21Classes.com - Get Your Students Blogging

Quite a useful service, 21 Classes aim to let teachers and students have a space where they can meet outside the classroom and communicate with each other. This way, a more realized learning experience can hopefully be achieved. Teachers can review entries as well as making important announcements, whereas students can receive feedback almost instantly. A nice touch is that students do not need to disclose information such as their e-mail addresses in order to get going.

As regards the actual setup and layout, the teacher can customize the headers as well as choosing a suitable template for his students to feel comfortable with. CSS editing is fully taken into account, too.

This service is essentially free, although it is always possible to upgrade to a paid plan. Features of this on-demand upgrade option includes a bigger number of student blog accounts (up to 100 – the free edition supports only 10), as well as the ability to use a domain of its own. All in all, a very well-focused service that I am certain can further education by giving teachers and students more channels for interaction.

“Create a virtual classroom and BlogPortal. Instant use, hosted, free.”

Any resource that strengthens the educational process will deservedly do well.

Are there companies providing related services, or is this one the first solution of its kind to surface?