Kidblog Overview for Liaisons and ETITs Find helpful resources at: bcpsDDLpd.pbworks.com

Reading Class Math Class Mrs. Weaver Your Kidblog Account Reading Class Teacher Johnny Megan Kyle Your Class Blog Site Kyle Post 9/23/13 Each Class Member’s Blog Each class blog site can have two teachers (for free) Teachers can have more than one class blog Students can be members of many different class blogs Kidblog’s Structure

Page 1 Your display name should be your “teacher” name. Ex: Mrs. Weaver Use a class name that describes what it is for. Keep it fairly simple to make it easier to type. You can create additional classes later. Ex: Weaver AM Reading, Weaver’s Science World, etc.

General  Change class title and URL if needed  Set your time zone to New York Themes  Choose a graphic theme for the class blog site Widgets  Choose to include only the blog directory widget in the sidebar Posts  Set who can read blog posts o Users (choose the current class or members of other classes) o Admin/Teacher only (good for assessments and private journals; be sure to check “students may read teachers’ posts”)  Require post approval at first, but eventually turn this off  Set teacher notifications (good if you aren’t requiring post approval and aren’t logging on regularly)  Change the appearance of the Activity Feed on the front page to list view  Enable post broadcasting (so you can post the same entry to more than one class at a time) Comments  Set who can leave blog comments o Users (allow class blog members or members of other classes) and/or guests (people who log on with a guest account) o Admin/Teacher only  Require comment approval at first, but you might eventually turn this off  Set teacher notifications (good if you aren’t requiring comment approval and aren’t logging on regularly)  Enable threaded comments and set thread levels (2 or 3 is a good number) Users  Define roles: o Students should not be allowed to change their profiles Essential Settings Page 5

Adding Users Option 1- One at a Time 1.The student display name should be their first name and the first letter of their last name 2.Their password should be their BCPS external password (found in EASI) Page 8

Adding Users Option 2- Bulk Upload 1.Use the Student AD Password Reset tool to download the required student names and external passwords. Teachers can get the information in EASI.Student AD Password Reset tool 2.Create one Excel spreadsheet for each class with the students’ names in the first column (first name and first letter of last name) and their BCPS external passwords in the second column 3.Save each spreadsheet as a “CSV (Comma Delimited) (*.csv)” file 4.Follow the directions on Kidblog to upload and bulk-create the users for each class Page 9

Adding Users Option 3- Student Set-up 1.Change the class blog settings to allow users to join using a code (and make note of the code). 2.The students go to kidblog.org and choose “Secret Code?” 3.After entering the code you provide, they are prompted to create their account (and should use their first name, first letter of their last name, and BCPS external password).

Adding a Co-Teacher If you would like to add a co-teacher to your KidBlog class site, give them your class join code. Have them set up their own KidBlog account and then use the code to join your class blog site.

Kidblog Setup and Management Options 1.Each classroom teacher creates their own class blog site, creates their own student users, and manages the implementation. 2.Each classroom teacher creates their own class blog site, gives their students the join code, and lets the students enter their display name and password. 3.The liaison or ETIT works with each teacher to create their class blog site and becomes a “co-teacher” so they can assist with bulk uploading the student users and managing the blog. 4.The ETIT sets up their own class blog sites for their special area classes using the bulk upload. Each teacher sets up their own class blog site and gives their unique blog code to the ETIT. While using Kidblog in their computer specials, the students use the correct code to join their teacher(s) blog(s).

The Essentials for Using Kidblog Students and Teachers need the URL or a shortcut to their class blog site. Once at the class blog site, click “Log In” in the upper right of the screen, choose the correct name from a drop- down menu, and enter the password. Teachers can moderate (view, approve, edit, delete) posts and comments from the control panel dashboard. Page 10 Page 2

Writers can save a draft of a post if they don’t have time to complete it. If moderation is turned on, students will see a “Submit for Review” button instead of a “Publish” button. A teacher can post simultaneously to more than one class by using the broadcast setting when writing a new post. The Essentials for Using Kidblog Page 4