21+Classes

[|21 Classes] is an interactive blogging tool for the entire classroom. This group blog can have many different purposes, for example: to connect parents to students’ academic progress, to introduce students to working collaboratively online, or as a part of a computer/technology course project. The teacher creates his/her classroom home page and invites students to join the blog with or without having to have email accounts; the teacher simply will create a username and password for the student. The teacher possesses the power to review all accounts, keep posts private or public, and review all posts (modify, hide, delete, etc.) written by the students. Students are able to have their own blog space, create their own mini profiles, add text, and add images to their blog space. Students can read each others’ posts and comment/share ideas with each other and the teacher. 21 Classes blogs have all the basic capabilities of other blogs such as profile pages, image and video up-loaders, etc., but its unique factor is its group privacy and independent-yet-interconnected character.
 * Introduction: **

**Uses in the Classroom: **
The two layer feature of 21 classes offers teachers a wide variety of ways to blog and to get students involved in the blogging world. 21 classes is made of two layers, one for the teacher and the second layer is for the student blogs. Since the safety of the student blogs are protected, we cannot search the various ways students have used the tool, but teacher’s pages have offered various ways to use this tool. Some teachers use their blog to post calendars and assignment due dates as well as give access to parents to participate on the classroom blog. Other teachers used their page as a place to merely upload posts. Since 21 Classes offers the ability to post school calendars and special events, this blogging tool could be very resourceful for teachers, students and parents in all grade levels and content areas.

**Features: **

 * Students have independent blogs through which they can post text, images or videos. These blogs can be interconnected with other student’s blogs, and can feature multiple authors.
 * Students can either sign up for the blog using a preexisting e-mail account, or, if the students have no e-mail, can be added manually by the teacher/site administrator.
 * Site administrator has the option to exercise control over the publishing of questionable or sub-standard blog entries.
 * All entries can be set so that only registered users can view or comment on blog posts. This choice can also be given directly to the students, empowering them with deciding what is and is not appropriate for a public forum.
 * The site has a number of preset templates and color schemes. All templates can be custom made if the administrator is familiar with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
 * Photos that are uploaded are immediately resized to keep from taking up too much of the available webspace. Videos that are uploaded come from other video hosting sites (e.g. YouTube)
 * Teamblogs can be created in which all registered users can post, or closed reader groups can be created to restrict the viewing to select members.

**Pros: **

 * The teacher can create the accounts for the students without them having an email address
 * Teachers, students, and even parents can comment on the blogs
 * The teacher can view and control the content before it is published
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">There are multiple themes to choose from for the appearance of your blog
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The blogs have photo and video capabilities
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You can make the blog members only
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s free...kind of!

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cons: **

 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Only a few templates to choose from
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Only 10 students can be added to the teachers account and it costs a fee to add more
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For $79.00 a year you can have up to 100 students and have your own domain

**<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How to sign up: **
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Go to <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__www.21classes.com/shop/comparison__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Scroll down to the bottom of the free column and click on sign up <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3. Fill out required fields <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4. Click proceed <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5. Verify information and click setup my portal <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">6. The following page will offer the user information to setup their portal, such as writing posts, adding students, choosing layouts

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1. Click on student accounts tab <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2. Click on manage and add student accounts <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3. Change the number of accounts to how many students you have (remember you can only add 10 students to keep your account free) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4. Input student information <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5. Click Save, but make sure to email students their login information.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How to add a student: **

This video provides step-by-step directions for establishing a classroom blog.
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 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Artifact: **



Created By: Hayley Evans, Becca Linsenbigler, Kandace Rimmer, Britton Sanders

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