How to Enable Spell Check in Blogger
Yesterday afternoon I answered an email from an old colleague who needed a little help with a frustrating little setting in Blogger. She wanted her students to be able to spell check their weekly reflection blog posts before they published them. Her frustration was caused by the fact that Blogger doesn’t have a built-in spell […]
How to Make a Backup Copy of Your Blog
Last Friday evening a portion of the blogging community got a bit nervous when Blogger (Google’s blogging platform) started throwing up lots of error messages. In some cases people reported having blog posts completely disappear. Fortunately, everything was corrected fairly quickly, but it was a nervous hour or so for some bloggers. Blogger’s hiccup last […]
How Prevent Weird Formatting in Your Blog Post Editor
A couple of weeks ago during Two Ed Tech Guys Take Questions and Share Cool Stuff someone asked why her blog posts don’t appear correctly when copying from a Word document into the blog post editor. Similarly, formatting gets weird when copying from a Google Document into a blog post editor. The reason for this […]
A Few Overlooked Ways to Customize Google Sites
In a recent article about using digital portfolios for assessment I mentioned using Google Sites and Blogger. Neither of those tools are known for being aesthetically outstanding. In fact, I’d say they’re very plain at best. That said, there are some little tweaks that you can make to Google Sites to improve site navigation and […]
How to Embed Google Calendar Into Blogger, WordPress, and Google Sites
Last week I got a couple of questions about an old video of mine in which I demonstrated embedding Google Calendar into Blogger. Google Calendar and Blogger have changed in the years since I made that video. That’s why last night I decided to create the following new video about how to embed Google Calendar […]
A Comparison of 6 Blogging Services for Teachers and Students – Updated
About five years ago I assembled a series charts that compared the features of ed tech tools that served similar purposes. Some of the charts I made were about video tools, animation tools, timeline tools, digital portfolios, and blogs. To start 2020 I’m revisiting those charts and updating them to better reflect the current features […]
An Easier Way to Add Images to Blogger Posts
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve received a few emails from people who were having trouble with images not loading on Blogger blog posts. I’ve also had a couple of little issue with image uploads. The trouble appears to be that the default image uploader in Blogger doesn’t fully load. The work-around for the […]
How to Embed Google Docs Into Your Blog Posts
One of the things that makes Google Documents popular is that you can easily publish your documents for anyone to read online even if they don’t have Google accounts of their own. How to Embed a Google Doc Into Your Blog You can do this by choosing the “publish to the web” option found in […]
5 Ways to Enhance Your Classroom Blog
A classroom blog can be used for so many purposes that it is still one of the things that I think every class should have. A blog can be used for communicating important information to parents and students, it can be used by students as a journal to reflect on lessons, it can be used […]
How to Change Your Blogger Favicon
Blogger is a popular choice for creating classroom blogs and personal blogs because it can be accessed through your Google account and because it is easy to use to start a blog. In a matter of a few minutes you can have a new blog up and running through Blogger. Blogger offers lots of simple […]
How to Remove the Default Navigation Bar on Blogger Blogs
Blogger provides anyone who has a Google account with a quick and easy way to start a blog. I have been using it for more than a decade for a variety of blogging projects and I’ve introduced it to many teachers over the years. The question about Blogger that I am asked more than any […]
Edublogs Explains How to Handle Student Blogs at the End of the Year
The end of the school year will be here before too long. For many of you it’s only about six weeks away. If you and your students have been blogging along this year, you might be wondering what you should do with those blogs when the year ends. Do you leave them floundering in the […]
Save Time by Creating Templates for Your Blog Posts
One of the reasons that I frequently hear given for not updating classroom or school blogs on a regular basis is “it takes too much time.” If you’re not in the habit of writing blog posts on a regular schedule it can take a lot of energy to get the blogging ball rolling. One way […]
How to Create Featured Blog Posts
A couple of weeks ago, in anticipation of the Edublogs Student Blogging Challenge, I updated my chart of recommended classroom blogging tools. If you’re participating in the blogging challenge, you might find yourself wanting to feature a post at the top of the blog. This could be a post that contains important information about the […]
A Comparison of Blogging Services for Teachers and Students
The Edublogs Student Blogging Challenge kicks-off two weeks from now. You don’t need to be an Edublogs user in order for your students to participate in the challenge. If you’re new to blogging or new to having students blog, Edublogs is a solid choice for a blogging platform. Edublogs isn’t the only option for student […]
Five Things That Help Me Develop Blog Post Ideas
I write a lot of blog posts. Over the last decade I’ve written more than 15,000 of them. That’s 1,500 per year for an average of 4.1 per day for ten years. Naturally, I am frequently asked, “how do you come up with blog post ideas?” Here’s an overview of where my ideas for blog […]
A Great Place to Find WordPress Tutorials
Creating a classroom or personal blog on hosted services like Blogger, Weebly, or Edublogs is rather quick and easy process. Services like these provide easy-to-follow templates and manage all of the software and security updates that a lot of people don’t want to spend time fussing with. But if you blog long enough there may […]
Google Finally Removes “Next Blog” Link from Blogger
For as long as I can remember people have complained about the “next blog” link that appears by default at the top of Blogger blogs. No one likes it because it can lead visitors to random blogs that may or may not be appropriate for classrooms. For many years I’ve taught people how to change […]
A Replacement for the Deprecated “Announcements” Element in Google Sites
Google’s replacement of the classic version of Google Sites with a new version has left some people wishing that Google had left Sites well enough alone. The new version doesn’t, yet, have all of the features of the classic version and it may never get all of them. For example, the “announcements” feature of the […]
The Services I Recommend for Classroom Blogging Today
I started blogging with students twelve years ago. I started this blog eleven years ago. Over that time I’ve seen a lot of new blogging services pop-up and disappear a few years later. But there are two services that have stood the test of time that I recommend today whenever someone asks me which service […]
How to Schedule Blog Posts
Posting on a consistent schedule is one of the keys to maintaining interest in any blog. One of the best ways to maintain a consistent schedule is to use the scheduling tools that are built into most blogging services. By using the scheduling tools you can write a bunch of posts at once and have […]
Comparison and Explanation of Classroom Blog Services
On Friday I shared ideas for managing academic blogs. If you haven’t started a blog yet, choosing the right blogging platform can help you manage your classroom blog in the long run. Before we answer the question of which blog platform to use we need to understand some terminology commonly used when talking about blogs. Understanding […]
Three Classic Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2018
Over the last decade I’ve reviewed thousands of free educational technology tools. Some have been a hit, some haven’t, and some have stood the test of time to become “classics” in the world of educational technology. Here are three classics with which every educational technology specialist should be familiar. Scratch Scratch is a is a free […]
Thinking of Starting a Blog in 2018? – Here Are My Recommendations
Are you thinking about starting a blog in 2018? If you are, here are my recommendations based on more than a decade of daily blogging. Classroom Blogging If you want to start a blog to use with your students my first recommendation is to try Edublogs. It runs on the powerful WordPress platform but doesn’t […]
Blogging with Students
Blogging is a great way to provide all students with the opportunity to have their voices heard. Blogging is also a convenient way to connect your students with students from around the world. Seven Blogging Platforms for Teachers Compared and Ranked Provides a snapshot of different popular blogging platforms so you can compare them quickly […]
Every Teacher Should Have a Blog – Still True
Almost ten years ago I published a little cartoon to illustrate one of the reasons that every teacher should have a blog. It’s still as true today as it was nearly ten years ago. Take a look… Every Teacher Should Have a Blog from Richard Byrne Want help getting your blog started? Join me tomorrow […]
A Blogger Privacy Setting You Might Want to Use
Blogger can be a good choice for many classroom blogs. One of its selling points for schools that use G Suite for Education is that students can log-in by using their school-issued Google Accounts. Another great aspect of Blogger is that you can get a blog started in a manner of minutes. But with that […]
Three Thoughts About Making Time to Blog
A few years ago I was speaking at a conference in Arizona when I was asked, “what do you say to teachers who say I don’t have time for a blog?” I’ve been asked many variations on that question in the years since. Here’s my advice: First, don’t think of blogging as something you have […]
Built to Last – Blogging With Edublogs and Blogger
This November will mark the tenth anniversary of Free Technology for Teachers. Over those ten years I have reviewed thousands of free resources for teachers and students. Some of those free resources have come and gone in a blaze of glory (remember when Second Life and Nings were the cat’s meow?) while others have stood […]
How to Make a Blogger Blog Private
Recently, I received an email from a reader who had seen my comparison of classroom blogging tools and wanted to know more about how to make a Blogger blog private. I recorded the following video to illustrate how to set a Blogger blog as private. About once a week I’m asked what I use to […]
Blogs in the Age of Google Classroom
This week at ISTE 17 there will plenty of buzz about Google products and products that integrate with Google Classroom. Google, and some Google devotees, will have you believe that Google Classroom is the solution to almost every workflow and communication problem you have. Google Classroom does provide some good solutions to workflow and communication […]
Lessons from 12,000 Blog Posts – Video
For the last six weeks on my YouTube channel I’ve been sharing short lessons that I’ve learned from publishing more than 12,000 blog posts over the last ten years. This morning I created one more video to summarize all of those lessons. That video, which was recorded live on YouTube, is embedded below. Information about […]
Edublogs Publishes a Report on the State of Educational Blogging
Edublogs, a popular student blogging service, recently published the findings of their annual survey to gather feedback from teachers, students, and school administrators about their use of educational blogs. This year 688 people completed the survey, down from 777 last year, but up from the 587 two years ago. Sue Waters wrote a detailed report […]
If I Was Starting Free Technology for Teachers Today…
I am frequently asked about how I started Free Technology for Teachers. In response to that question I always tell the story about starting it as a hobby that I never thought would turn into the business that it has become. As a follow-up to that, I usually share what I would have done differently […]
Winning Blog Strategies – Webinar This Thursday
Helping teachers create blogs and or re-start dormant blogs is one of my favorite things to do. In fact, last week I ran a three hour workshop for that purpose. If you don’t have three hours to invest in a workshop, join me online on Thursday at 4pm EST to learn about winning blog strategies that […]
How to Add Page Tabs to Blogger Headers
Blogger has a bunch of little features and options that are often overlooked by new users. One of those options is adding static page tabs to the header of your blog. Someone recently sent me an email about how this option works. In the video embedded below I demonstrate how to add page tabs to […]
7 Blogging Tools for Teachers Compared and Ranked – Updated for 2017
One of last year’s most popular posts featured my chart comparing seven popular blogging tools for teachers and students. Given the recent update to Edublogs I thought it was time to update my chart and rankings of blogging tools for teachers and students. You can view the chart here as a Google Doc or as […]
Edublogs Now Offers Pro Features for Free!
Edublogs is a blogging service designed for classrooms. For the last four or five years many of the services that they offered were only available to people who subscribed to the “Pro” version of Edublogs at a cost of $39.95/year. Most of those “Pro” features will be available for free beginning today. The Edublogs Pro […]
Blogging Platforms for Teachers Compared and Ranked – Best of 2016
As I usually do during this week, I’m taking some time off to relax, ski, and work on some long-term projects for the next year. This week I will be re-publishing the most popular posts of 2016. By the way, if you want to learn more about using blogs in school, join Blogs & Social […]
Emojis and More Special Characters in Blogger
This isn’t groundbreaking, but you can now use emojis in Blogger. About a week or two ago a new icon appeared in the “compose” mode in Blogger. That icon represents the special characters that you can insert into your Blogger blog posts. Those special characters include emojis. They also include more practical things like arrows, […]
16 Things You Can Do To Add More Functions to Your Classroom Blog
After you have identified some goals for your blog and created its basic framework, you’ll might find yourself asking, “what else can I do with my blog?” There are lots of third-party functions that you can add to most blogs. I like to add the Remind widget to classroom blogs. Similarly, most blogging platforms have […]
How to Password Protect Blog Posts
On Monday night I received an email from a reader who was looking for a way to have his students blog and share pictures without making the posts completely public. There are two ways that I suggest doing this. In Blogger you can restrict access to a blog by selecting the private option and specifying […]
How to Save Space and Time When Using Images in Your Blog
Whenever I publish a new blog post, I include an image in the post. Including an image helps draw readers in and it helps grab attention when it is shared on places like Pinterest and Facebook. Folks who blog frequently may find it tiresome to look for new images all the time. Likewise, in a […]
How to Add Label Clouds to Blogger Blogs
Adding a label cloud or tag cloud to your blog can provide visitors with a convenient way to search for older content within your blog. Rather than scrolling through your archives or performing a keyword search, visitors simply click on a label in the label cloud to find all of the posts related to that […]
82 Google Tools Tutorial Videos
I offer online and in-person workshops on Google Apps for Education, but I’m aware that sometimes all a person needs is just a two or three minute demonstration on a particular tool in order to get understand it. That’s why a few years ago I started to create short tutorials on a variety of tools […]