Blogging Platforms

This is my first entry for my Ed Tech Blogging class. I have used blogs before for different Ed Tech classes. I have also used a blog to keep my family updated when I lived out of state. However, I have never used a classroom blog or used a blog for my students. I am very excited to learn more about blogging and the benefits that it will have in the classroom. I teach Kindergarten, so I am not sure that I can really let them blog. I think having a class blog that we post events that take place in our classroom and help keep parents informed might be a good starting place for me. I am interested to see how my fellow classmates have used or plan on using blogs in their own classrooms.

I had a hard time trying to decide which blogging platform to use. I have used blogger and Wordpress before. I have never used Edublogs before, so I was hesitant to try that one but it does offer some great advantages over the other blogging platforms. I like the idea of being able to monitor what the students read and have access to. I have used Wordpress before, but I am not a huge fan of that blogging platform. When I have used it in the past, sometimes my post would randomly go missing after I typed a huge long post and became frustrated more often than not with it. In the end I went with Blogger for this class, it is easy to use and navigate and hasn't given me too many problems in the past. One of the cons of Blogger is that students can have access to so many random other blogs that might not have the best content. I don't have to worry so much about the students seeing or reading other content because my students can't read or navigate a blog. I thought Blogger would be the prefect fit for this class.

I am very excited to learn more about blogging this semester and collaborate with classmates.