Website+and+Blogging

Wix
http://wix.com Free flash websites that can be embedded into other sites such as Destiny homepage.
 * Tutorial available on handout page**

Samples and Ideas
Homepages: see destiny pages: http://destiny.aisd.net Vocabulary Building Activities Author Study Read Alikes: @http://space-dementia07.wix.com/part-time-indian-readalikes Promote a social skill: @http://www.wix.com/maccs1/bullying-uk-juniors Highlight New Books: http://www.woolworth.org/#!new-books Advertise Clubs: @http://lasfrijoleras.wix.com/las-frijoleras

Pros
Lots of helpful tutorials Easy to embed codes in other sides (like Destiny) Do not need to know code to create a powerful website

Cons
Takes a little practice Is free so some of the items are still in beta Can be time consuming choosing the layout, stickers, etc. Flash based so will not show up on iPod, iPads, or iPhones.

Wikispaces
http://wikispaces.com Free wiki for educators. Add widgets, documents, editors, and discussion boards.
 * Tutorial available on handout page**

Samples and Ideas
Use for your library or for a collaboration tool between you and other librarians or faculty. Create pages for book news, booktrailers, tutorials, web links, library calendar, certain classes, etc. http://aisdbookbytes.wikispaces.com http://martinhslibrary.wikispaces.com http://librarianresources.wikispaces.com/ http://joycevalenzaworkshop.wikispaces.com http://fergusonlibrary.wikispaces.com/

Pros
Free for educators who can embed all sorts of great widgets and files.

Cons
Sometimes you have to tweak the code to get it to embed. Can't embed into your destiny page like Wix, but you can create a link to it.

Kidblog
http://kidblog.org A hosting site for free classroom blogs that are easily set to protect student privacy.
 * Tutorial available on handout page**

Samples and Ideas
Record results of science experiments Student book blogs Portfolios

Password required to view

Pros
Can set privacy easily Can allow multiple users to approve/create Does not require student email Takes general editing or HTML code

Cons
Approving each post can be time-consuming, but it is worth it to protect privacy.

=Edublog= @http://www.edublogs.org

=Samples and Ideas= @http://futura.edublogs.org/ @http://thewhslibrary.edublogs.org/ Have students maintain blogs about the books they've read, or you could blog about what you've read. Have students maintain a blog about their research process (What they want to know, their struggles with the research process, what they learned, how they would research more efficiently next time, etc.) Create a blog to use as your school library site or to share your professional knowledge with others.

=Pros= There's a free version for teachers and students that's easy to use. You can have a lot more options (if you pay for it.)

=Cons= The free version has some ads. 20MB storage limit and no statistics with the free storage version.

Twiducate
http://twiducate.com

Samples and Ideas
Have students tweet about their research or books they've read.

Pros
Twiducate is a relatively safe environment for students to post comments and for teachers to monitor. It's free!

Google Sites
http://google.com Click on __More__ at top and drag down to __Sites__ Free website/wiki creator

Samples and Ideas
Create a personal, professional, or library website. Recommend to teachers looking for an easy to use website creator. Have students create a website with different pages to exhibit what they or their group has learned on a topic or understood from a book (plot, theme, figurative language, tone, etc.) @https://sites.google.com/site/mssevernspage/Home

Pros
This user-friendly free website creator has professional templates and web layouts, including classroom and wiki templates. Loads of apps can be easily found and inserted, and you can insert widgets, too. Click on html editor and embed your code. If that doesn't work, search their widgets and use those instead. (I couldn't use my own Twitter widget, but I did a search of googlesites widgets and was able to add my twitter feed that way.)

Cons
Requires Google account.

=Weebly= @http://education.weebly.com/ Free education sites for you and your students! One of Time's 50 best websites of the year. =Samples and Ideas= Create your own website or have students create websites. @http://martinhslibrary.weebly.com/ @http://cnapolitano.weebly.com/

=Pros= It's free for educators and students. Easy to use drag-and-drop editing. You can create bulk accounts for students and password protect them for free. No advertising for education accounts. Over 70 designs. You can add an unlimited number of blogs with different permission settings. You can publish to your own domain if you want. Unlimited file storage.

=Cons= You can only create 40 bulk accounts for students unless you want to pay money. You cannot upload a single file that is over 5 MB.

Penzu @http://penzu.com Encourage students to do online journal entries which they can share via email or print.

=Samples and Ideas= Have students journal as part of the research, reading, or writing processes.

=Pros= Very user-friendly, free version allows for changing fonts as well as text color and size. Users can print or email their entries and can have entries emailed to themselves based on criteria (every entry, once a year, shortened entries, etc.) Photos can be inserted as in the example above. Users are shown how many words they've typed in the upper left-hand corner, and journal entries are auto-saved while working on them. Individual entries can be locked and password protected, so no one can see them if the user desires privacy. Passwords can even be encrypted. The user may conduct a search of his or her entries using a search box.

=Cons= In order for a teacher or librarian to view an entry, the student must either hit the share button put in the teacher or librarian's address, or print out the entry. It costs money to get the following features: tagging, customized backgrounds and stationary. At the time of this writing, it cost $19/year.