Review by Patricia Monticello Kievlan, Common Sense Education | Updated March 2014
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Blogger

Get it now
  • Download on Google Play
  • Download from App Store

Sparse features offer limited access to a strong blogging platform

Subjects & skills
Subjects
  • English Language Arts
Skills
  • Communication & Collaboration
  • Character & SEL
Grades This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.
5–12
Great for:
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Price:  Free
Platforms:  Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Chrome

Take a look inside

4 images
The Blogger app provides easy access to Blogger posts.
Posting is a snap. Users can easily add text and images, and choose bold or italic, however the feature set ends there.
Viewing posted entries is easy, but accessing Blogger blogs through a browser offers more features and options.
Offers limited features for viewing and updating Blogger-based blogs.

Pros: Convenient navigation and clear design make for easy posting on the fly.

Cons: Posting features are extremely limited, and posts randomly appear and disappear.

Bottom Line: Students are better off accessing Blogger-based blogs through their devices’ browsers rather than through this app.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Teachers can use the Blogger app as a dedicated way for students to submit short, simple posts to a class blog. Teachers might also encourage students to post to their own blogs using the app, focusing on helping them compose thoughtful, well-reasoned text rather than multiple links to others’ content. 

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Standards:

Blogger is the Google app suite’s blogging platform. With a single Google login, users can create blogs and join as contributors on blogs others have created. The Blogger app brings that experience to a simple mobile interface. Users can view all their Blogger blogs at a glance and easily browse each blog’s list of posts. Creating a post is easy. Users can choose to tag their current location, post a saved photo, or take and upload a new photo. Creating a post with the Blogger app feels like the same experience as in other social media: Users can compose text, insert a photo from the camera roll, take a new picture, and tag a location from which the post was made.

Unfortunately, most of the Blogger website’s most useful features are not available through the Blogger app. The Web-based version of Blogger offers flexible features for posting and editing text, including options for inserting block quotes, embedded videos, and links. The inability to add links seems like the clearest oversight, as one of the strengths of blogging is the chance to enter into dialogues with others’ posts and other media.

Indeed, the most convenient way to use the Blogger app reliably is to compose posts in other apps on the device and then cut and paste them into the app itself. This multi-step process is cumbersome. A better solution seems to be to access Blogger through the device’s built-in browser rather than through this dedicated app. 

The Blogger app isn’t explicitly designed for learning, and it doesn’t seem like an especially reliable choice for education. With this app, users can’t select frequently used tags for their posts or include links, making it tough to create content that connects to other information on the blog or on the Internet as a whole. For an extremely simple blogging experience that demands thoughtful but simple entries from students, Blogger could be a fine choice. For anything more demanding, the app has stability issues, and drafts and posts seem to save inconsistently.

It’s a shame this app is as uneven as it is. Blogger is a reliable, flexible blogging platform, and this dedicated app provides surprisingly limited access to many of the features that make the platform a great choice for teachers. 

Overall Rating
Engagement Would it motivate students and hold their interest? Is it visually appealing? Would it inspire teachers to try something new or change their instruction?

Posting features echo other social media interfaces and are helpfully intuitive. Predicting when an entry will post properly or when it might disappear is difficult, however, making this a tough app to commit to regular use.

Pedagogy Does the tool help teachers promote a more student-centered experience? Will students gain conceptual understanding or think critically? Does it deepen teachers’ pedagogical thinking?

Without the ability to include links or to select from a list of frequently used tags for posts, the Blogger app limits users' ability to maximize use of the platform.

Support Can students and teachers get assistance when they need it? Is it created with people of different abilities and backgrounds in mind? Is learning reinforced and extended beyond the digital experience?

The at-a-glance index of blog posts makes this an especially readable way to track and assess a blog’s contents.

Common Sense Reviewer
Patricia Monticello Kievlan Foundation/nonprofit member
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Writing

  • W.5.4

    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

  • W.5.5

    With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

  • W.5.6

    With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of two pages in a single sitting.

  • W.6.4

    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

  • W.6.5

    With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

  • W.6.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting.

  • W.7.4

    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

  • W.7.5

    With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.

  • W.7.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.

  • W.8.4

    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

  • W.8.5

    With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.

  • W.8.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

  • W.9-10.4

    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

  • W.9-10.5

    Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.

  • W.9-10.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

  • W.11-12.4

    Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)

  • W.11-12.5

    Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.

  • W.11-12.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.

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