Jul
26
Blogtheworldcup – a huge success
July 26, 2010 | Leave a Comment
This blog has been quiet lately, for two reasons: firstly, I have moved house and BT in their wisdom are taking rather a long time to get me connected to broadband; secondly, I have been running a rather exciting project called Blogtheworldcup. It’s a collection of 32 blogs representing the 32 countries that took part, each blog being maintained by a class of children with their teacher.
To date the site has had over half a million hits (and it was only live 1 week before the Cup started) and has about 650 members blogging, commenting and interacting. What’s different about this site is that although it is based on WordPress, like all my school sites, it has the Buddypress plugin installed. This turns the site into something more akin to Facebook with users having the ability to update their own profile; “like” the posts of others; use the Twitter @ convention to send public messages; make forum posts and much more, all withinthe context of a techer moderated platform.
Here’s what some of those involved in the project thought:
David Mitchell, deputy head at Heathfield CPS, Bolton
Claire Cheesman, teacher, Summerland Primary, Auckland NZ
Simon Widdowson, teacher, Porchester Junior School, Nottingham
It has been a privilege to have been involved in this project from its inception and watching what the teachers and children did with their blogs. Here’s to the success of Blogtheolympics.net, it’s going to be quite a ride.
Any Creative Blogs schools interested in adding Buddypress to their sites, please get in touch to discuss it.