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Blogger is a free blogging platform from Google that includes free templates and custom URLs. Select "Create your blog" and sign in with your Google account. Follow the prompts to add a new blog, provide a title, and then customize using features on your dashboard, including layout, theme, and settings, such as the ability to add comments and shared authors. After customizing the look and information on your blog, use the link to publish and share the content. At the bottom of the main page find the Help tag to see videos such as How to publish a blog post, How to post your blog from your mobile phone, and more.

tag(s): blogs (68), communication (130), digital storytelling (155), writing (325)

Straw.Page is a website creation tool and blogging platform that works on any device, even phones. No registration is required to begin creating using themes or from a blank page. Begin by selecting the Get Started for Free button, then browse through the included templates. After choosing a template, follow the tutorial to learn about features available on Straw.Page. When finished, publish your page by adding your email and a password and creating your unique URL to share with viewers. The free option allows you to post two sites that include up to five pages each.

tag(s): blogs (68), communication (130), digital storytelling (155), portfolios (24), writing (325)

It's as easy as 123 to create a blog or build your website with Site123. Click the Get Started button and choose the type of website you want. There are 16 categories ranging from blogs to music, business, photography, portfolio, creative arts, and several others. Next, add the name for your blog or website, and last, sign up with your name and email, or your Facebook or Google account. Once this is done you can start designing by choosing from templates, their royalty-free images (or upload your own), add text, videos, and music. Use your dashboard to add pages and edit at any time, even after you've published your page. An added bonus is that you can create multiple websites and/or blogs under one account and one admin username. Be sure to check out the video tutorials for building your website and all the features available to you, such as approving comments, sharing on social media, and more! If your district blocks YouTube the tutorials may not be viewable. You can then look under the settings tab, the FAQs, or write to a support person (available 24/7).
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tag(s): blogs (68), communication (130), portfolios (24), writing (325)

Telegra.ph is a simple to use web publishing tool for even the most novice creators. Click and type to fill in the title, your name, and add content. After starting your writing, click on Your Story to choose the camera icon to upload images from your computer or select the brackets to paste a YouTube, Vimeo, or X (formerly Twitter) link. When finished, click on the publish button. That's it! Your work is now online. Just copy the URL to share. Add or delete content at any time using the link to edit.

tag(s): blogs (68), communication (130), digital storytelling (155), writing (325)

StackEdit is a free MarkDown editor offering several options for creating, saving, and collaborating with documents. Choose the "Start Writing Now" link to create a document ready for publication to blogs. Go through the tutorial and then click on the folder symbol all the way to the right of the top menu bar. Select new document. Start typing your document adding images, hyperlinks, and more using the menu bar. The split screen allows users to preview content in HTML and see how the final view will look while creating it, making it easy to see the end product. Open, save, and collaborate using Google documents and DropBox content. Publish the finished product to WordPress, GitHub, and other blogging platforms, or save as a PDF. StackEdit is simple and intuitive, and first-timers will be very comfortable using it. At the time of this review, StackEdit ran very slowly on Chrome.

tag(s): blogs (68), coding (87), editing (93)

Create a polished, professional live chat on your blog or class site with this FREE tool. Create a "How Can I Help You?" message to pop-up as parents and students visit the page. When in an active chat, visitors receive a pop-up asking if they wish to join the chat. This tool runs on every platform and mobile device. Be sure to check out the demo tab to understand how to use the tool in your website. Add the HTML code into your site to add the chat box and features. Use this tool to analyze site traffic so you can identify what is most used by students and parents.
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tag(s): chat (41), communication (130), DAT device agnostic tool (146)

Give your student writers an audience... possibly an international one! Sign up for Quadblogging and be guaranteed that your students will have at least three other classrooms to read and respond to their blogs. We all know that having an audience for our writing makes us better writers. The creator of this program has hard evidence of that. His students (in the UK) were scoring at 9% on the British writing achievement test before Quadblogging. After a school year of using Quadblogging, his students increased their scores to 60%. In subsequent years, these students continued to have their scores grow by two grade levels per school year. There are two short videos on the home page. One video explains the concept of Quadblogging, and the other is the creator speaking at BETT, the world's largest ed tech conference. You will also find the form to fill out to have your class join others in Quadblogging.

tag(s): blogs (68), communication (130), cross cultural understanding (178), writing (325)

Turn your blog in to a PDF book featuring all your blog's entries and comments. This tool works for the following blog tools: WordPress, LiveJournal, and Blogger. Creating the PDF book is simple. Export your blog by following the directions given for each specific type of blog and then upload the file to BlogBooker. All your content and comments are assembled into a high-quality PDF file. Note that this process can take a few minutes or longer depending on the size of your blog. This is a great way to print your BlogBook or make an archive/backup of the blog. It could also be useful for students and educators as a way to save a blog as a portfolio item. At the time of this review WordPress, LiveJournal, and Blogger were all 100% FREE!
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tag(s): blogs (68)

Blog your way into the latest social technology using edublogs. Use the free service to set up a blog as a student, teacher, or campus. This education friendly tool avoids some of the "public interaction" that can offer inappropriate content. Upgrade to more advanced features, to include more options. The additional information on blogging makes this site very valuable even if you already have a blogging platform. Find a plethora of advice, tutorials, PDFs, and lesson plans for blogging. This site is a great reference site for all who are beginning to use blogs, or even look for more varied and effective ways to blog with students, or even other classes. Compare this tool to other free blogging tools mentioned in TeachersFirst's Blog Basics for the Classroom . This is a device-agnostic tool, available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly.
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tag(s): blogs (68), communication (130), writing (325)

JustPaste.it is a quick, online way to share text and images with others. This site offers a neat twist to creating a blog. It features an easy-to-use text editor with text formatting function. Just paste text from another web page or word processor and text formatting and images will be preserved. By using the "Upload images" module you can easily add new graphics to your notes. If you have written your note originally using a word processor: (such as Microsoft Word), simply upload it to the server using the "Import from file" function. Text formatting and graphics will be preserved. When finished creating your text, click Publish to receive the HTML code, forum code, and URL link. Or create your own custom URL through the Custom page name option at the top right. Notes can also be edited through the link provided after publication. The finished product can also be easily saved as a PDF file, just scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Save to PDF link.
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tag(s): blogs (68), communication (130), images (263), note taking (36)

Use Tumblr as an easy set-up, easy to use microblogging and blogging platform. Tumblr offers many ways to get content into your blog. Choose the text type of content for a more traditional looking blog post. Also choose to share photos, audio, or video. Use the quote, link, or chat option to share quick portions of text. Add additional context information to your post. For example, with a photo, add a caption; or for a link, add a title, description, or link. Edit posts in the dashboard, and add the content type and additional elements. It is best to stay with the plain text editor for ease of use. Create posts by email and SMS as well. Other ways to post content are available through the dashboard. Add posts by installing a Tumblr bookmarklet to your browser window. Use Tumblr to follow others and see recent posts from those people. Change templates and even customize templates. Find those you follow and those who follow you on the right sidebar. The Radar in this sidebar brings in the latest information being posted on Tumblr. This tool can be minimized by clicking the Hide link but does exist and may have inappropriate content. Use the Mega editor to make changes to a lot of posts at the same time. Find the permalink to your post by hovering over the post. The top right corner "folds down," and clicking there provides you the permalink. Note: Make additional Tumblr blogs after you make your initial one (click the + icon in the dashboard.) This allows you the option of making the blog private by password-protecting the viewing of the blog.

tag(s): blogs (68), communication (130), microblogging (14)

Penzu offers a FREE service to write journals or diaries online with exceptional privacy options. As an added benefit, you can add images or your own artwork as illustrations. There is a very short demo video on the home page. On Penzu you can keep everything completely private or share selective posts by email or URL. Perhaps share selections on a class wiki page? Don't have a wiki? See the TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through for practical management and safety tips for a class wiki. Note: Premium service is available, but this review is for the free version.

tag(s): communication (130), DAT device agnostic tool (146), journals (16), writing (325)

Weebly is an easy, free website creator with tons of features for you to choose from. The easy, "drag and drop" elements allow even novice technology users to create their own website. Besides the basic "drag and drop" features for the title, text, text with a picture, etc., the free version allows you to use cool items: photo gallery, slide show, YouTube videos, Google Maps, an assignment form, and lots more. They promise that the free service will remain 100% feature-packed.

tag(s): blogs (68), communication (130), portfolios (24), writing (325)