Blogs can be useful educational tools for students if implemented properly in the classroom. Teachers can use blogs to publish assignments, resources, and updates, as well as help students improve their writing skills by having them create blogs on various topics. When starting classroom blogs, teachers should establish clear guidelines and expectations, integrate blogging into the curriculum, teach writing skills, monitor comments, start with a focused topic, be consistent in posts, prohibit plagiarism, and connect blogs to social media. Blogging requires commitment from both teachers and students but can be a rewarding experience.

1. Using Weblogs

2. How To Use Blogs In the Classroom
Blogs may be great educational tools and they give students
complete freedom to publish content on the web, but if you don’t
know how to effectively implement them into the classroom,
they’re only as good as wadded up balls of paper in the trash.

3. What is a Blog?
Blog is short for web log. It’s a bit like an online diary or journal,
except blogs aren’t necessarily private, instead they’re created for
an audience. And just like a diary or journal, a blog is relaxed,
making it an easy and comfortable way for students to get writing.
Blogs are written on all kinds of topics from A to Z. Readers can
usually leave comments, which lead to discussions about the blog’s
content. For example, a blog about flipping your classroom can lead
to a discussion between novice and experienced teachers about
common questions, advice, tips, and clarifications.

4. How can Teachers and Students use Blogs?
- Teachers can use blogs to publish assignments, resources, and
keep students and even parents up to date on class events, due
dates, and content being covered.
- Teachers can also use blogs to help students’ master content and
improve their writing skills.
- Students can use blogs to publish their writing and educate others
on a particular topic.
- Students can also create blogs for the chess club or the yearbook
club, the football team or the upcoming prom.

5. Top Tips To Use Blogs in the Classroom
Once you’ve chosen your platform and the web builder’s tutorials
and training material, it’s time to start blogging. But first, here are
some 11 tips for blogging in today’s classroom.

6. Guidelines and Expectations
Before starting an outline of your blogging guidelines and
expectations check with your school for a written
guideline. From here you can develop clear goals,
guidelines, and expectations for you and your students. For
example, your school may or may not allow photos of
students on blog pages or they may require written
permission from a parent to participate in a blog. You and
your students need to know the rules before blogging
begins. Guidelines can be published and updated right on
your class blog for easy access by students and parents.

7. Integrate Classroom Curriculum
Blogging can be used across the curriculum. From math
and science to history and health, blogging is great way to
take literacy across the curriculum.

8. English is for Everyone
Blogging not only requires subject knowledge, it also
takes good writing skills. Even if you’re using
blogging in a math or science class, you should set
some time aside to teach a bit of writing and
grammar. Just 5 or 10 minutes a class to go over one
or two key points will make you and your students
better writers.

9. The How To of Commenting
The comment section of a blog post is where students can
share thoughts and opinions and have a discussion about
the published content. Initially, it is a good idea to teach
students the dos and don’ts of commenting. Start off by
writing the first two or three blog posts and have students
comment according to your set of criteria. For example,
encourage students to contribute quality comments while
discouraging put downs and inappropriate language.
Monitor comments and provide feedback.

10. Be Realistic
Building a blog takes time so set your sights small. For example,
start off with a class blog focusing on one topic where students can
contribute posts under your supervision. Choose something the
kids are passionate about or want to raise awareness about. For
example, a classroom blog could be about an endangered species
such as the orangutan or about the importance of eating healthy.
Once a topic is exhausted, create a new classroom blog on another
topic. The old blogs remain static but available for readers. By
starting with a classroom blog, students build the skills they need to
create their own blogs effortlessly.

11. Read other Blogs
Take the time to read other classroom and student blogs. This will
give you and your students concrete examples of the finished
product and give you ideas when creating your own blog.

12. Be Consistent
Blogging takes commitment. If posts are haphazardly published,
reader base and student interest will most likely decline. The idea is
to keep building and expanding. In the beginning, set a goal of a
post every two weeks per student and gradually increase
submissions, as the students get more comfortable with blogging.

13. Plagiarism
Explain to students that plagiarism will not be tolerated. Student
contributions must be their own work. Don’t post copyrighted
images. Do post copyright free images. Include a site here.

14. Network with other Bloggers
Encourage local and global collaboration by having students
network with bloggers and follow other student blogs. Although it
is important to give students a choice when selecting a blog they
want to follow, it is best to provide them with a set of criteria to
help with their selection.

15. Dive into Social Media
If any of the blogs related to your classroom are made public, then
you’ll want to get more readership by connecting your blog with
social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Word
of mouth is always the best advertising.

16. Hang in there
As with most new ventures, there is also a learning curve with
blogging. Maneuvering platforms to create one or more blogs while
also monitoring student and class blogs can be time-consuming.
But there’s a good chance most of your students will be excited
about blogging and will want to take on more responsibility,
perhaps for some extra credit. For older students (grades 4 and up)
you can ask or assign students to manage and monitor blogs,
mediate comment sections. Give your pros a chance to shine by
having them lead small groups that help students navigate the
world of blogging. Be sure to rotate these student roles.

17. Reference
https://elearningindustry.com/robust-lms-reporting-for-
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