On May 5th, 2015 KidBlog officially released their new, visually enhanced platform. I was part of the Beta release for the platform so I have been using the new platform since February and had a chance to work out some of the kinks with the people over at KidBlog (so wonderful) and my district. In this post I will walk you through the new features and what to expect when migrating over.
New Features:
Well, clearly my favorite new feature is the visual format options for viewing posts since I am a visual-spatial enrichment teacher! The image format seems more stimulating to me but if you prefer the old list view, no worries, it is still an option. They really have thought about everything while keeping it clean and simple looking.
I'd say my second favorite new feature is the ability to comment with a picture. When my students are doing research sometimes I like to comment on their posts with picture suggestions. If perhaps they seem to have missed something in the lesson I can post a Google Slide or Prezi in a comment for them to review and tweek their post. I can even make these posts private (available before but now it looks even cuter).
Finally, I'm really excited about connecting classes in the new KidBlog platform. It is so much easier to do and to understand visually. I'm experimenting with it by connecting two of my enrichment classes from different schools. I would really like to connect with another class somewhere else in the United States or across the world. If you think our classes would be a good match, send me an email (you can find it on my contact page) or leave a comment below.
- Visually engaging post screen
- More options for commenting (pictures, google slides)
- Easier to connect with classes from around the world
- Cute fonts
- Fun avatars!
- Header images that save time (you don't have to search the internet for a picture if one of the headers works).
- Easier for teachers to manage multiple classes
- Easier to find posts through filters
- Cleaner look all around
Well, clearly my favorite new feature is the visual format options for viewing posts since I am a visual-spatial enrichment teacher! The image format seems more stimulating to me but if you prefer the old list view, no worries, it is still an option. They really have thought about everything while keeping it clean and simple looking.
I'd say my second favorite new feature is the ability to comment with a picture. When my students are doing research sometimes I like to comment on their posts with picture suggestions. If perhaps they seem to have missed something in the lesson I can post a Google Slide or Prezi in a comment for them to review and tweek their post. I can even make these posts private (available before but now it looks even cuter).
Finally, I'm really excited about connecting classes in the new KidBlog platform. It is so much easier to do and to understand visually. I'm experimenting with it by connecting two of my enrichment classes from different schools. I would really like to connect with another class somewhere else in the United States or across the world. If you think our classes would be a good match, send me an email (you can find it on my contact page) or leave a comment below.
Advice on Migrating
I ran into a couple of bumps along the way when migrating over to the new Kidblog but the developers and my school's IT crew were very responsive in fixing the problems so my students could enjoy the new platform. Watch out for the following:
- Students aren't able to upload pictures. This means that some of the back end sites are being blocked by your district. You can check this out by clicking on where it says "version 4.3" at the bottom of your settings page. It will tell you which sites are being blocked so you can inform your IT department. I have included pictures of this in the slideshow.
- Links are disappearing from the sidebar after you save them. This happened to me in the beginning. I would add some links and they would disappear when I went to view the site. I contacted Kidblog and the issue was resolved very quickly.
- Students do not have access to premium features even though you purchased premium membership in the old platform. This one is still being resolved for me. My students really want to chose avatars, backgrounds, and fonts but we will just have to wait patiently right now for this to be resolved. I'm not sure if this is happening to anyone else. It might just be an issue for people who are migrating over from the old platform.