WordPress

= Communication Tool: WordPress = Group Members: Caitlin Mundt & Chelsie Timm


 * Screenshot or Logo of the tool**

Brief introduction of the tool
This communication tool is known as WordPress.com. It provides the user with their own web address (like username.wordpress.com) and its primary purpose is for users to blog. The blogs are free (unless you choose the premium option) and you can make the blog public or visible to only your friends. WordPress also shuts down spam blogs to keep users information safe and private, and the speedy website features quick blogging and uploading of files, videos, and pictures. Users' blogs can be as public or private as they want, and they are able to feel safe knowing that their information is safe and that their friends will be able to find their blogs in no time using easy tag words.


 * ===//Advantages of the tool//===

There are quite a few advantages to using WordPress. It is free, fast to setup, and easy to learn. It has a lot of plugins and templates available, and the templates are easy to modify so that you can customize the presentation layers to your content. It also has a large and active open community of people developing add-ons, plugins, and themes frequently. It is easy to host with simple requirements as well.
 * ===//Disadvantages (limitations) of the tool//===

There are also disadvantages to using WordPress. Many of the themes have a tendency to look the same or similar. The PHP's track record for security is pretty bad. The database queries may be pretty heavy, and it is not a full content management system product.

Application of the tool in your subject area
For elementary school teachers, ease of lesson is extremely important. However, it is unlikely that children in the younger grade levels would have the reading and writing skills necessary to blog on a site such as WordPress.com. There is one great use of this tool however – communication with parents. At the beginning of the school year, a teacher could give out his/her WordPress.com URL, and parents can sign up to follow it. In his/her blog posts, the teacher could give updates on what the students did that day in class, include videos or pictures, and even upload lesson plans, so parents have a very detailed idea of what their children are doing every day in their classroom. Parents would really appreciate this tool because they would feel very included in the lesson plans, and teachers would have a way of getting feedback on their lessons and build stronger relationships with the parents of the students. Also, this tool could help the students in the way that parents could understand more of what they are learning, and perhaps parents could help students continue their lessons at home, so learning isn’t confined to only the classroom. Eventually, as students get older, they could follow their teachers’ blog posts themselves, and the blog posts could go from updates of the day’s activities to explanations of homework assignments or a personal look inside the lives of the teachers. Either way, blog posts are a very effective tool for teachers’ general communication, with both parents AND students.

Find a tutorial video on YouTube
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//List of key features showed in the tutorial://
- How to create an account - How to change your password - How to create a blog post - How to import a files/images/videos - How to manage blogs - How to edit options - How to use and organize widgets - How to create/update your profile

Useful Resources
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