Russell Street School Blog Review

I can tell that the Russell Street School put a lot of effort into their blog. Their dedication is evident. This school is busy doing good things. It was fun to see what they had been learning and doing. There were several things that I liked, but there were things that didn't float my boat either. 

I liked that it the school was connected. All of the classes had a blog. Readers could find the link to every class. I liked that the posts incorporated a wide variety of post types. (List, Links, Multimedia, etc). The school was united in connecting the school to home. I liked how I could see the student work through not just pictures, but videos as well. 
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I didn't like several things about the blog. To me, it seemed chaotic, scattered, and too full of information. It's good to be connected to parents, but this seemed a bit much. I was overwhelmed with navigating to the class sites. I think it would be more beneficial if it were a simpler set-up. Most of the information on the main page could be included in a website. On the website, they could have a fixed section telling the locations of the different class blogs. They kind of did it on this blog, but it was too cluttered. 

I can tell they put a lot of work into the blog. It has great potential. I know they discontinued the blog to switch to School Stream. If they were to ask my advice on the blog, it would be: stay simple and connected. It can be technically advanced while still being simple. 

Comments

  1. PhilomenaJuly 29, 2018 at 10:51 AM

    I agree that the blog area needed to have it's own section in some way. It was a little confusing at first. I am glad that I wasn't the only one who felt overwhelmed while surfing this website. I really enjoyed the content and looking at everything going on (all great things)...but it needed a little more organization. And, I think removing the older, outdate items (at least to a certain point) would help.
    Philomena :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BreanneCJuly 30, 2018 at 11:09 AM

      I agree, the content was great, but organization could improve. Removing the outdated material would definitely help.

      Delete
  2. UnknownJuly 29, 2018 at 11:51 AM

    I agree with both of you. Visually, the blog seemed to have too much happening. The blog's organization was not clean and orderly. Maybe that cannot happen with a blog for elementary students, but it seemed chaotic to me, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BreanneCJuly 30, 2018 at 11:10 AM

      I think it would be better suited as a website. Having the class blogs is good, but it just got covered up in the clutter.

      Delete
  3. UnknownJuly 29, 2018 at 10:02 PM

    I agree with everyone about the clutter and the overall organization of the site and blog. It seemed a bit overwheimjng to get a feel for what was on there. I also wonder how many people actually visit the sites and read the blogs. Is it being effective or how do they plan to measure this. Just some thoughts that I get when I think of what their purpose/goal might have been.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BreanneCJuly 30, 2018 at 11:13 AM

      I got very overwhelmed as well. That's a great question, which is applicable to all of us as teachers. We want blogs, but how will we measure their effectiveness? The blog here seemed to have a lot of purposes. One was school news. Another was ads. Another was blogs. I think they should stick to one purpose. I think that would help in effectiveness.

      Delete
  4. UnknownJuly 30, 2018 at 12:05 AM

    After reading your post, I went back and looked at the blog again. It does seem to be a bit cluttered and all over the place.I think that the parents and the school know the site better than us so it might make sense to them. The navigation is confusing and would benefit from some redesign. The main blog page has too many post to scroll down to. This should have been limited to the last few then had an archive by month on the side. Overall, I do like the use of blogging by this school. They do a much better job than most schools in my district.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BreanneCJuly 30, 2018 at 11:15 AM

      I agree. The students and parents who have had years of experience know this site better than we do. I want to create a blog for my class. My goal is simplicity yet providing information.

      Delete
  5. UnknownAugust 1, 2018 at 5:35 PM

    I'm with Ralph, I went back and reevaluated it and you're all right, it was a bit busy. When your eye doesn't have a good place to rest, it's hard to view a website.

    ReplyDelete

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