Kidblog Overview
Objective: Participants will explore the ways in which Kidblog can be used by students to
express a point of view on a subject and support it with evidence in a safe and supervised
online environment.
• Find helpful resources at:
bcpsODL.pbworks.com
Why Blogging?
• Blogs in Plain English:
http://youtu.be/NN2I1pWXjXI
Read and Reflect
• 12 Reasons to Blog with your Students:
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2011/05/12-reasons-to-blog-withyour-students.html
What resonated most with you?
Your Kidblog Account
Kidblog’s Structure
Your Class Blog Site
Each Class
Member’s Blog
Kyle
• Each class blog site can have two teachers (for free)
• Teachers can have more than one class blog
• Students can be members of many different class blogs
CODE
Create a fake “student” account for the
purposes of this workshop.
Your display name should be
your “teacher” name.
Ex: Mrs. Weaver
Page 1
Use a class name that
describes what it is for. Keep
it fairly simple to make it
easier to type. You can create
additional classes later.
Ex: Weaver AM Reading,
Weaver’s Science World, etc.
Essential
Settings
Page 5
Themes
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Change class title and URL if needed
Set your time zone to New York
Choose a graphic theme for the class blog site
Widgets
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Choose to include only the blog directory widget in the sidebar
Posts
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Set who can read blog posts
o Users (choose the current class or members of other classes)
o Admin/Teacher only (good for assessments and private journals; be sure to check “students may read
teachers’ posts”)
Require post approval at first, but eventually turn this off
Set teacher email notifications (good if you aren’t requiring post approval and aren’t logging on regularly)
Change the appearance of the Activity Feed on the front page to list view
Enable post broadcasting (so you can post the same entry to more than one class at a time)
Set who can leave blog comments
o Users (allow class blog members or members of other classes) and/or guests (people who log on with a
guest account)
o Admin/Teacher only
Require comment approval at first, but you might eventually turn this off
Set teacher email notifications (good if you aren’t requiring comment approval and aren’t logging on regularly)
Enable threaded comments and set thread levels (2 or 3 is a good number)
Define roles:
o Students should not be allowed to change their profiles
General
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Comments 
Users
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Student View
Adding Users
Option 1- One at a Time
1. The student display
name should be their
first name and the first
letter of their last name
2. Their password should
be their BCPS external
password (found in EASI)
Page 8
Adding Users
Option 2- Bulk Upload
1. Get students’ BCPS external
passwords from your tech liaison.
2. Create one Excel spreadsheet for
each class with the students’ names
in the first column (first name and
first letter of last name) and their
BCPS external passwords in the
second column
3. Save each spreadsheet as a “CSV
(Comma Delimited) (*.csv)” file
4. Follow the directions on Kidblog to
upload and bulk-create the users
for each class
Page 9
Adding Users
Option 3- Student
Set-up
1. Change the class blog
settings to allow users to
join using a code (and
make note of the code).
2. The students go to
kidblog.org and choose
“Secret Code?”
3. After entering the code
you provide, they are
prompted to create their
account (and should use
their first name, first letter
of their last name, and
BCPS external password).
Students Accessing Kidblog
• Students need the URL or a shortcut
to their class blog site
(www.kidblog.org/ClassName).
Page 2
• Once at the class blog site, click “Log In” in the upper
right of the screen, choose the correct name from a
drop-down menu, and enter the password.
• Students can access drafts and monitor their
comments from the control panel.
Page 10
For Further Reading
Available on the bcpsODL workshop wiki:
• Paper Blog Lesson
• Two sample parent introduction letters:
– Kidblog_Parent_Intro_Letter.doc
– blogging-letter-to-parents.doc
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How to Write a Quality Comment
Comment Starters
Blogging Rubric
Blog Terms Crossword
Identify one concrete way that you plan to
use Kidblog in your instructional practice.
Thank you!
• Please complete the workshop survey (which
will be emailed to you) in the next 24 hours so
that payment will not be delayed
• Email me any time with questions!
jweaver@bcps.org