What Blogging Tools Should Faculty & Students Use?

There are many blogging tools and web sites that will host blogs. WebCT and Blackboard also feature blogging tools. We don't recommend using WebCT and Blackboard for blogs however, because they defeat the basic purpose of blogging - free access to a blog. If students want to continue working on their blogs after the semester, they should use a blog tool and hosting site that provides 24x7 access on the Internet.

We have our students use Blogger (owned by Google) to create, manage and host their blogs. The reasons we recommend using Blogger are as follows:

1) Blogger is free - There is no charge to the student or your institution for using Blogger.
2) Blogger is very easy to learn to use - It is usually about 15 minutes from registration to completing the first posting on a blog.
3) You can maintain multiple blogs - With one Blogger account, you can have many blogs. Some students prefer to maintain blogs for classwork as well as personal blogs. This is very easy to manage with Blogger.
4) No Installation of Software is Required - Blogger works with any current web browser (such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox).
5) There is no Technical Support Burden on your Institution - Blogger is hosted and maintained by Google. Your IT staff won't give you dirty looks when you are walking across campus!

If you would prefer to use another blogging site for hosting, here are a few free ones we can also recommend:
Harvard (yes, that Harvard!)
Edublogs
Wordpress
Aeonity
Blogates
Blogthing