The other day I received a quick question.
“Hi Chris! Is there a free user-friendly website maker that you would recommend for kids to use?”
My answer changes depending on who is making the website and for their situation but here is a quick guide that can help point you in the right direction. While there are a number of additional sites you can review which can be found on Wikipedia and fellow Mainer Richard Byrne’s Site below are the ones I recommend that you focus on.
Google Sites & Blogger: If your school uses Google Apps for Education then you already have a google account and may have access to Google Sites and Blogger depending on how your administration has enabled the different apps. Google Sites offers more flexibility and Blogger, I have found that Blogger is easier to use. This is especially true for younger students.
If you are going to be creating a blog then the choice between the two is simple, blogger.
Teachers can set up a classroom blogger account and then add students as “authors” so they can contribute and collaborate on content.
For a more static website, the choice becomes a bit murky. A simple static website blogger can still be used and you can add a menu to the site of the pages you add with this quick set of instructions.
If the site you are going to create is more complex or will require more creative freedom in the layout then Google Sites is the direction you should lean. A key benefit of Google Sites is the collaborative nature of the Google apps. The teacher can create the site and the main page and then add students as editors.
Weebly – Weebly for education is another excellent choice. The site is useful for teachers and offers teacher control over student content as well. The site is also helpful for schools that may restrict access to Youtube but still want to incorporate multimedia on the site since Weebly will host the video for you. The service also allows the integration of a blog like Blogger and WordPress.com do
WordPress.com – Not to be confused with wordpress.org, wordpress.com offers a free hosted option for websites. While WordPress the world’s leading blogging software it is also and excellent option for publishing a more static website without a blog. With so many professional organizations using wordpress software as their backend WordPress can be an excellent option for middle and high school students who may be asked to use the tool beyond school. The service offers a high level of configurability and teachers can set up their own sites and invite students as collaborators.
WordPress is also what I recommend hands down for teachers ready to put together their personal and professional portfolio site. Not necessarily a blog but I firmly believe that each teacher should have a portfolio site that showcases their teaching philosophy and houses examples of their work. Whenever possible I recommend springing the $10 a year to register YourFirstNameYourLastName.com even if you are using the free wordpress.com service.
WordPress offers the greatest flexibility for growth. While wordpress.com is one option there are also options to self host your wordpress site using a paid host such as BlueHost.com or one of many others. Your site can easily be backed up and moved from one provider to another if the need ever arose. And if your site were to grow into something more there are countless wordpress developers who can help you customise your site later on.
I’ve been considering putting together a workshop that covers developing a professional portfolio site as well as integrating blogging in the classroom. Let me know if what you think would be useful to include in such a workshop? And of course, if you might be interested in knowing when the workshop goes live.
Jo
What a good resource. I’ve had weebly and wordpress (both com and org) sites, and I would say that weebly is much easier to learn than wordpress, but you can do so much more with wordpress. So there are pros and cons to each 🙂
Rachel
How interesting! Thanks for this helpful info. Do you think Squarespace or Wix would also work for these types of sites?
bergeron
Hi Rachel,
I have seen teachers use Wix before for sites they run as adults, the challenge when working with children are the sites need to be FERPA and COPPA compliant. Wix explicitly states in their terms of service that being 18 or older is required and Squarespace would be too costly for most and also lists in the terms of service that it is not for use by anyone under 13 and anyone older than 13 but younger than 18 needs to have formal parental concent. Even with the two weeks for free, it can be a bit much for teachers to jump through.
Chris
Lacey
I think using Blogger in a classroom and adding the students as authors is a great way to introduce kids to publishing online! I hadn’t heard of teachers doing this before and wish I would have had this opportunity in school. Great resource, Chris!
Alicia-Joy Pierre
Feeling old when I read things like this LOL. Teachers using websites and blogs as tools. Oh, how things have changed. It’s wonderful to see tech and learning integrating. There are so many possibilities, including children thinking of themselves as publishers (beyond snapchat & instagram)!
zoe
What a brilliant resource for teachers and kids alike. Thanks for creating this!
Karen Schindel Johnson
Great resources to check out. My unschooled 13yod is wanting to have her own website where she shares about our travels and creativity. Now I have a good starting point to share with her. Thanks.