TeachersFirst: Gated Blogs for the Classroom

21Classes
General profile: This tool offers two “layers” much as Class Blogmeister does, so teachers have the overarching account with student accounts underneath that umbrella. Teachers control the admin functions unless they CHOOSE to release some of these to students. There are extensive controls, but the defaults come very close to being enough to get you started. We recommend playing with ONE sample student account and the teacher account to get everything set up before registering students, especially if your school has more restrictive policies. It is easier to start out with things “locked down” and loosen up than to go the other way. This site is in beta as of October, 2007, (being tested as a new product), so long-term availability may be questionable. Do not post irretrievable and one-of-a-kind items you want to remain for posterity until the site settles out a bit. Some bets start to charge after a period of time. The positive side is that user comments are welcome and often receive real attention. back
Features available:	Yes/no	What they call it, and how to find it	Reviewer comments
Password-protect entire blog	Not exactly	Dashboard>student accounts> students’ blog settings> entry visibility	Can set posts and comments to be visibly only to blog members by default. The outer blog (teacher-administered portion) will remain “public”—not a bad idea for parents and others to be able to find it. PAID accounts can make the entire blog invisible.
Choices of blog appearance	Y	Dashboard>student accounts> Members may/may not create own weblog layouts. Actual appearance settings done from “Layouts”	Teacher controls main portal layout and amount that students can customize their own, even their choice of “themes.”
Customization of appearance with own graphics	Y	Under Layouts	Beware of uploading images and maxing out your file storage space.
Keywording/tagging	Y	Layouts> categories for student blogs.	Teacher can set predetermined categories, such as by subject or curriculum topic, turn off tagging, or allow students to create their own. We recommend using a standard set of tags for easy sorting across all student blogs
Teacher-managed registration options	Y	Add Student Accounts	Teacher can register all users or allow self-registration. Can disable the requirement for an email account for students (under Student accounts> student interaction> E-Mail functionality enabled)
Teacher-managed posting options	Y	Student accounts> Students' blog settings>Student interaction, Entry visibility, comments
Teacher-managed commenting options	Y	Student accounts> Students' blog settings>Student interaction, Entry visibility, comments
Teacher-approval of posts and comments	Y	Student accounts> Students' blog settings>Student interaction, entry visibility
Teacher-managed control over what different members can “see”	Y	Student accounts> Students' blog settings>Student interaction, entry visibility	Make sure teachers do NOT check the box that allow users to override your default settings for visibility if they wish to retain this control.
Other capabilities	Y	See More options under EACH menu	Teacher-controlled. Include profile settings, predefined groups to protect visibility of some content, co-authoring, and more.
RSS Feeds	Y	RSS logo appears on home page	Outgoing feed
Help available	Y	Help link (Upper right)	Separate help for students and site admin (teacher)
Other comments: Teacher membership asks for a full mailing address, though it does not verify this. TeachersFirst recommends using a very generic, school-name only address unless you are opting for paid account. Ex: give the school name/town/state only. Teacher can decide exactly how much information is required from users. Greatest limitation is file storage. If students upload images at ALL, they will max out their space VERY fast. This tool is best suited for use with text and links only, if you want it to remain free. back