As a journal or blog, it lets your fingers sort through it all to make sense of all your imaginings. My first experience with blogging was actually when I was a very young girl; before computers and the notion of a 'blog' was around. We called it a 'diary' or a 'journal' and it included stories of our daily activities, our likes and dislikes and in some cases, very spicy tales of who we liked in school....."he has the most beautiful blue eyes that I have ever seen", I remember writing in my diary of one very cute boy I sat next to in class. To this day, I feel the same way about that kid! I chuckle now!
The notion of a "Digital Portfolio" has become quite popular these days. This is a 'place' to upload images of your digital work and write about the experience. A digital resume of sorts.
Blogging and Digital Portfolio programs are plentiful! Meaning, good programs exist and are quite easy to get started and manage. But it's really a personal preference that will have you select one over the other. A more popular program is Blogger (www.blogger.com). Blogger is an easy selection, especially if your Students have their own Google Apps accounts. It was my selection for this Blog, as I chose it for that reason as well...it is attached to both my personal and school Google Apps accounts. I can upload images from my Drive and away I go. It's nice to have a 'one-stop-shopping' concept with email, calendar, created documents and my blog....makes it easy.
But...there are others to consider, especially with younger Students.
Penzu (www.penzu.com), for example, is really shaping out to work just nicely. I've recently investigated this one more closely. I'm liking how easy it is to set up and get started. Penzu feels like it would be best used with older Elementary Students rather than our younger friends. I also like how easy it was to upload pictures to my entry. Here's what's keeping me from jumping in with both feet....the pricing. To go "Pro", which has some very cool features, like the ability to tag parts of your journal, importing and exporting, reminders and more, has pricing that starts at $2.99 per month (as of this post), which is not so bad as long as that amount is not lumped with all the other 'monthly subscriptions' to programs I use most often. On a limited annual budget, I have to be choosy. The Free accounts do have just enough features to get going, but I can see that 'going-Pro' would be necessary in the long run.
Kidblog (www.kidblog.org) is another really great program. This is the one I like for my younger Students. All the same features, but adding in a Parent access is a nice feature. They can keep up with what their child is posting and give praise for a great 'digital portfolio'. The Free accounts also have just enough nice features to make it a nice experience. Going Pro does have it's benefits, but the Basic Level works nicely for our purposes.
For iPads, SeeSaw wins hands-down! Same features of uploading pictures and adding text. I've been in touch with the company requesting a web-based version. We have one-to-one iPads in the younger grades, so using this with 'all' Students isn't practical at this time. Keeping fingers crossed.
Happy Blogging....Happy Tinkering in your Digital Portfolios!
Elana Moore
