I am looking for a blog service or something similar that is suitable for teachers at my school. I hope someone can suggest something because I can’t quite find what I am looking for.
We want teachers to have a simple webpage that will contain links to syllabus related activities and information sources, and worksheets and Powerpoint presentations made by teachers. Very simple.
The problem is that the blog services I have seen don’t seem to offer integrated file hosting. Using a separate file host is going to make things complicated for teachers (the easier it is, the more likely teachers will adopt it).
We want something that:
[ol]
[li]Is as simple to use as possible (don’t want to design pages from scratch, or have to combine different web services).[/li][li]Can host MS Office files (worksheets and Powerpoints).[/li][li]Doesn’t require students to become a member.[/li][/ol]
Moodle, I believe, is free. You can probably set it up so that anonymous users can browse and don’t need to be a member.
Let me know how it goes. I’ve never needed to administer Moodle, but used it for a summer course once. Worked fairly well, and has integrated notes, calendars, and allows file uploads (from both teacher and student)
Rather than looking at blogs, you might want to try looking at wikis. Both blogs and wikis fit the “allow user to log in and create content from their web browser” model, but blogs are geared towards a reverse chronological journal model (newest posting first then the previous posting below that, and so forth) while wikis are a little more freeform.
At work, I’ve been playing with the free version of MindTouch Deki Wiki. It does fulfill all 3 of your requirements:
Users can update pages using a WYSIWYG editor that looks similar to the Word toolbar.
MS Office documents can be attached to pages (with the files being hosted by the wiki). As a bonus, it features WebDAV, which allows users to click on a hosted Office document, edit the document in the appropriate Office application, and automatically save it back to the wiki. Without WebDAV, they’d have to manually save the file to their local machine, open/edit/save using the Office application, and then manually upload it back to the wiki.
The wiki allows you to set permissions for users without accounts as a single group. So any user without a user account could be set to view only.
However, I would absolutely recommend against using this if you don’t have a technically-skilled person who can setup and administer this. MindTouch does offer some hosted options (you pay, they run the software on their server), but it’s a little on the pricey side. They do mention educational discounts, but I have no clue how much it affects the price nor that would fit your budget.
Also, if you went the MindTouch route, you’d probably want to go through and redact the name of the WYSIWYG editor. It’s a nice editor, but it has the less-than-kid-friendly name of “FCKeditor”. Yeah.
Anyway, I only mentioned MindTouch’s wiki option in detail because that’s what I’m familiar with. It might be worth searching for other wikis out there to see if any fit your needs better. WikiMatrix lets you compare the features of various wikis.
MindTouch, Moodle and WebCT would be great solutions but the one problem is that they need to be hosted. I would love to find a simpler solution, where teachers could just register and start posting/creating. Especially seeing I would be the one setting up, documenting and explaining everything (OK, I realise that is a bit lazy but I am a full-time teacher too!)
Its good to have some more options to take to my boss and colleagues though. Thanks again.
Have you thought of just doing a Google Group/Yahoo Group? I’m pretty sure both offer file sharing capabilities and it’s powered by a simple “Attach” button, just like Gmail or Yahoo Mail.
Hm… do you think you could rope one of the computer teachers into it? I’m sure they’d be itching for some hands on experience… after all, teaching kids how to type isn’t exactly stimulating.
No offence to any computer teachers here… just a very vague and tongue-in-cheek generalisation
Hey, I am one of the computer teachers! So no offence taken, you are pretty much correct (except these days, even primary school kids are doing interesting things in computer class.)
I don’t mind setting things up if necessary, I am just looking for the simplest solution. I would prefer not to go to a lot of trouble if other teachers are not going to take part (or use just a small fraction of the features.)
And Justin_Bailey, I will look into google groups.
