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:
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!
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!
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:
Education folder in Google Reader – RSS feed from all my favorite Edubloggers.
Google+
Instagram
Adding More Content
You can easily subscribe to more content by either:
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.
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
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:
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!
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:
How educators use blogs is constantly changing and evolving so we’ve decided each year we would pull together a comprehensive resource on the State of Educational blogging to document these changes.
We’re hoping that you can help us!
We’re looking for replies no matter what blogging platform you may be using.
For me, the most annoying part of Google Reader shutting down on July 1 is ensuring that we all continue to appreciate that understanding how to harness the power of RSS is an important skill for educators and students.
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:
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.
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.
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 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.
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:
Tablets continue to grow in popularity and PC sales are decreasing. Student access to tablets will increase.
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.
It allows you to easily create your own magazines which you can easily share with others.
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:
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.
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:
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 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!
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:
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.
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:
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!
The truth is, even though we support over 2 million blogs, we only get a handful of complaints each year when it comes to inappropriate behavior or a suspected “password hack” on Edublogs.
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’.
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:
If you do write down your passwords don’t label them ‘password’ or leave them in plain sight on or near your computer.
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.
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.
Don’t give your password to anyone except your parents or teacher- not even your friends or a sibling.
Here is how to clear stored passwords from different web browsers:
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:
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:
Saving logins in your web browser using the ‘Remember password option’.
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.
Local managers such as KeePass and 1Password which saves your passwords encrypted database on your computer or device.
