What are some good free hosts to create a class website for senior secondary students ?

I want a site to use as a portal where i can post general information and links to a class blog, twitter etc.. thanks.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Katie Muhtaris on May 29, 2011 at 7:35am

I've seen a lot of people using wordpress or blogger to create homepages these days. I also think if you have a google account you can make a webpage through them.

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Permalink Reply by Colleen Young on May 29, 2011 at 9:41am

For sharing information with my students and with staff too (as opposed to a site where we can all edit) I use WordPress (.com) and have been very pleased with it. I have several WordPress blogs. I am astonished at what you get for free!

For a site where my class and I can all collaborate then Wikispaces.

You can indeed use Google as Katie says. Blogger too is popular.

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Permalink Reply by chris on May 29, 2011 at 11:49am

Thanks. I thought that maybe a lot of teachers were using blogs as websites.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Durff on May 29, 2011 at 12:50pm

I use blogger to organize lessons for high schoolers. A wiki is better if you want student input however.

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Permalink Reply by chris on May 29, 2011 at 1:15pm

Thanks. I've been playing around with wordpress and blogger-- and blogger seems much more user friendly.

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Permalink Reply by Louis Malenica on June 2, 2011 at 9:37am

Hi Chris,

Yes Blogger is more user-friendly, but Wordpress has more power. You can create more of a website around it, whereas blogger is geared to, well, blogging.

Also, you can download wordpress and install it locally, if you have a server for it to run on.

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Permalink Reply by Johnathan Chase on May 29, 2011 at 6:57pm

My first year using wiki with a 12th grade government/economics class and very pleased with the results....great for blending text, media, visuals

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Permalink Reply by Janine on May 29, 2011 at 7:20pm

@ Johnathan Chase Would you post you wiki site? I am curious to see how you use it for academics. Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Johnathan Chase on May 30, 2011 at 5:41am

Showed my students this video in September to introduce wiki...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY

Here is the home page for our class wiki...

http://chaseusgovernment.wikispaces.com/

Class projects, assignments and activities are all listed in the margin to the left. Each is a link to a sub-page where the specific assignment is introduced. On many of the pages there are also links for students to post reponses on the wiki.

Assignments have evolved over the course of the year, began by focusing on collaborative writing and gradually my focus has shifted to individual responses. We didn't get to every assignment/activity this year, the oldest assignments are at the top of the list and the more recent at the bottom.

We just finished the Norma Rae Soundtrack activity early last week... a few students have yet to post a response. The "Waiting For Superman" activity just started this past week as well...we are still viewing the film in class.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Durff on May 30, 2011 at 1:20pm

Johnathan, Please take a look at http://www.globaleducationconference.com/index.html

I scanned your Global Cultural Exchange page on the wiki. It would be great if your students were to present in the GEC Student Strand about their experiences in your exchange! Have you looked at flatclassroomsprojects? I'm thinking this would be up your alley....!

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Permalink Reply by Johnathan Chase on June 2, 2011 at 4:12am

Thanks, I'll check it out

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Permalink Reply by Michael Cunningham on June 2, 2011 at 7:14am

Greetings,

I'm Michael Cunningham and I'm the Director of World Class Schools. WCS is a teacher led, teacher directed group who is the world's leader in video conferencing. We do a whole series of video conferencing. Please look at http://worldclasss.livejournal.com for more information on these programs.

For a video of former mock trials please go to http://vimeo.com/8455487 or http://vimeo.com/9587481

For information on exciting YMCA Mock trials we are offering this fall please look at the attachments. We will send you the cases and information as soon as we get it. Beginning in Sept. we will offer weekly scrimmages with other schools then a pre- district Tournament on Nov. 3, 4, 5. This will not cost you any money. All we need to know is if you rather do it web conferencing or video conferencing. We will do the rest. In April you can go up against schools from all over the world.

Register for YMCA Mock trial competitions for the fall at http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22CGDR5VQTA/

All of these are free of charge and are meant to help you prepare for district. We will have schools from all over the state and other countries involved.

To register for many other World Class Projects please go to http://delvallehighschool.wufoo.com/forms/world-class-schools-membe...

Sample programs include: Food For Thought

Spanish Language

Debate

and many more. The cost is free- the worth for your students is priceless.

Sincerely,

Michael Cunningham

mcunningham@del-valle.k12.tx.us