And this year’s edu-fiesta takes place here in my home state of Texas – in the relaxing (though hot!) city of San Antonio.

The Edublogs team looks forward to meeting up with everyone! Here’s a quick guide of must-attend events and more…

Want a Free Edublogs T-shirt?

We’ll be bringing some along!

Instead of just passing them out to random people at ISTE, we’d love to make sure our loyal readers here get one.

Just send a tweet (@edublogs) or an email to support@edublogs.org with your size and we’ll make sure we have one for you.

We’re Giving Away Free Edublogs Too!

Our team will have 100+ yearly Edublogs Pro subscriptions to give away to those that we talk to.

So be sure to find us (tweet @ronnieburt or @suewaters if all else fails) and we’ll let you know where we are

Saturday’s Hack Education Un-Conference

Formerly known as EdubloggerCon and SocialEdCon – this year’s iteration is known as Hack Education.

Don’t miss out on what is arguably the best day of ISTE, where attendees decide on topics and have open discussions and share.

Conversations and connections that start here are then built on the rest of the week.

There is no formal signup, but it is helpful if you register at the Classroom 2.0 Hack Education page here.

Student Blogging Challenge Poster Session

Come meet Sue Wyatt, the founder and organizer of the Student Blogging Challenge, along with prolific blogging experts Tracy Watanabe, Linda Yollis, and our own Sue Waters!

When: Sunday from 7pm – 8:30pm

Where: SACC Tower View Lobby – Table 24

Bring along your questions about student blogging and upcoming challenges or just stop by to say hello.

This is a very informal “Poster Session” where you can come and go as you please.

EdTech Karaoke After-Party!

Edublogs is thrilled to be co-sponsoring the largest evening event at ISTE again this year – EdTech Karaoke 2013!

This year’s party includes two karaoke stages, a social lounge area, a picture booth with a real Texas armadillo, and several thousand of your closest friends. Don’t let the numbers scare you, there will plenty of space for everyone.

Food trucks will be on hand and the first 1,000 attendees will receive a couple of complimentary beverages too. So come early and hungry!

And we promise not to force you to sing!

When: Tuesday from 7pm – 12am

Where: Sunset Station (about a 10 minute walk from the Convention Center)

You must RSVP to attend and pick up your badge from booth #8300 by 1pm on Tuesday.

Schedule an Edublogs Campus Demo

We’re available to schedule a time to connect up for a demo or chat about how Edublogs Campus can provide blogs, eportfolios, and websites for your entire school or district.

Shoot an email to support@edublogs.org, or contact us here, if you’re interested in scheduling a 15-20 minute time for us to meetup.

More Blogging About ISTE

Here’s a quick hint (to see if anyone notices) about an exciting new project we’re about to roll out here on Edublogs. Very soon, it will be easier to search for and discover content that users are blogging about based on topics that interest you.

You should be excited about this

I’ve been testing it out and already found several exciting posts about ISTE from blogs across Edublogs that you should definitely check out:

• It took 62 years but ISTE here I come! - by Heather Davis
• ISTE is a Family Reunion - Jerry ‘Cybraryman’ Blumengarten
• Why ISTE 2013? - Colleen McCloskey
• Preparing for ISTE 2013 - Dodie Ainslie
• Can’t attend ISTE 2013? - Emre Firat

We encourage you to blog about the sessions you attend and the conversations you have. If you include “ISTE 2013″ in the post title or tag, we’ll soon have an amazing new way for people to find your posts and share in on your experiences!

And if you don’t already have a blog on Edublogs, then this is a perfect time to start a new one!

¡Nos vemos en San Antonio!

I wasn’t always this way.  I originally hated Flipbaord and found the magazine style layout cluttered.

Life has changed and Flipboard is now the most used app on my tablet.

And since I wrote my post on Google Reader replacements, I’ve had a lot of people ask me what benefits I gain using Flipboard that they missed!

So I’ve put together this information to help you get started using Flipboard or get more out of using Flipboard.

What is Flipboard?

Flipboard was originally designed as a social network aggregation, magazine-format app for iPad in 2010.  It is now the most popular of the magazine-like content aggrregator apps for iOS, Android, Kindle and Nook.

Flipboard’s strength is you are able to bring your social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn into one location alongside your favorite news sources and anything else you like to read, or watch (like YouTube) – all while making it easily to share your favorite content with your social networks and enabling you to easily curate your favorite content into Flipboard magazine(s). Phew!

It’s no wonder I’m a Flipboard flip-a-holic when I can do everything I want, easily, with one click using the one app!

Watch this video to see FlipBoard in action.

Below is an example of some of my subscriptions inside Flipboard.

Each tile on the Flipboard dashboard represents a different subscription.  The thumbnail image on the tile changes as content is updated.

Tapping on a tile opens up the subscription where you can view the subscription content in a magazine layout.

Below is an example from my Google Reader education folder that contains all my favorite educational bloggers:

Tapping on the title of an article displays the full article.  You can use the social bar to share with your social networks.

Getting Started

To get started you just need:

1.  Download and install the app on your primary mobile device.

• Download from Apple store
• Download from Google Play

2.  Launch the app, choose any content to get started and then tap on ‘Build Your Flipboard’.

3.  Now sign up for a Flipboard account by tapping on the red ribbon in the upper right corner to open the Content Guide.

A Flipboard account is important because it means you can access your Flipboard on any shared device.  For example, I access Flipboard on my iPhone, iPad and Android tablet.   Once I sign into my Flipboard account on another device, it loads all my subscriptions and saved settings.

4.  Then “My Flipboard’ and select ‘Create’.

Connecting your social networks

Flipboard allows you to add your favorite social networks so you can:

• Easily read all the content shared with you on your social networks from directly inside Flipboard.
• Easily comment, share, like, favorite articles and content with your social networks from within Flipboard. 

All you need to do is:

1.  Tap on the red ribbon in the upper right corner to open the Content Guide.

2.  Go to Accounts.

3.  Tap a social network you want to add and login.

This adds the social network as a tile to your Flipboard dashboard where you can read content shared on that social network and connects the social network to your Flipboard account so you can easily share using the social bar at the bottom of a page.

It’s as simple as tap on the ‘Share’ icon:

Now tap on the social network you share with!

You can also choose which content you subscribe to from your social feeds!

This is as simple as tapping on an social network in the Accounts tab in the content guide or when you are reading any social account by tapping on the “masthead” at the top of the page for the specific section.

For example,  if I tap on “Twitter” at the top of the page in my Twitter section it lists the different ways I can view my feeds.

Tapping on “Your Timeline links” loads only links shared by people I follow.

Now you just tap on “Subscribe’ if you want to add this section to your Flipboard dashboard.

You can easily remove any sections you don’t want to subscribe to as follows:

1.  Tap on the red ribbon in the upper right corner to open the Content Guide.

2.  Go to My Flipboard.

3.  Tap on ‘Edit next to ‘My Subscriptions”.

4.  Tap on the cross on the top left hand side of a subscription you want to remove.

5.  Tap on ‘Done’ when finished.

I subscribe to the following social feeds:

1. Education folder in Google Reader – RSS feed from all my favorite Edubloggers. 
2. Google+
3. Instagram

Adding More Content

You can easily subscribe to more content by either:

1. Tap the red ribbon to open the Content Guide and explore the categories of selected content to find new content you want to subscribe to.
2. Use the Search box at the top to search for specific content.

Using the Search box is as easy as:

1.  Add your search term.

2.  A list of options that include your search term will appear.

Tap on the Show More Results to see more search results.  

3.  Just tap on the subscription you want to check out then tap on “Subscribe’ if you want to add the section to your Flipboard dashboard.

For example, if I want to add Twitter search for #edchat hashtag, I just need to search for #edchat then subscribe to the Tweets mentioning #edchat.

I use this method to subscribe to the following content:

• Local newspapers (search using the name of the newspaper)
• Technology blogs (search using the blog URL or blog title)
• Tweets mentioning posts published on Edublogs and Global 2 (search using edublogs.org or global.vic.edu,au) – finds all tweets that shares a link to a post published on any blog on Edublogs.org
• Twitter hashtags (search using the hashtag)

Check out this video to learn more on searching in Flipboard.

Or this video on discovering content using the Content Guide.

Curating your own Flipboard Magazine

Flipboard is now a powerful tool for curating your own curating your favorite content into Flipboard magazine(s).

The Flipboard magazine feature is a powerful tool for educators:

1. A Flipboard magazine lets you quickly curate and share articles you like directly to your own magazine from within Flipboard (or using the Flip It bookmarklet in your web browser) while also sharing the articles with  your social networks at the same time!
2. Other Flipboard users can subscribe to your Flipboard magazine(s) allowing them to easily read the articles you like to share.

Here’s how easy it is for me to save an article to my Flipboard magazine and social networks at the same time!

Here’s just some of the ways educators can use Flipboard magazines:

1. Sharing articles you like with other educators.  You can check out my Education, Technology and Blogging Tips magazine here.
2. Get students to create their own Flipboard magazines for areas that they are interested in or on specific topics.
3. Get students to work in groups to co-curate Flipboard magazines together.  Watch this video to see how you can co-curate Flipboard magazines.

Watch this video to learn how to create a magazine using Flipboard.

And check out this video on how to use the new Flipboard Editor.

Here’s a video on how to create a Flipboard magazine for your class.

What do you think?

Have we missed any important tips on using Flipboard?  We would also love to hear how you use Flipboard!

Let us know in the comments below and we will be sure to add it to the post!

We’re hoping that you can help us!

We’re looking for replies no matter what blogging platform you may be using.

Here’s how you can help:

1. Please complete our survey.
2. Share a link to our survey with your social networks.   The more responses we receive, the better the data we can deliver!
3. Share links to any recent articles you’ve written on this topic by leaving a comment so we can include when we present the survey results.

Thanks for helping out and we’ll be sharing the data we collect in a follow up post.

Google Reader made it easy!  You just had to explain RSS, why you use it and how to set up Google Reader.

Thanks Google!  Now we need to explain why RSS isn’t dead, why you should use it and which RSS Reader is a good option based on which device you prefer to use.

So we’ve put together the information to help you find a suitable Google Reader replacement, and we hope to convince you that RSS is still important — now is not the time to give up on RSS (even if Google broke our hearts).

We’re also updating this post as we’re made aware of Google Reader replacement that are suitable for educators and their students.

Why RSS is still important

This is for those that don’t appreciate why so many of us are upset by Google Reader being shutdown.  RSS is an acronym which stands for Really Simple Syndication.

RSS is a simple and effective way of keeping in touch when new information is added to a website without having to visit the website to check for new updates.

How it works is you subscribe to your favorite website using the RSS feed in a RSS feed reader.  Whenever new information is added to the website it is automatically sent to your RSS feed reader where you can read it at your convenience.

Google Reader was the most commonly used feed reader.

RSS isn’t just a time saver! RSS lets you do lots of cool stuff, including adding latest updates from your favorite blog(s) or news website(s) to your own site using RSS widgets like FeedWind’s RSS widget or share your favorite posts and articles with others by creating your own magazines.

And don’t stress that RSS is hard or confusing.  The most confusing part of it is the word RSS!  Most modern feed readers make it really easy to subscribe to your favorite sites and it can be as simple as searching for the title of the site.

What you need to know about Google Reader Replacements

Google did a great job.  Google Reader’s service was so popular that it practically pushed all alternative RSS readers out of the market and as a result, we’re now seeing a mad rush of companies trying to fill the void left by Google.

Here is the key points you’ll need to consider when selecting your Google reader replacement.

#1 The Google Reader Replacement frenzy

Over the next few months we’re going to see new RSS readers developed, like Digg who has announced they are building a reader, and existing RSS readers continuing to rapidly develop and enhance their features.

There will hiccups along the way as the alternatives scale up their services to cope with a sudden increase in demand, and you’ll probably see more providing the paid for service approach.

Be prepared for the hiccups, be flexible and accept that your preferences for readers may change.

#2 How Google Reader subscriptions are imported

It’s also important to your existing subscriptions are imported into the replacement reader.

Google Reader replacements are using two different ways to import your subscriptions:

1. Readers like The Old Reader allow you to import using an OPML file or connect directly from your Google Reader account to migrate across your subscriptions.
2. While readers like Feedly and FlipBoard rely on the Google Reader API and are publicizing if you are already using their service your Google Reader subscriptions will seamlessly transition automatically across when Google Reader closes.

#3 Export your Google Reader subscriptions

Regardless of which reader you choose we recommend that you export your Google Reader subscriptions as an OPML file, so if you do need to suddenly change readers, you’ll be able to using your saved OPML file.

I would organize your OPML file sooner rather than later.  When Posterous closed down, their servers struggled to cope as backup demands increased.  Google’s set up is different with powerful servers and it is less likely to be an issue – however why take the chance?

This is a great opportunity to clean up your Google Reader subscriptions before downloading your OPML file.  I removed subscriptions I no longer wanted and adjusted the number of folders I was using.

You download your OPML file directly from Google Reader Takeout.

All you need to do is:

1.  Login into Google Reader Takeout.

2.  Click on Create Archive.

3.  Select ‘Email me when ready‘.

4.  You’ll receive an email when it is ready to download.

5.  Log back into Google Reader Takeout and download.

#4 Preferred device for reading subscriptions

Google Reader made it easy; it worked on all devices.  Whereas some of the Google Reader replacements are device specific or are better suited for tablets/smartphones or using on desktop computers.

So it is important to consider your preferred device for reading subscriptions and what devices your students can use when deciding which Google Reader replacements best suits your needs.

Below are our current Google Reader replacement recommendations based on reliability, functionality and features:

Feedly

iOS | Android| Web

Feedly is currently the most popular Google Reader replacement being chosen by educators.  It was first released in 2008.  With its one click sync with Google Reader, easy to use interface, familiar format and simple ways of sharing posts with friends and social networks — its popularity is no surprise.

Feedly works as an add-on in Chrome, Safari, FireFox and has a mobile apps for iOS, Android and Kindle.  It doesn’t support Internet Explorer so isn’t an option if you’re restricted to Internet Explorer at school.  But is a great choice if  you like to move between computer, tablets and smartphones like I do!

Most articles on Google Reader replacements aren’t reporting any downside to using Feedly however I know some of my work colleagues have had issues accidentally marking all articles as read.  They also found it hard to change article to unread which is an important functionality for them.   Being power users I’m confident this is more of an issue for them and won’t be a problem for the average RSS users.

Watch this video to check Feedly out in action in the different devices.

Flipboard

iOS | Android

Flipboard was originally designed as a social network aggregation, magazine-format app for iPad in 2010.  It is now the most popular of the magazine-like content aggrregator apps for iOS, Android, Kindle and Nook.

It’s not being included in all articles on the top Google Reader replacements because some articles are basing their recommendations on the reader needs to be multiplatform and web accessible which Flipboard isn’t.  You can’t currently read your subscription on Flipboard using a desktop computer.

However, if you’re like me, and read most of your subscriptions on a tablet or smartphone, and your students have access to tablets than I would seriously consider using Flipboard.

Here’s why:

1. Tablets continue to grow in popularity and  PC sales are decreasing.  Student access to tablets will increase.
2. Flipboard is much more than a Google Reader replacement.  It has considerably more functionality than the other Google Reader replacements; allowing you to bring all your social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram into one location with Google Reader where you can easily share with others.
3. It allows you to easily create your own magazines which you can easily share with others.
4. It’s an easy and fun way to teach others how to subscribe to what interests them!

FlipBoard relies on the Google Reader API and they are saying that your subscriptions will seamlessly remain inside Flipboard when Google Reader discontinues their service.

Flipboard’s ability to bring all your social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram into one location with Google Reader where you can easily share with others makes it a powerful time saving app.  Check out Vicki Davis’s 15 Ways to use Flipboard to help you get started or watch this video.

The new Flipboard magazine feature is a powerful tool for educators:

1. A Flipboard magazine let you quickly curate and share articles you like directly to your own magazine from within Flipboard or using the Flip It bookmarklet in your web browser.
2. Other Flipboard users can subscribe to your Flipboard magazine(s) allowing them to easily read the articles you like to share.

Here’s just some of the ways educators can use Flipboard magazines:

1. Sharing articles you like with other educators.  You can check out my Education, Blogging and Technology Tips magazine here.
2. Get students to create their own Flipboard magazines for areas that they are interested in or on specific topics.
3. For sharing posts published on student blogs.  You can read how Joe O’Brien is using it with his student blogs here.

Watch this video to learn how to create a magazine using Flipboard.

And check out this video on how to use the new Flipboard Editor.

Here’s a video on how to create a Flipboard magazine for your class.

The Old Reader

Web

The Old Reader is designed to be a direct replacement of Google Reader.  Its interface looks a lot like Google Reader and is easy to use.  It was first released in 2012 and was inspired by how good Google Reader was prior to November 2011 — and hence why it was given the name The Old Reader.

While there are no mobile apps for the Old Reader, the web site automatically detects the device you are using and works well in the mobile browser on tablets and smartphones.

The Old Reader is an excellent choice if you prefer the more traditional interface you had with Google Reader and need to be able to easily keep articles as unread.   This is the preferred replacement for many of my work colleagues.

CommaFeed

Web

CommaFeed is a new open source reader.  It has been designed as a minimalist Google reader replacement similar to The Old Reader.  While there are no mobile apps for CommaFeed it works well in the mobile browser on tablets.

CommaFeed is a good choice if you prefer the more traditional interface you had with Google Reader.

Thanks to Alec Couros for making me aware of CommaFeed!

Netvibes

Web

I confess I unfairly dismissed both Netvibes (and Bloglines) as not being suitable Google Reader replacements when I originally published this post.  I was wrong!

Netvibes was first released in 2005 and is better known as a personalized homepage which is why I dismissed it too quickly.   The idea of a personalised start page (some call them Personalized Homepages) is to bring all the content you consume on a daily basis onto the one page. It’s all about convenience, saving time and providing what you want in one handy location — which you can access on any computer anywhere. They’re called personalized because we can customize our start page to our own personal preferences and needs.

Examples of personalized homepage were iGoogle, NetVibes, PageFlakes and Protopage. They all use two components: feeds and widgets.  Personalized homepages aren’t as popular as they were once.  PageFlakes and Protopage have all been retired and iGoogle is being retired on November 1, 2013.  However, a personalized homepage are a good option for sharing specific content with students using a public page.

Here’s why Netvibes is worthy of being considered:

1. You can switch Netvibes between the default App view (widget view) of a personalized homepage to the reader view.   Reader View is the best way to read your RSS feeds using Netvibes and uses a display similar to Google Reader.
2. You can set up a public dashboard.  A public dashboard is viewable to any one and can be used for sharing  sharing specific content with students.  For example, with a Netvibes public page you could add a widget for each student blog so that students can read latest posts in one simple location.

While there are no mobile apps for the Netvibes, the web site automatically detects the device you are using and works well in the mobile browser on tablets and smartphones.

To set up Netvibes similar to Google Reader you just need to:

1.  Sign up for a Netvibes account.

2.  Download your Google Reader subscriptions from Google Reader Takeout.

3.  Click on Add Content,  Add Feed and Import.

4.  Once your subscriptions have been imported change to Reader view.

5.  If you are like me and prefer full posts just select the expanded view option.

Here’s what it now looks like!

Watch this video to learn more about Netvibes.

Bloglines

Bloglines was originally founded in 2003 and was originally Google Reader’s main competitor.

The company has links to Netvibes which is why the functionality of Blogline works similar to Netvibes.

So What’s Your Verdict?

There are several alternatives that I haven’t discussed including self hosted options like David Wee is using.

My personal opinion is those included in this post are the best Google Reader replacements currently for educators.  I’ll continue to update this posts as I’m made aware of alternatives.

What are your thoughts?  Are you using any of these or an alternative?  Tell us what you like or dislike – and why!

A ‘password hack’ is when someone has used the password of another person to write a post or change something on a blog. They’ve either guessed or found the password and used it to break in.

Almost all examples we’ve dealt with over the years could have easily been avoided with good password management.  It is important that as educators, we model and teach our students good password responsibility.

The most common causes of inappropriate behavior or suspected ‘password hacks’ are:

• Using a generic username and password for all students.
• Failure to use unique passwords for each student.  The teacher creates student accounts with a different usernames but the same password for all students or a standard approach to assigning passwords that allows students to easily guess other students’  passwords.
• Students telling other students (or siblings) their username and password.
• Failing to log out of accounts or using ‘Remember my password’ on shared computers.

Most our students do the right thing!  But occasionally there is a student who will do the wrong thing when they think they can’t be traced or made accountable for their actions.

Passwords are our line of defense for protecting our accounts.   Students will have to deal with lots of passwords in their lifetime and we believe they are never too young to be taught good password practice.

The aim of this post is to share tips and resource to help educators improve how they manage their own passwords and help to educate their students on good password practice.

Use strong unique passwords

The stronger your password the more protected your accounts are.  You should always use strong passwords for all accounts and use strong passwords that are different for each of your important accounts.

While remembering multiple strong passwords can be annoying, at least all your other accounts are protected even if a password is compromised for one account.

A strong password:

• Is at least 8 characters long
• Is unique and different from your other passwords.
• Doesn’t include terms that are significant to you like pet’s name, username, real name, date, phone number that are easy to guess or use complete words that make it easier for hackers who use dictionary attack programs.  Also avoid common word misspellings and words in which letters have been replaced by numbers or symbols because some dictionary attack programs also check for these.
• Contains a combination of uppercase and lower case letters, numbers and symbols (keyboard characters that aren’t letters or numbers).

Creating strong passwords

A common method used for creating a strong random password is to turn a sentence that you can easily remember and turn into a password by using the first letter of each word, parts of words, substituting numbers and symbols as appropriate.  Choose phrases that are meaningful to you or includes your favorite hobby or sport to help you remember.

For example, my phrase might be:

Rush Hour 3 is my favorite movie and I like chocolate might become rH/3iMfm&1Lchoc

or

I love football and cricket could become iLuVfb&CiK3t

An alternative option is to use a password generator tool such as Safe Password generator.  A password generator tool is a good option for ensuring you create a strong random password to ensure you aren’t susceptible to a ‘dictionary password attack’.

Check out this video by Mozilla on ‘How to choose strong passwords‘.

Keep your password secure

Password management isn’t just about using strong passwords; it is also about making sure you keep your password secure and others don’t access your account.

This means:

1. If you do write down your passwords don’t label them ‘password’ or leave them in plain sight on or near your computer.
2. Don’t use ‘Remember the password’ if you are sharing a computer with other people.  If someone knows your username, and you used ‘remember the password’, they just need to add your username to log into your account.   You can make sure your password has been removed after you log out by clearing stored passwords.
3. Always log out of your accounts if your device is around others and make sure all passwords are cleared if someone asks to use your device.
4. Don’t give your password to anyone except your parents or teacher- not even your friends or a sibling.

• Chrome
• FireFox
• Internet Explorer
• Safari

Update your password recovery options

There are occasions where you will forget your password or need to reset it.  Most systems use your email address for password resets.

Make sure your recovery email address is kept up-to-date on all important accounts and uses an email account you can still access (here is how you update your Edublogs email address).

Creating student passwords

The most common reason why educators have issues with student accounts is they’ll create the account for their students using a different usernames but the same password for all students or use a standard approach to assigning passwords that allows students to easily guess other students’  passwords.

The best options are to:

• Educate your students on strong passwords and good password management practices.
• Practice password creation by getting students to suggest strong passwords and then go over them as a class by having the students explain why they think a student’s password is good or weak, and why.
• Get students to log into their account and make their password strong as one of their first activities if you’ve used a generic password or simple password naming systems.

Here are some resources you can use with your students:

• Commonsense media’s Password Tips student handout
• How to Choose Stong password video (by Morizilla)
• How to create a strong password (by Google)
• How to choose a safe password video (by Explania)
• Check your password – is it strong?
• Safe password generator 
• Lifehacker’s How to pick a good, strong password infographic (print off full sized infographic to display in class).

Using Password Managers

Most of us have a lot of online accounts and remembering all our unique strong passwords can be both painful and hard.

The alternative approach to remembering passwords is to use a password manager.

Password manager options include:

1. Saving logins in your web browser using the ‘Remember password option’.
2. Web based password managers such as LastPass which saves your passwords in an encrypted database.   You just need one master password to access all your stored encrypted passwords.
3. Local managers such as KeePass and 1Password which saves your passwords encrypted database on your computer or device.

You can read a review of password manager options here.

Your Password tips!

There are a range of different approaches you can use to manage passwords.

How do you manage your passwords?   What are your tips and the challenges you face helping students manage their own passwords?

Please let us know by leaving a comment below.

How life has changed!  Sales of mobile devices continue to see incredible growth and with this there has been a major shift in the consumption habits of our readers.

In fact, nearly 20% of all visits to blogs on Edublogs.org come from mobile or tablet devices! And the number has doubled in the past year!

Now I need to worry what my blog looks like on a computer and mobile devices.  And I have this annoying voice in my head going — you can only change the theme if it is responsive….it must be a responsive theme.

PS. The annoying voice is my colleague Ronnie Burt – and he is right

Responsive themes are designed to display nicely on all devices, including phones, tablets and desktops, whereas non-responsive themes are best viewed on desktops.  With a responsive theme you can customize it to your heart’s content knowing that it’ll look good on all devices.

Let’s look at why using a responsive theme is a good idea if you want your blog to be mobile friendly.

What is responsive theme design?

Photo Credit: exacq via Compfight

A responsive theme is designed to automatically adjust to fit the device you’re reading it on;  it adapts the content and layout to suit the resolution of the device.

Non-responsive themes don’t adjust to the resolution of devices.

If you view a non-responsive theme on most modern phones it will automatically zoom out so that your entire blog can be seen.   This means your readers need to zoom in to read your content.

Responsive themes and reader experience

Responsive themes are designed to be mobile friendly;  they serve web pages at lightening fast speed on any device and in a format that doesn’t require the reader to adjust by zooming in or out to read.

Most major websites now use responsive themes as it means they only need to have one version of their website to work seamlessly across all devices while providing the best reader experience for all visitors.

Check out the following examples of what a non-responsive photo blog theme vs a responsive photo blog theme looks like on an iPhone.

Non-responsive theme

Here’s what my AutoFocus demo blog, which is a non-responsive theme, looks like on my iPhone.  You can see the entire blog but need to zoom in to read the content.

Responsive theme

And here’s what my Hatch demo blog, which is a responsive theme, looks like on my iPhone. The text and images (and videos if I had added any) are served at a size that allows the reader to immediately start reading.

Theme layout and responsive themes

A non-responsive theme uses the same layout regardless of the resolution of the device whereas a responsive theme changes layout depending on the screen resolution.

If you are reading this post on a desktop browser just gradually make your browser window smaller.   You’ll see the images, videos and content column shrinks, the sidebar disappear and the layout change from two column to a single column of content with the widgets displayed at the bottom of the theme because The Edublogger is using a responsive theme.

Here’s what my personal blog, which uses Yoko – a responsive theme, looks like when viewed on an iPhone, iPad and desktop.

Examples of Responsive themes

You can check out the entire list of Responsive themes on Edublogs here.

See some of them in use on the following blogs:

1. Hatch (photo blog theme) – Hatch demo blog
2. Hum – Lisa and Tim Photography
3. Magazino – Miss Kelly’s Science
4. Responsive – Edublogs Help and Support
5. Yoko (clean looking white theme ) – Teacher Challenge blog (without image header)  Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day (with custom header image)

There are variations in how blog platforms handle being mobile friendly but if you have an option to use a responsive theme — use the responsive theme!

I’m hoping you can help!

I want to build on the concept of our Class blog list to include examples of:

1. Class websites
2. Book Review Blogs
3. Library Blogs
4. Principal blogs
5. Professional Development blogs
6. School News Blogs
7. School websites
8. Other (any type of educational blog I’ve missed and you feel should be included in the showcase)

Please leave a comment on this post with links to any blogs that we should include in the showcase.

We’ll need the following information:

1. Blog Title(s) and Blog URL(s)
2. Type of blog (class website, book review blog,  library blog etc)
3. Any other important information about the blog(s) to help others understand how the blog(s) is used.

You can check out archives and information from my latest webinars here:

1. The Care and Feeding of your blog – for TL Virtual Cafe
2. Introduction to Blogging – Jan 17 incl. Sue Wyatt, Peggy George (see supporting materials here) for ETMOOC
3. Introduction to Blogging (Director Cut) – repeat Jan 23 incl. Sue Wyatt, Alan Levine, Penny Bentley (see supporting materials here)
4. Advanced Blogging – incl. Alec Couros, Sue Wyatt, Penny Bentley (see supporting material here)
5. Getting more out of student blogging – see supporting material here. 

Normally I would have written the posts here on The Edublogger but I wasn’t sure how many posts I would publish, for how long and I needed to make sure only ETMOOC specific posts were feed into the ETMOOC blog hub.  So instead I’ve published the posts on my personal blog and written this post to summarize:

1. What was covered in each session.
2. Provide a link to the post published to support the recorded session.
3. Provide a link to the recorded session.

While these sessions were provided for ETMOOC the content covered should help all educators wanting to know more about how you learn through blogging and how you use blogs with students.

ETMOOC is providing a whole series of free learning opportunities for educators, on a wide range of topic areas, and you can check out the regularly updated entire list of free archived BlackBoard Collaborate sessions here.

Below is a summary of the sessions I’ve provided for ETMOOC.  Enjoy!

1.  Introduction to Blogging

All ETMOOC participants have been ask to participate through their own blogs.  Quite a few participants are new to blogging and it’s really hard to appreciate how you might learn through blogging if you’ve never blogged before.

What they needed to know wasn’t the “how-to’ blog.  There is lots of information on how to set up your blog, how to write post and so on.

They needed to understand the pedagogical aspects of blogging – “How do you learn through blogging?”.  What are the key components that you have to understand when blogging to ensure you’re maximizing your learning.

The focus of this session was a pedagogical introduction to blogging as opposed to the technical.  While the emphasis is on how you do it as part of the ETMOOC communities the same principles apply any time your aim is to use blogging for learning.

The content from this session is covered in my Learning through blogging as part of a connectivist MOOC post.

Introduction to blogging session was repeated and there are differences between the two recorded versions.  Here is where you can watch the archived recordings:

• Introduction to Blogging – Jan 17 incl. Sue Wyatt, Peggy George
• Introduction to Blogging (Director Cut) – repeat Jan 23 incl. Sue Wyatt, Alan Levine, Penny Bentley

2.  Advanced Blogging

The Advanced blogging session was a blend of what participants wanted to know mixed with skills they needed to know and the session included:

1. The importance of linking and how to link.
2. Commenting Etiquette and tips.
3. Digital copyright and fair use.
4. Using Creative Commons images.
5. Tools for sourcing Creative Commons images.
6. Using your own images in blog posts.
7. Post Sharing Etiquette.
8. Making posts visually engaging.
9. Post work flow.

Refer my Blogging questions Storify to see how this session was planned and the blogging tips shared by my network — thanks to all who helped plan this session!.

The content from this session is covered in my Advanced Blogging: You asked for it post.   You can watch the recorded archive for the Advanced Blogging session here.

I also created the following three ‘how to’ videos to complement session.  I’m not the greatest screencaster but they should help.

Please let me know if you or your students decide to create better screencasts — so I can check them out!

Adding Creating Commons Images using the Compfight plugin

How to add Creative Commons images sourced on Compfight to your blog posts

How to embed media into blog posts using their URL

3.  Student Blogging

The student blogging session was inspired by ETMOOC participants like Lorraine Boulos who are realizing ”I am not just learning HOW to connect but WHY connect” and are now trying to transfer the skills they’re learning into their classrooms.

The session included:

1. Background on my work with educational blogging.
2. How blogs are used in education.
3. The different approaches used for student blogging.
4. Discussion on Scaffolding vs Struggling.
5. Digital footprint and your role in relation to your student’s digital footprint.
6. Developing quality commenting skills.
7. Creating Global Connections.
8. Getting Family involved.
9. The need to monitor student blogs.

The content from this session is covered in my Getting more out of student blogging post.   You can watch the recorded archive for the Student Blogging session here.

I also created the following two videos on how to use My Class.

How to set up My Class on an Edublogs blog.

Using My Class to easily manage all your student blogs and users.

A lot of our Edublogs users aren’t aware of all the different features of My Class.  So the following video showcases all the different ways you can manage your student blogs using My Class.

4.  Other ETMOOC posts

I also wrote the following other posts for ETMOOC that might interest you!

1. Work smarter and stay connected in a learning community post – demonstrates how people like myself use a series of strategies to save time to work smarter.
2. Staying Sane: Letting Go to Learn More post – discusses why it is important to prioritize your learning to avoid information overload,
3. Commenting Counts (Or does it) post – check out the comments to gain an appreciation of why commenting is an important part of blogging.

Hope these posts and links to blogging sessions helped!

PS ETMOOC is free and open to any one to participate.  It’s never too late to join and start participating.

Come learn with us as we explore blogging and social media use in the classroom!

Blogging with Students – January 31st @ 6pm EST

Our own Sue Waters will lead this hour long discussion as part of the ongoing ETMOOC.

This session has already been held a couple of times this month, and you can get can all of the recording from all ETMOOC sessions here.

Session Link | Timezone Converter

Blogging in the Classroom – February 1st @ 11am EST

This 3-hour online workshop will be archived for those that can’t make it live.

Topics include:

• Blogging to Motivate and Engage Learning (Effie Kyrikakis)
• Blogging Platforms Intro – (Theresa Allen)
• How to Blog Weekly with Writing Activities and to Connect w/ Other Classrooms (Louise Morgan)
• Blogging as Reflective Math Journals w/ 4th Graders (Paula Naugle)
• Bloggin’ to Reach Parents and the Community (Joe McNulty)
• Blogging and the Common Core (John Miller)

Register Here | Timezone Converter

Social Media Savvy for Educators – February 5th @ 4pm EST

I’m excited to be joining a crew of talented and experienced educators to discuss professional learning, student engagement, and parent participation through the use of social media.

We’ll share tips, best practices, and resources galore!

Learn more about this webinar here.

Register Here | Timezone Converter

We hope to see you there!

Photo Credit: Graela via Compfight cc

You hear that all teachers should blog. You follow the tutorials and set up a blog.

Now what?

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the idea of blogging, especially if you are unclear about the purpose of the blog. Is the blog for you or for students and parents? Will it be written as a medium for reflection, a newsletter, or a source of advice for other educators?

This post highlights the most prevalent types of education blogs and includes links to blogs that exemplify each of the types.

A Blog is Not Just a Blog

A single classroom blog may exist for many reasons. It might be for…

• personal reflection on teaching and learning
• communication between you, parents, students, and the world
• exhibition of student work
• recommendation of resources to other teachers

Student blogs also vary. You may encourage or require student blogs for…

• ongoing reflection on lessons, work, or projects
• portfolios of work for parents, friends, and the world
• students’ exploration of interests or passions

When you clarity the purpose behind your blog, you begin thinking differently about your practice. You mentally note classroom events for future reflection. You make schedules for student blog posts. You discover ways in which your students’ blogs will demonstrate knowledge of curricular objectives. You notice other bloggers, relate to the struggles of others, and no longer feel alone in your classroom.

Below are some examples of blogs that illustrate clear purposes.

Teachers’ Personal Reflections on Teaching and Learning

Google “the resume is dead”. Note how many books and posts discuss the importance of a strong online presence as the medium through which you communicate your philosophy and describe your professional practice.

In My Island View, Tom Whitby is currently writing a series about his strong belief that Twitter should be used by educators to develop Personal Learning Networks (PLNs). In Wright’s Room, Shelley Wright reflects on student engagement, flipped classrooms, and her year as a consultant. A new blogger, Kristina Buenafe, writes about career decisions about whether to pursue NBPTS certification or an administrative certificate. If you’re looking for a good laugh, check out Jessica Lahey’s Coming of Age in the Middle. Her casual voice is refreshing and her comments make for good faculty room discussion. Chris Kennedy, a superintendent, writes a blog to improve transparency, reflect on leadership, and solicit opinions that push his thinking.

If any of the aforementioned bloggers applied to work at your school, you would know the individual’s beliefs and practices far better than you would know those who submit only paper resumes. You can easily ascertain the bloggers’ passions for learning and professional growth. Also notice how bloggers develop a Personal Learning Network with fellow bloggers and Tweeps – they exemplify lifelong learners. Consider setting up a blog for reflection.

Communication Between You, Parents, and the World

How many times per year do you get from emails that sound something like this…

I know you sent an email last week about the field trip, but I can’t find it. Can your remind me…?

So you rewrite the expectations or search for the old newsletter. How much easier would it be to have all communications logged in one place and have each message automatically delivered to parents’ email inboxes? You don’t even need to copy/paste or attach a file before sending.

If you set up a class blog for communication, you have all your information in one place. Even better, you have a format for parents and students to comment, post questions, and answer one another.

Classroom blogs create a sense of community. Two of the best-known classroom community blogs that consistently show up in the Edublog awards are 4KM and 4KJ and Mrs. Yollis’s Classroom Blog. Not only do these blogs demonstrate a community of parents and students, the teachers have grown an international community. Children from the classes of Mrs. Morris and Miss Jordan from Victoria Australia regularly interact with students in Mrs. Yollis’s class in California. Learning and Sharing with Ms. Lirenman documents participation in the Flat Classroom Global Project. If you want to create a stronger community, consider using blogs as a way for you, parents, teachers, students, and other classrooms to interact.

Exhibition of Students Work

A Room With A View: Class 2! is an example of student work displayed for a wider audience. You can watch students sing, make Christmas chains, play with alliteration, and more. Ms. Cassidy’s Classroom Blog features 3D projects, bulletin board designs, and artefacts of electronic conversations on iPads. Mr. Salich encourages individual students to write about their classroom activities as well as their personal interests. You can tell that these third graders take their blog posts very seriously.

Recommendations for Teaching Professionals

This category of blogs can be divided into hundreds of subcategories. Some write for particular subject areas like history or math. Others comprise book reviews or recommend tech resources. Tech resource blogs can be further sorted into curriculum materials, free online resources, iPad apps, and worldwide classroom connections. Expat Educator is written for upper elementary school generalists worldwide who juggle multiple subjects and new technologies.

Other teachers blog to inspire. Shelley S. Terrell has a 30 Goals Challenge as a part of Teacher Reboot Camp. Angela Maiers writes about character and attitudes of effective schools. Vicky Davis writes posts that remind us that our work is a noble calling.

If you’re looking for specific lesson ideas, a whole host of teachers both share ideas and promote materials for sale. Many materials are given away for free. Others are sold for a few dollars on Teachers Pay Teachers. The ideas they share are super-practical. Materials can be downloaded and used immediately, Some personal favorites are the Math Journal and art ideas from Runde’s Room, Science lessons from Teaching in Room 6, and Reader’s Notebooks from The Panicked Teacher.

Perhaps you have subject-matter expertise, a gift for motivating others, or a creative flair. You can set up a blog to share your ideas with the world.

Student Reflection

As students get older and become more proficient writers, they can “own” their own blogs and use them for continuous reflection. Felicia Young recently wrote an Edudemic article on how blogs can be used for reflection on math concepts. Hannah B. blogs about her grad school experience, especially her growing knowledge of speech pathology. Consider swapping paper journals for online journals in the form of blogs.

Student Portfolios

Ann Michaelsen’s teacher blog links to individual student blogs. Ann’s students’ entries include book projects, essays, and more.

There are many ways to showcase student work. By giving students a blog, you give them a virtual place to display projects. Parents who frequently travel appreciate the ability to see their child’s work no matter where they are in the world.

Student Exploration of Interests or Passion

Martha from the UK is likely the most famous young blogger. Martha began writing about her school lunches. She took pictures of her school lunch and created her own ratings system (including numbers of hairs!). Martha solicited pictures of lunches worldwide, began her own charity to feed children living in poverty, and worked with her father to write a book.

Ryan’s Blog is a great mentor blog for students. He writes about both sports and technology. Ryan sets an example of how young writers can present an honest voice while remaining cyber-safe. Jacob’s blog is another great example. Students might explore way in which Jacob’s writing has progressed since his blog began in 2010.

Some of the best personal blog advice for children (and adults!) is written by eleven-year-old Jake.

Final Thoughts

In the end, your blog may serve multiple purposes. For example, you can require that student blogs include certain portfolio elements, but also give students freedom to write about personal passions. Your classroom blog might both feature student work and serve as a newsletter for communication with parents.

Why do you blog?

Janet Abercrombie is the author of Expat Educator and regularly writes practical tips for improving teaching and learning. Her top tech posts have been about ePortfolios, classroom management of 1:1 environments, and student news videos. Janet works full time as Head of Junior School in a school outside of Melbourne. She consults with educational leaders who are looking to improve curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

photo credit: Louish Pixel via photopin cc