The Current State of Educational Blogging

Each year we conduct a survey on how educators are using blogs.  Our goal is to document the trends in educational blogging.

We started the annual survey because we’re frequently asked for detailed information to help educators:

1. Convince school administrators to allow blogging.
2. Understand the benefits of blogging and how blogs are used with students.
3. Know more about which blogging platforms are commonly used by educators (and why).

Here’s what you told us in 2015!  You’ll find our survey questions for this year’s report here!

Click on a link below to go to the section you want to read:

1. Key Findings
2. About the survey
3. Who are the respondents
4. How blogs are used
5. Benefits of blogging
   • Class blog
   • Student blogging
   • Personal Educator blog
   • Blogging tips
6. Blog platforms used
   • Reasons for using Edublogs
   • Reasons for using Blogger
   • Reasons for using WordPress.com
   • Reasons for using KidBlog
   • Reasons for using CampusPress
   • Reasons for using Weebly
   • Reasons for using Self hosted WordPress
   • Reasons for using Tumblr

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Key Findings

This is our fourth annual report of the state of educational blogging.

Device Usage

There has only been a slight increase in one to one devices in the 4 years we’ve surveyed educators (52% selected Yes in 2015 compared to 44% in 2014, 45% in 2013 and 41% in 2012).

35.9% of respondents with one to one device programs are BYOD and 25.7% of respondents with one to one device programs are provided by the school or school district.

PC laptops were the most commonly used devices (37.4%) in one to one device programs followed by iPads (35.4%), Mac Laptops (27.5%) and Chromebooks (26.3%).

The current trend in one to one programs appears to be an increased use of laptops (PC, Macs or Chromebooks) with a decreased usage of tablets.

Blog Usage

The majority of respondents told us they mainly used their blogs for class blogs (40.7%), class blogs with individual student blogs (20.2%) and for student blogs (14.9%) and many also had their own personal/personal blog (14.6%).

Based on student blog usage from Edublogs.org, 52.5% of student blogs are public and can be viewed by anyone and 47.5% of student blogs are private restricted to specific readers.

The ways respondents said they used the student blogs include for assignments/assessments (36.6%), reflective blogging (33.7%), collaboration / discussion (23.5% ), practice reading and writing skills (21.8%), encourage peer learning and support (19.3%) and digital citizenship skills (17.7%).

While most class blogs were used for: assignments and class news (48.4%); share information with families (40.3%);  and share links and resources (34.2%).

Blog Platform Used

Most respondents used Edublogs (60%), followed by Blogger (11%) and then WordPress.com (10%). Given that the survey was shared to all Edublogs users, we know this most likely doesn’t accurately reflect true usage statistics, but the survey was open to users of all platforms.

It’s quite common for educators to host their blogs on several different blog platforms.  Edublogs (21%) was the most common second main blog platform used, followed by Blogger (14%) and WordPress.com (12%).

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About the Survey

This is our fourth annual report of the state of educational blogging.

This year’s survey was conducted from November 2 – December 31, 2015 and a total of 777 respondents took part in the survey.

The survey was promoted via Twitter, Facebook and through blog posts.  We encouraged replies from educators regardless of what blogging platform they used.

You can check out the questions we asked here.

Year	No. of Respondents	Read Report
2015	777	State of Educational blogging 2015
2014	587	State of Educational blogging 2014
2013	378	State of Educational blogging 2013
2012	259	State of Educational blogging 2012

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Who are the respondents?

We started with basic inquiries about our respondents’ background to learn more about their role and their educational institution.  Respondents were able to select more than one checkbox for most questions which is why the results for some questions add up to more than 100%.

Majority of the response were by teachers (47%) followed by students (32%).

Most were based at public schools or institutions (70.9%).

Roughly a third were based in High Schools (32.3%) followed by Elementary/Primary schools (27.4%) and Middle/Junior (21%).

44% of respondents were based at educational institutions that have or will soon have a one to one device program.  There has only been a slight increase in one to one devices in the 4 years we’ve surveyed educators (52 % selected Yes in 2015 compared to 44% in 2014, 45% in 2013 and 41% in 2012).

This year was the second year we asked respondents if their one to one device program was a BYOD program.

35.9% of respondents with one to one device programs are BYOD and 25.7% of respondents with one to one device programs are provided by the school or school district.  In 2014, 15% of respondents with one to one device programs were BYOD and 22% of respondents with one to one device programs were provided by the school or school district.

PC laptops were the most commonly used devices (37.4%) in one to one device programs followed by iPads (35.4%), Mac Laptops (27.5%) and Chromebooks (26.3%).

Devices usage in one to one programs from 2012 to 2014 shows an increase in iPad use (from  27% in 2012 to 50% in 2014) followed by a decrease in iPad usage in 2015 (35.4%) , slight change in PC laptop usage (from 45% in 2012 to 37.4% in 2015), slight change in Mac Laptops (from 32% in 2012 to 27.5% in 2015) and increase in Chromebooks (0% in 2012 to 26.3% in 2015) and other types of tablets (from 6% in 2012 to 11.9 % in 2015).

The current trend in one to one programs appears to be an increased use of laptops (PC, Macs or Chromebooks) with a decreased usage of tablets.

Majority of respondents were introduced to using blogs through a professional development session / workshop (24.7%) or via a work colleague (24.8%).

This year was the first time we asked for respondents’ geographical location.

62.7% of the respondents were based in United States followed by Australia (11.5%), Canada (7.6%), and United Kingdom (5.4%).

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How blogs are being used

Next we looked at how respondents used their blogs.

Majority of respondents told us they mainly used their blogs for class blogs (40.7%), class blogs with individual student blogs (20.2%) and for student blogs (14.9%) and many also had their own personal/personal blog (14.6%).

20.2% of respondents told us their students had individual student blogs.  The number of individual student blogs supervised by educators varied considerably: the maximum number was approximately 250 blogs.

Based on student blog usage from Edublogs.org, 52.5% of student blogs are public and can be viewed by anyone and 47.5 % of student blogs are private restricted to specific readers.

Allow search engines	31.9 %
Block search engines	20.7 %
Only logged in users can view blog	10.9 %
Only logged in registered user can view blog	6.6 %
Only logged in admin user can view blog	0 %
Password protected blog	29.9 %

 

Respondents said they used the student blogs for assignments /assessments (36.6%), reflective blogging (33.7%), collaboration / discussion (23.5% ), practice reading and writing skills (21.8%), encourage peer learning and support (19.3%) and digital citizenship skills (17.7%).

While most class blogs were used for: assignments and class news (48.4%); share information with families (40.3%);  and share links and resources (34.2%).

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Benefits of blogging

The following benefits of blogging were summarized from the 2014 and 2015 survey responses.

One of the biggest challenges educators new to blogging face is understanding what is a blog and the basics of how a blog works.  If you are new to blogging we recommend start by watching this quick intro video,

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Benefits of a class blog:

• Having a class blog is a great way to…
  • Store teaching ideas and lessons online so they are always easily accessible;
  • Have assignments online so students who are absent can complete work even if they aren’t in class (no need for siblings to pick up work and no need to prepare packages of work)
  • List all assignments with their due dates (students and parents can never say they did not know something was due);
  • Post student samples of work to use in future lessons;
  • Post student work so they can show their parents and relatives who live far away;
  • Encourage students to do work of excellent quality so that it is ‘publishable’
  • Keep lists of great books which students can consult when planning their own reading;
  • Supply links to other valuable websites such as World Book Online and library catalogs.

• A class blog is a wonderful way to communicate information to parents and give them a glimpse into what is going on every day in their child’s classroom, without the worry of losing a paper newsletter.  If a parent says they didn’t know about a test, for example, I just say, it was on the blog.
• This is a great way to give them a snapshot of what goes on in our classroom and a great way to keep parents informed as emails tend to get buried.  Parents can quickly refer to the blog instead of needing to ask the teacher.
• No photocopying, easy to post.  I also pose interesting questions on the blog and kids and their parents can research it and post so all can see, e.g., what is the smallest mammal on Earth.
• Blogging builds on digital/media literacy and digital/global citizenship.
• Blogging has been a great way to archive class events, connect with others and showcase work from students.
• Blogging has opened up our classroom to communications with students and teachers around the world.
• Blogging is exciting and fun for my students and it makes them work hard to do their best because they have a global audience.
• Blogging is a fantastic way to encourage community and collaboration, and creativity in my students.
• Classroom Blogging is key to connecting to others and has opened up the world to my classroom. I have met and worked with people I never dreamed was possible. My advice to others – just do it
• Our class blog provides an insight into our class.  It allows absent parents or those who work away from home to keep up to date with what their children are learning about and this enable us to build a learning community which parents feel part of. Blogging also allows us to educate the parents on the experiences and outcomes that are central to the Curriculum for Excellence which we follow and that active play is central in learning for children.
• Blogging is a fantastic way of sharing what is happening in the classroom with the wider world and for students to engage in authentic communication.  With good use of tags and categories, it is also a great way of organizing web-based resources.
• I find it so satisfying having students comment on the class blog and ask if they can create a new page. They take an incredible amount of interest and pride in what goes into our blog and they enjoy sharing with their families. My team teaching partner now timetable (blogging) into our weekly literacy classes.
• Technology makes even mundane tasks more engaging for my students. Putting some of my spelling tasks online means that my students are more likely to be engaged. Also, I am trying to encourage some ‘flipped classroom’ strategies and posting work, explanations, images and videos is allowing me to develop this teaching strategy.
• We also use the blog to publish parent feedback, community news, photographs, information, transition information. The list is endless.
• Blogging is frequently seen as so much of a give and take process that has to involve so much feedback from the outside. I was pleased to find out that it can also just be a more simple way to push out assignments and share information instead of the drudgery involved in trying to maintain a website.

Here are examples of class blogs so you can check out how they are used:

1. 1A/B @ Willunga Primary –  Kindergarten
2. The Birds Nest –  Kindergarten / Grade 1
3. Little Champs – Kindergarten /  Grade 1
4. The High Flyers – Grade 1
5. Ms Cassidy’s Classroom blog – Grade 2 (links to student blogs in sidebar)
6. Digital Voices – Grade 3
7. Mrs Yollis’ Classroom blog – Grade 3
8. Mrs. Hamman’s Class Blog – Grade 3
9. Mrs Moore’s Class blog – Grade 3
10. Mr Baldock’s Class blog – Grade 3/4
11. Jade J Year 3/4 Multiage – Grade 3/4
12. Miss Jordan’s Class @ Barwon Heads Primary School – Grade 4
13. Mrs Muller’s Class blog – Grade 5
14. Technie Kids – Grade 5
15. Mr. Miller’s Classroom Blog – Grade 6
16. Blogs-by-the-sea – Grade 6
17. Huzzah – Grade 6/7
18. Krebs’ Class Blogs – Grade 7/8
19. Jurupa Hills High School Photography and Yearbook
20. English 10 – High school
21. Mr Ross’s Science Class – High School
22. NCS Chemistry and Physics – High School
23. The Edublogger class blog list – includes Maths, Science, English, History, LOTE, EFL /ESL, Library, School news blogs and more!

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Benefits of student blogging:

• My students blog everyday. It has given their learning purpose and empowered them to take charge of their learning. They are publishers now and often choose to write on their own. It allows all of my students to be successful and work up to their potential. It promotes collaboratipn and allows them to connect globally. They use it to connect globally as well. We have 6 iPads and daily use of a MacBooks cart. We also BYOD However. we usually work in pairs or teams to foster collaboration and would do so even if we had more equipment.
• A big step forward from fridge magnets holding up a piece of work on the family fridge.
• Blogging is a great way to keep discussions fresh and authentic. The opportunity to provide a written response that is potentially public in nature, allows the students to think about what they write in terms of prioritizing their thoughts and making them a footprint of their though process that carries more weight in terms of visibility and digital citizenship, as opposed to an essay that is only read by the teacher that can be quickly forgotten.
• To quote someone whose name I don’t remember – when students write for you they want it to be good enough. When they write for an authentic audience they want it to be really good.
• Blogging is a great way to teach writing skills while also allowing students to see the power of a global audience. It is a wonderful motivator and such an easy transition in your classroom since you have students write anyway.  it is also a wonderful way to teach citizenship skills since they need to learn what is and isn’t appropriate to “put out there” in a professional setting as well as how to leave comments for others. It is also a tool that can be modified for every grade level. I encourage all our teachers to incorporate blogging and slowly they are.
• Blogging helps with reading, writing, artistic, critical thinking, and social skills. It has revolutionized and energized the way I teach. It has made me a teacher and a learner, and made my students learners and teachers. Blogging is the one activity my students are consistently excited about, and something they will do on their own, on weekends, after school, on vacations. We just finished our school year with a Skype visit with a class we met through blogging.
• I teach English and use a PBL approach to curriculum, focusing on relevant issues in our community. My students use their blogs to write informally about their experiences with primary research, provide support and feedback to each other, and to publish formal writings aimed at an authentic audience. Giving them a public voice inspires them and motivates their learning in a way that traditional approaches to teaching cannot. Using blogs is the best choice I’ve ever made for my students!
• Blogging is a big part of my classroom program.   I have found blogging an excellent way for students to reflect on their learning and share their learning experiences with family members.
• I have my students blog to get them to practice a different way of writing while using technology.
• Blogging is a great way to have the students practice critical thinking skills because it allows think time for those who do not always have an immediate answer and needs some think time.
• Blogging makes what we do as schools, educators and students transparent. The home:school connection is essential for student success, and blogs are a great way of making that success realistic.
• Blogs provide an excellent medium for reflection, as well as the development of expressive writing skills. They can be quite informal, or used to develop advanced social writing skills complete with in text links and citations. This is a resource not to be ignored.
• I do a lot of the posting at the beginning of the year and turn it over to my students as the year progresses. It also gives us a place to display projects.
• Blogging provides a voice for even the shy student who might not speak up in class. Also, there is a natural sharing of ideas for students in the 21st century who have grown up in a digital world and are engaged by a digital framework.
•  Blogging is the perfect platform for putting digital citizenship and online safety skills into action and practicing in a safe environment.
• Students need to understand all that is happening in this new era of technology, and blogging is a great way to introduce them to more than just the video games that they play.
• Each student, K – 12 has an ePortfolio which is shared with parents. The school also allows parents to access report information all the time with student reporting of assessment for both formative and summative types being displayed for parents and students. Report adds are delivered digitally and manually. All students use the ePortfolios in their Student Led Conferences to discuss their learning goals, areas for improvement and growth.

Watch The Possibility of Student Blogging by Andrea Hernandez and Slivia Tolisano.

To learn more about the benefits of student blogging in higher education watch this video by students from the University of Western Australia.

Benefits of student blogging as part of a global community:

• My students’ geography skills have improved and they show a genuine interest in the world, and I believe blogging has contributed to this
• Blogging has created a way the students can share their work with a global audience and peers all over the world. They enjoy reading the comments posted and it empowers them to create and strive for their best effort.
• My students now have a reason to write as they share with their peers all around the world. Through our blogs, they are gaining a better understanding of how other people live and learn. We have access to professionals in the field who extend their learning.
• Blogging is fun, teaches real world skills, and opens the door to the global community.
• The student blogging challenge was an eye-opener from which I have never looked back. The global audience made a huge difference to my views on blogging.

Here are examples of student blogs so you can check out how they are used:

1. Mirian’s Magical Moments
2. Breana P ePortofolio
3. Come Somersault with Sarah
4. Austicandproud – 13 years old
5. Youinnorway – 18 year old from Norway

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Benefits of Personal Educator’s blog:

• It’s a good way to reflect on your teaching practices.
• Changes your the way you teach, collaborate and reflect, it will become the way you teach
• “There are a myriad of reasons why I blog, depth of knowledge, learning & networking with authentic audiences, reflective practice, as an ePortfolio of my professional growth. Blogging has re-energized my educational drive and perspective. Every educational stakeholder should have a blog! 
• Writing a blog helps me to remember what I was discovering at a certain time of the school year. Each year is so different due to new technologies being introduced at different professional development days. With a blog, it helps you to keep track of all the great educational discoveries or failures that happen as you teach throughout the year and share with others.
• I see my professional blog as me thinking out loud and not minding if people hear. However, I am the main audience and I don’t actively seek a following. I am delighted if it is of use to others. “
• Share the story of public education in an authentic way. The press often chooses to report the negative side of education. I want to show what is really happening on a daily basis.
• I blog to share professional development and resources, to interact and network with colleges and to learn as I blog.
• Blogging has personally changed the way I teach – it gives me a personal platform to reflect and allows my students to reflect on their own learning.
• Blogging is a great way to reflect upon teaching and also to share your classroom with the world. I have been inspired by teachers who blog and hope to do the same for others.

Watch Seth Gordon and Tom Peters talk about blogging.

Check out Steve Wheeler’s 3 Things you need to know about blogging!

And remember that something that is ‘Obvious to you maybe amazing to others‘.

Here are examples of personal and professional educator blogs so you can check out how they are used:

1. Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day
2. The Edublogger
3. The Principal of Change
4. Free Technology for Teachers
5. Cool Cat Teacher Blog
6. Teacher Reboot Camp
7. Dangerously Irrelevant
8. Edublog Awards 2015

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Blogging tips:

• The best way to learn how to blog is to… blog! Start by following other blogs to see what they do, then write your own posts about what you have done in class, and allow it to grow from there. Kids will figure lots of stuff out on their own, so you don’t need to know how to do everything before you start!
• Young primary students are not always using accurate web addresses and they don’t make a return to the blog as ‘it didn’t work at home’ or ‘I couldn’t get the address to work’. Consider making a QR code stuck into home diaries which link directly to the blog site.
• For blogging to truly work in your classroom, it must become part of your daily or weekly literacy program. Just giving your situdents their own blogs will not turn them into bloggers. You must offer authentic reasons to blog, such a reflective journals for Passion Projects.
  For educators new to blogging: Integrate Digital Citizenship and formal writing skills and instruction before students begin blogging. Substantive commenting will take time and explicit instruction. Include both assigned and free choice posts.
• Join a blogging challenge to help you get started. The prompts will give you some momentum needed especially at first. In terms of student blogging, prompts are a must regardless of student population. Some will run with it, while other will drag their feet, but we all do well with topics to spark ideas.
• I would first caution people not to depend too heavily on tools that are free. My many years of experience in ed tech have taught me that really popular tools don’t stay free forever. I would also caution teachers who are engaging in student blogging to be sure to teach students how to credit images, learn about copyright and CC, and practice elements of good digital citizenship. Students not only want to receive comments but they need to be taught how to make “good” comments and not think “I like your blog” is a comment that continues the “conversation”.
• I think it is important for new bloggers to remember that when they first start blogging, it might feel like no one is reading their blog. Connecting it to other social media tools like Twitter and Facebook can spread their work to more audiences. They can turn these connections on when they are ready to share with a larger audience.Important for educators to abide by the social media standards and style guide of your school.
• My advice? Have a go! You learn as you go when you start with basic post you and the children come up with ideas about what else you would like to do then ask Edublogs or research, there are hundreds of teachers out there blogging and sharing their expertise.”
• For educators new to blogging, read as many blogs as you can and comment on the blogs you like. End your comment with a question to invite conversation. Link your blog to social network sites so that people you know can spread the word about your blog.
• Advice to new bloggers – don’t get caught up in the thinking that you need to write an essay every time you blog.
• Privacy of students’ names and photos – must be careful and since the school is represented quality counts
• It’s all about commenting. The students who make an effort to find other student blogs that interest them and make thoughtful comments get the most traffic on their own blogs. Those who don’t, get few visits–no matter how catchy their title, flashy their theme or wonderful their writing.
• Teach your students the skills to use their blogs: embedding pictures and videos, creating links in text, commenting skills, connecting to others, using widgets.
• Start small. Keep it manageable, by keeping the purpose clearly defined.
• Commenting is a big part of our blog and each year I explicitly teach my students how to write quality blog comments.
• Be sure to set up a monitor system, so that spam responses must be approved before going to post. Also, discuss what you want your usernames for students to be (broad criteria) to protect identity and for ease of identification as the teacher.

Refer to the following for help getting started: 

1. Student blogging – Guides you through the process of class and student blogging.
2. Personal blogging – Helps you set up your own personal or professional educator blog.

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Blog platforms used

Most respondents used Edublogs (68.4%), followed by Blogger (Google Apps) (9.3%) and then WordPress.com (5.7%).

It’s quite common for educators to host their blogs on several different blog platforms.  Edublogs (40.5%) was the most common second main blog platform used, followed by WordPress.com (13.6%) and Blogger (12.0%).

For example, they may use different platforms for each different type of blog (professional/personal blog, class blog or students blogs) or may have to use a blog platform recommended / supported by their School District.

Below’s a summary of reasons shared for using each blog platform from this year’s survey (you can read last year’s responses here):

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Reason for using Edublogs:

• The first I knew, back in 2007, and I still think it is the best one. If I was developing my first experience of interaction between students from different countries, it would be ideal.
• Previous blog platform changed and I didn’t like the changes. I like the resources and features of Edublogs.
• The school uses it, it is easy to work with. It is safe.
• It’s free, easy to use on a variety of devices, great support, nice themes
• I began with Edublogs and have been completely happy. Easy to use and support is amazing!
• It is the one our teachers know best and trust, and it is very useful for sharing things.
• It is the best and easy to use.  Excellent support
• “Initially, it was simply because of the fact that it was one of the only blog platforms that was not blocked by our district web filter.I then proceeded to subscribe to the paid level of edublogs because I found their platform very user friendly and I liked the widgets they offered.”
• Designed with students and teachers in mind, fabulous customer support.
• User friendly app on the iPad for our k-5th grade students.
• I used to use Classblogmeister but it became too difficult. I support Edublogs because of Sue Waters introduced it to me. I like the options for layout etc.
• I love the community.
• Ease of use with linked student blogs
• Teacher tools/organization/sense of student ownership of individual blogs
• It was recommended by other educators or bloggers as being intuitive and affordable.
• Control over student and other comments and publishing, control over visual appearance of blog.
• Price is great
• Easy to use, reputation of Edublogs, customer service, customizable options
• I was shown a colleague’s blog and it made sense to use the same platform if she was showing me how to get started.
• Education-oriented, easy to use, powerful tools, not blocked by our district filters! For example, Blogger is blocked because of the “Next Blog” button that can pull up inappropriate content.
• It’s awesome! The ability to link student blogs to the class blog is wonderful – the ability to see all edits students have created is helpful – being able to make blogs private, control what students are doing, EVERYTHING is ideal!
• I LOVE Edublogs because it is devoted to students and teachers and gives me confidence that my students are using a very safe platform. Also the customer support is TOP NOTCH. The best ever.
• “Kathy Cassidy recommended Edublogs in her ebook ‘Connected from the Start’. I think she uses Edublogs.
• It’s free, easy and used by a majority of educators.
• It’s not blocked at our school. it works for what I want to use it. Privacy options for student blogs and administrative control. Also a bonus to be already familiar with the wordpress format.
• The support, as a “pro” customer, is exceptional. I love the navigation and options. I used to use kidblog…not to malign it in any way, but now that I use blogs with both my middle schoolers and my college freshman, the uniformity of platform is the main reason.
• It was easy and for what I need I didn’t have to pay a huge price tag.
• No advertising. Great support. Offers everything other blog services do but in a safe environment that is easy to use with great options.
• It is education-driven – and, honestly, because when I tried to use Kidblog, my students had so many problems with logging in and the tech support kept deleting all of our blogs, so I got frustrated and quit.
• Our district blocks all open source blogging. Edublogs was deemed an acceptable avenue.
• I use Edublogs because it is the same format as WordPress, which I have used extensively in the past, and because it allows me to host (and control) many student blogs.
• I have “master control” over all posts, comments, and blog settings for my students so that I can intervene quickly should students use blogging in less than stellar ways.
• I’ve only ever used Edublogs, since 2006, and appreciate it’s ease of use, protections for students, my ably to create several student blogs at once, the access and control I have to monitor use, wonderful themes and widgets. Etc.
• User friendly. Can connect with other classes around the world.

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Reasons for using Blogger:

• The aceess is not blocked.
• We use Google as a school so it a vey easy entry point.
• Easy to learn, easy to use, reliable, free, many students already have Gmail accounts
• We have Google mail and the login makes it easy to use and implement.
• GAFE School – Blogger is so easy to use. We needed an app to take photos with a phone, and the ability to finish editing on the laptop, and then post. Quick and easy for teachers to do frequently..
• Inertia, really, other than my classroom pages which are on Google classroom, I started my blogs on Blogger and just stayed there.
• It was made available to us at school and recommended by our IT dept.
• We are a GAFE school, and therefore we do not have to create additional usernames and passwords for our student that would be required when using other platforms.

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Reasons for using WordPress.com:

• I like the professional look, ease of use and support built in professional templates, bit more robust than blogger, was the first platform I learned and I still feel is great fit for what I do.
• Ease of use – able to have “tabs” for each classroom on one site
• It’s robust and user-friendly.
• It’s not blocked at my school and it lets me customize almost as much as I want.

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Reasons for using KidBlog:

• I like the simplicity of Kidblogs for my students since they are only in 3rd grade. I also like how all of the blogs are automatically linked to the teacher’s site.
• Easy to maintain several classes since I’m the primary person encouraging students to blog.
• Easy for young students to use.
• I have an involved answer to this question because I switched from Class Blogmeister after 7 years to Kidblog. My main concern with Blogmeister was that we could not upload student files and all images needed to be hosted elsewhere such as on Flickr. The first 2 years with Kidblog I was pleased, and I was paying out of my own pocket for individual class blogs. I am the tech teacher and have 6 classes blogging. I paid the “reduced rate” off $20 per class for two years because I wanted my students to have additional features even though there was a free version. This past year Kidblog did away with the free version but also reduced the price to $30 per teacher rather than per class. Although it personally saved me money I can’t tell you how thoroughly disappointed I am with the “new Kidblog”. Their hosting is now AWS and so many of the wonderful features have disappeared. It is not at all user friendly. I would have gone to Edublogs over Kidblog but it was a more expensive for me out of pocket for the number of students I had. Now if I want to switch to Edublogs, which I do, I will have to pay for that account before the Kidblog account has to be renewed in order to transfer all the posts to a new site. I have my students keep their same blog from grades 3 through 8. In the transfer from Blogmeister to Kidblog I had the older students choose their 3 favorite posts and transfer those. I did they younger students myself. I really am so frustrated with the situation I am in right now. I am a firm believer in the student blogging and have invited other teachers in my school to use the blog as a vehicle for showcasing their students work. I am not sure if I stop paying for it all myself that it will be able to be paid by the school. Our old administration thought blogging was a waste of time but our new principal does not so perhaps our budget can take on the cost. I just need to figure out how to manage the transition. I am 100% disappointed with Kidblog.
• Ease of use for kids, ease of management for me
• It is easy for elementary students to use and it allows me to moderate every post and comment if I want to.
• I use kidblog with my students because it is easy for my students to use, and easy to connect with other classes for global projects.
• Simple to set up and use, doesn’t require email, can share with connected classes, others in our building use it.
• It is the safest way I have found to have kids blog and keep the nasty stuff on the outside.
• Ability to have private, class and public postings

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Reasons for using CampusPress:

• We use this platform as a website platform rather than a “”blogging”” platform. WP as a blogging platform is out-of-date as far as a CMS is concerned. Many people use WordPress for this purpose, so I’m a little surprised to see the CP focus solely on blogs in this survey.
• We primarily use this platform in order to provide staff, students, and faculty with a way to have a hosted service which is something they are able to maintain with little or no support. “
• Love the options and level of support offered by CampusPress.
• Managed servers, powerful with many options.
• It is very simple and easy to use.
• This is the platform our university provides.
• Chosen for tools and ease of use for people accustomed to WordPress

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Reasons for using Weebly:

• I’ve used it in the past and am comfortable with the drag and drop format. The Weebly account is my primary teacher blog.
• I use weebly because it is easy to update and share information with families about what we are learning in our classroom. I host my teaching blog, twitter page, and student’s blogs on this page. Parents can sign up to get automatic updates and I think it is an easy way for me to share our learning.
• Easy to use and free

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Reasons for using Self hosted WordPress:

• Plug-ins, features, easy to use
• We have CampusPress for our most of our K-12 teachers however, there are some projects that we need more control (custom themes, plugins, etc.) so we have some self-hosted WordPress installs that I manage for those.
• Plug ins and wanted own domain

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Reasons for using Tumblr:

• It’s already popular and it’s appealing to kids. It’s easy to post and use advanced features.
• Ease of use and have used for personal blog in past.
• Easily accessible and simple way of expressing and sharing interests
• It was free and the easiest, most intuitive to set up.

What Else?

Do you have other information you would have liked us to include?  What other questions would you like us to have asked?

Let us know in the comments below!