KidBlog Version 4 - Review

OK, so we are potentially in the minority of schools in that despite being a GAFE school who live within the Google EcoSystem, we do not use Blogger, instead we use a blogging platform called Kid Blog. I would like to complete a direct comparasion between Blogger and KidBlog at a later date, but for now I am going to present my initial impressions of KidBlog's new platform. 

Good:

1. Publishing options. KidBlog is now unique amongst the major Blogging platforms in that every post a user makes gives the blogger up to 4 publishing options, depending on what options the teacher has allowed.

	Teacher	Classmates	Connections	Public
What	Need to login to view, then only the teacher, student that has posted and any connected parents can view.	Need to login to view, then students in the class can view.	Need to login to view, then students in all connected classes (i.e. within the school) can view	Does not require login, just need to go to correct website to view.
When (suggested use)	Personal goals - assessment	Most posts from students. Posts from teachers that include student photos etc.		All Teacher notices for parents and students. Student posts that require a larger audience

2. Media Library and image editing. Our students were very engaged at this great update. Images can now be edited within KidBlog, including overlaying stickers and text, adding borders, cropping and enhancing . The below image is in my media library, so I can quickly insert text into the graphic.

3. Google Drive integration. KidBlog has always been a winner in my mind due to its integration of Google Drive. Past version have been temperamental in allowing instant embedding, but this appears to have been perfected. What does this mean? That any Doc, Presentation, spreadsheet, PDF, image and video can be inserted into a post with 1 click.

4. Post to multiple blogs. Post Broadcast has long been a popular feature of KidBlog. This great feature is now simply ‘Add to another Class’ meaning any post can be added to any blog the poster is a member of. Teachers can use this to post notices or learning links syndicate or school wide, while students can use this feature to add posts to other blogs they are members of, such as the Enviro Club or Maths Group.

5. Mobile Friendly - for any device. I have always appreciated that Kid Blog has a native IOS App, especially for inserting photos and videos directly into Kid Blog. This App has now been superseded by the KidBlog website been completely mobile friendly for any device. This means users are not restricted to a certain device, allowing me (for example) to take photos with my Android Phone within KidBlog and upload into posts.

Bad/Unsure?:

1. Historically I have vouched for KidBlog's great support. With the advent of their latest update it would appear that their time is being taken up in ironing out issues with Version 4 and not responding to individual user issues. I would like to think their support will be back to its high level in the near future.

2. Administrator options. In Version 3 an administrator had a lot of options - from resetting teacher passwords to changing the author of a post. These privileges appear to have been simplified with Version 4.

3. Ability to only show posts from Admins/Teachers only on the front page. This was a great feature of previous versions of KidBlog, basically allowing only teacher postings to be displayed on the landing page. I liked this as notices, learning links and workshops were always visible to students and parents, whereas now they can be overseen by students postings.

4. Group posting. There is still no way of groups that work together posting to all their blogs at once - or a teacher to post to another students blog. This creates a ‘double handling’ situation for me, where a collaborative video that multiple students have worked on has to be posted by every student in the group, rather than a ‘copy’ type feature where members can add other students who have contributed (yes, I know about tags and categories but I save these for other classifications - not users). The ability for a teacher to post to a students blog is also still missing - something that would make the portfolio process so much easier, especially in the junior years.

5. Notifications. Email notifications for teachers and connected parents when posts and comments are not (yet?) available. For the teacher that does not use Kid Blog day in day out, this is problematic, as students may be posting without their knowledge. It also takes away one of the greatest benefits for parents of being alerted to new posts.

Conclusion.

The features KidBlog have included with this update are next level. Some I had never thought of, but immediately made sense, while others I had been hoping for for a long time. The current problems are hopefully teething issues as the new version is still in BETA testing. Ka pai KidBlog :)

Related - Why I like KidBlog