A huge part of making my Action Research Project a success is using a web-based platform for sharing lesson ideas and collaborating and communicating using a blog. During my search, I found EduBlogs, which seems to be the best fit for educational purposes. Depending on how complex you’d like to make a blog, the service is free for most educational uses and provides a safe environment for teachers and also students to host blogs and post to others. I’ve also checked the website out on my school district server to be sure they hadn’t blocked it! (very important step!)
It is very similar to this service (Blogger), and has a nice, streamlined interface and look to it with a few more added options of managing posts and users and things like that. I’m not quite sure how I will integrate this just yet, but I’m experimenting with an account and taking it from there. My hope is to let teachers join the blog community and make them users to the blog so they can post and upload things as well. I’m going with the route of having myself or a team of teachers manage the blog and maybe having a featured article or so first to see how it works out. The good part about this service is that it is educationally oriented, so even if someone drifts off to another blog, they will still be in a safe environment, and maybe learn something else while there!
Justin- Completely agree on checking out is a website is blocked. I find it strange how nearly every school district has a "Follow us on Twitter" or "Become a Fan on Facebook" yet they block those same programs from students instead of using them for educational purposes. Enough of my rant. This site looks useful and I will check it out. Blogging can be a great way to get quiet or reserved students to open up and share their ideas. If you get a chance, check out Schoology. Looks similar but has some features that help keep records of student attendance and grades. Good luck with the rest of the program. -Ken
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