How to create your own Kidblog

April 28, 2014

kidblogKidblog allows teachers to easily create a class blog in which students may create blog posts, but all submissions must be approved before being posted. Students do not need email addresses to join. Additionally, the site is secure and students must login in order to read blog posts.

Upon signing up, I immediately found two problems with the "Basic Free" version of Kidblog: a 100MB storage limit and strict limits on filetypes that can be uploaded. I needed students to be able to upload images, Twine games, and HTML files. I also quickly realized that Kidblog is built on WordPress and that with the right plugins, I could create by own version of Kidblog.

There were only three plugins that were needed to create a Kidblog-esque blog:

  1. Add Multiple Users – by HappyNuclear | Visit plugin site –This plugin allows you to add multiple user accounts to your Wordpress blog using a range of tools including CSV. Create Contributor accounts for students. Contributors are able to create posts, but their posts must then be approved by an Admin before being published.
  2. Upload Media For Contributors – by GeekPress | Visit plugin site – This plugin adds the ability to upload media for the contributors of your site.
  3. Restricted Site Access – by Jake Goldman, 10up, Oomph | Visit plugin site – This plugin limits access to your site to users who are logged in or accessing the site from a set of specific IP addresses. Send restricted visitors to the log in page, redirect them, or display a message or page. Powerful control over redirection, including SEO friendly redirect headers.

 

Edit 8-1-15: Additional plugins that were helpful were Export User Data by Q Studio, Iframe to Embed by sw-galati.ro, Improved User Search in Backend by David Stöckl, Title to Tags by Thomas J. Belknap, WP User Avatar by flippercode, and Menus by dsader.
 




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