address. In order to create student blogs without using the students personal email addresses, you will need to create your own multiple email addresses. This is an easy proceedure if you have a Gmail account (see details above.) I do not have an easy answer for this one if you do not have a gmail account.
31 Responses to “How to set up a student centered classroom blog.”
- mark Says:
January 30th, 2006 at 4:25 amThankyou for that. I was looking at securing student blogs, that was very helpful.
- Vicki Davis Says:
February 2nd, 2006 at 7:14 pmThis is very nice! I’m going to either try yours or ClassBlogmeister by David Warlick. I’m not sure which is the best. Do you know?
- Frank’s Education Pages » Blog Archive » How to set up a student centered classroom blog. Says:
February 7th, 2006 at 1:18 pm[…] Read more at: MHetherington.net » Blog Archive » How to set up a student centered classroom blog. […]
- John Says:
February 7th, 2006 at 5:44 pmGreat set of instructions, good stuff that should be useful in calming the worries of those in authority. I hope I can use them if I get a few more machines in my class and move from class/school blogs to individual ones.
- Haskell Says:
February 7th, 2006 at 7:03 pmThanks for your suggestions. I set up a blog for myself, but it will not allow me to register a blog for a student using my email address. Any ideas on what I did wrong?
- mhetherington Says:
February 8th, 2006 at 10:03 amHaskell,
I emailed James Farmer last night about the multiple users from one email problem and he fixed it in very short notice. Talk about service! You should be ready to go. Good luck.
Mike H. - Barbara Says:
February 9th, 2006 at 9:07 amMike,
Thanks for the fantastically clear instructions. I just set up a learnerblog for my 2nd graders yesterday using your steps. The parents are then signing in as their kids to leave additional comments!
I’m wondering about posting the kids’ artwork. As you suggested, I’m not showing them their own individual blogs yet, but I’m wondering whether to post it for them as the administrator or to have them use their own pages for that. Ideas? Suggestions?
Thanks,
Barbara (http://barblcohen.edublogs.org) - mhetherington Says:
February 11th, 2006 at 11:26 pmThanks Barbara. I’m glad my instructions helped. Good question about where to post the students artwork. You could allow them to use their own blogs, but that may involve more student/parent training. If you post the pictures on the class blog, it becomes a “common space” where students can view not only their own artwork, but their classmates as well.
- Independent Thinking » I’ve jumped into the river! Says:
February 13th, 2006 at 1:05 pm[…] Big thanks to Mike Hetherington at mhetherington.net for his crystal-clear how-to instructions on how to set up a learnerblog site for students. […]
- Barbara Says:
February 13th, 2006 at 1:18 pmMike,
For the time being, I opted for posting the pictures myself onto the class blog. I did it as one of the “pages,” rather than as a post so I could have a little more control and so the post wouldn’t be endlessly long.
I also want to pass along that because we’ve set the blog up using learnerblogs and your setup steps, the parents are really thrilled (rather than nervous) about their kids’ work being up on the web. A couple of parents complained to the teacher about their comments not being posted immediately, but when the teacher explained that we are moderating EVERY comment, student, parent, outside world, etc. before posting, they were appreciative and excited.
Again, thanks for the great advice,
Barbara
http://barblcohen.edublogs.org - Sara Says:
February 15th, 2006 at 9:10 pmMr.Hetherington,
Awesome Job with the how-to guide, I think you are really helping many teachers upgrade their classroom skills and fun with introducing & helping them understand a blog idea.Sara H.
- mhetherington Says:
February 22nd, 2006 at 10:52 pmThank you Sara H. You are one of our best student writers!
Thanks for your comment Jamie. I just visited your blog and enjoyed reading about the differences between Thai and Japanese Middle/ High Schools. Also, great link to Gami’s blog comparing her school experiences in America with those in Japan.
In response to your questions:
1. As the owner, administrator of the class blog, you have the choice to moderate or not moderate student posts and all comments. I choose to moderate due to the age of the students (they are middle school age.). I also moderate to encourage them to do their best writing.
2. Unfortuantley, the group blog set-up does not allow for e-mail notifications to the student that someone has written a comment to their post. The email goes to the administrator of the blog. The admin would have to manually forward the notice to the student. This has not been much of an issue with my students, but I can see how it would be a nice option for an older group with an unmoderated blog.
Thanks. - Anita Says:
March 3rd, 2006 at 2:02 pmHello Mike, I love your tutorial and I was just using it to set a classroom blog at http://www.eslblogs.org. However, something doesn’t work. I registered my blog and theirs, got all the passwords, I put them as SUBSCRIBERS (do they really have to be that and not contributors?), then logged out and in again. BUT: When I go to my blog and then log in with learner’s username and password, all I can see is her profile and dashboard. No option for posting. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
- Independent Thinking » BAISNet – Web 2.0 Links Says:
March 16th, 2006 at 3:21 pm[…] How to set up a student centered classroom blog […]
- Masterclass New Technology » Blog Archive » Adding Users Says:
March 19th, 2006 at 12:56 pm[…] In a class blog you might want to add some children as users to a http://learnerblogs.org/ blog. We can do this on this blog too. Once you have created your blog tell use your user name. We will go to the Authors & Users section of the Users tab in our admin pages and add you as a user with a Role of Contributor This will allow you to log on to http://masterclass.edublogs.org with your username and password. You will be able to write posts but not publish them. The Admin useers will be able to do that. Some teacher may like to use this method with their pupils, it is describe in detail here: How to set up a student centered classroom blog. […]
- New Technologies Course » Monday Masterclass Feedback Says:
March 24th, 2006 at 9:17 am[…] All the resources we constructed are under the Masterclass blog feel free to peruse and if you were thinking about doing a pilot with in school – well here is the idiots guide in setting up. […]
- mhetherington Says:
April 10th, 2006 at 7:39 pmAnita,
Nice catch. If you want the students to post they should be listed as CONTRIBUTERS on your site, NOT SUBSCRIBERS. I just changed that on my main post. Sorry for the confusion. - Technology Reflections » Blog Archive » So Many Blogs, So Little Time Says:
May 4th, 2006 at 8:19 pm[…] Today’s struggle was getting students set up with their own learnerblogs.org. I followed MHetherington’s advice on setting up blogs, but decided to make some changes. He suggests setting up all the student blogs yourself, but I figured I’d save myself some time and let them set up their own. I told them what to use for a username blog name, but of course, they didn’t all listen and then I realized that they then all knew how to access their own blogs and I have no control over that. I have two more classes that I want to use learnerblogs.org with and I will take the time to create their accounts for them. […]
- EdCompBlog Says:
May 10th, 2006 at 8:00 amA numpty’s guide to classroom blogging
An anonymous student left a comment on my More classroom blogs post asking how to set up classroom blogs. I decided that this was too big a topic to deal with in a reply…
- Landrum Middle School | Examples & Tutorials for Setting Up Classroom Centered Blogs Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 11:45 am[…] How to set up a student centered classroom blog.: This is a set of instruction s for using Edublogs and Learnerblogs as your blogging platform. […]
- mhetherington Says:
August 15th, 2006 at 12:26 pmBrandyB,
A blogroll is just a collection of links to other blogs or sites, usually found in the sidebar of a blog page. It can include your favorite educational weblogs, student weblogs, or just sites that you would like your readers to check out. To add links to the blogroll, log-in as admin, go to links, then click “add link.” Type in the link name in the “link name” box and the http:// address of the site you want to link to in the “URI” box. In the category pull down box, pick blogroll and hit the add link button. Go back to your main page, hit refresh and you should see your new link in the sidebar under blogroll. I hope this helps.
Mike - Aviva Rosensweig Says:
August 17th, 2006 at 10:27 amHi Mike,
Thanks for the great instructions.
I am setting up blogs for high school seniors and would prefer to start without moderation and only moderate if necessary. Should I set students up as contributors — or choose some other type?Thanks in advance,
Aviva - Aviva Rosensweig Says:
August 17th, 2006 at 12:36 pmHi,
I have another question.
I have set up blogs for all my students, but as I read through your instructions, it seems to me that all the posting actually happens on my own (teacher/class) blog.Do the students use their own blogs for any of the classroom work? Or is that just for their personal use?
Aviva
- mhetherington Says:
August 17th, 2006 at 8:50 pmHi Aviva,
1. If you want to monitor prior to publishing the students’ work and monitor comments prior to publishing, set their role to CONTRIBUTOR. If you want to allow the students to publish on their own, set their role to AUTHOR. Since I teach 6th graders, it’s important that I moderate closely, especially to catch and delete comment spam. With high school seniors you probably can loosen it up and then deal with the exceptions. That of course is up to you.
2. This post gives instructions on setting up a group blog for your class, where all students can login and post to the one Class Blog. In my opinion, the primary benefit of a group blog is the built=in audience you construct for your students. They can go to one site to view their posts as well as their classmates’ posts. This setup also facilitates easy student to student commenting. Over time, their posts will work their way onto Google, and a limited worldwide audiance will develope.
On the other hand, giving your students individual blogs allows them to choose the blog design and layout, and gives them more personal space on which to write, reflect, complete assignments etc. If you want to allow the students to use their own blogs and still want to read all the posts on one page, you will need to have each students individual blog feed a third party aggregator such as Suprglu.com or Netvibes.
As you probably have figured out by now, in order to set up the group blog in WordPress, you need to start an individual blog for each student . All my students have their own blogs, but since I never gave them the addresses of these blogs, they don’t know they exist. If you want the students to use individual blogs, just give them the addresses and have them login and post to their own instead of to the group blog.
I’m thinking about possibly going the individual blog direction this coming year, but havn’t decided yet. Last years group blog worked beautifully, and I’m not sure if I want to change just yet. Good luck, I’ll be watching your site to see how it goes. - mscofino Says:
September 2nd, 2006 at 5:26 amExcellent set of easy to follow instructions. I love the idea of having one class blog that all students can post to, but the teacher can manage. I just started a blogging project with my students and I ended up allowing each of them to have their own blog. So far, so good, but it’s nice to know there are other options.
- Lorne Says:
October 2nd, 2006 at 11:08 pmMike…I have set up a learner blog and am now trying to set up my student’s blogs as outlined in your directions. But I am not able to create a second blog using my email address. I get an error message telling me that the address is already being used. There was a comment back in February on the same problem and at that time it appears the problem was fixed. Has something changed since that time.
- HoranTeacher Says:
October 5th, 2006 at 1:36 pmHi.. I am having the same problem with setting up the student accounts. It will not let me reuse my email account for the student’s blog.
If anyone figures this out, I would appreciate it.
- mhetherington Says:
October 15th, 2006 at 10:04 pmHoranTeacher and Lorne,
I asked James Farmer, who runs Learnerblogs, about the problems with registering more than one blog to the same email address. He told me the latest upgrade from WordPress no longer allows multiple blogs from the same email address. There is nothing he can do to change that. If you have a gmail account there is an easy way around this. Just add a + sign at the end of your gmail address and it creates a new address as part of your gmail account. For example, your gmail address is user@gmail.com. You can create student email addresses which go to your account like this: user+student1@gmail.com, user+student2@gmail.com etc.
If you do not have a gmail account, you unfortunately will have to abandon the group blog project using learnerblogs, unless all of your students have their own personal email addresses. - Blogging Basics – You Too Can Blog! Says:
October 25th, 2006 at 2:54 pm[…] How to set up a student centered classroom blog […]
- Dee Says:
November 14th, 2006 at 7:48 pmmy question deals with doing this without student email accounts. Can they still comment? We don’t use student email at this point and I’m trying to get teadchers started with blogging.
- mhetherington Says:
November 19th, 2006 at 8:56 pmDee,
To set up learnerblogs for your students you will need an email address for each student. You can work around this requirement if you have a gmail account (see 2nd paragraph marked**10/15 Update** in this post)
Good luck!
