Welcome to the fifth step in our free professional learning series on class and student blogging!

The aim of this step is to:

  1. Explain how widgets are used on class blogs.
  2. Introduce you to the commonly used class blog widgets.
  3. Show you how to change widgets and add widgets to your sidebar.


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What are widgets?

The term widget refers to any tool or content that you add, arrange, or remove from the sidebar(s) of your blog — these are the blocks that make up your sidebar.

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How widgets are used on class blogs

Widgets are used for a wide range of purposes including to:


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Widgets and blog design

There are hundreds of different widgets you can add to the sidebar of your blog using embed code in a text widget but when adding any widget you need to think about the design of your blog. Widgets can be noisy, take up a lot of space, and may distract readers.

When adding widgets think about whether it adds to your blog OR does it distract readers from your posts? You need to have a balance between widgets and your blog content; you want people to read your posts!

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How to add widgets

Adding a widget is as simple as follows:

1.  Go to Appearance > Widget.

widgets

2.  Click on the arrow on the desired Sidebar to open up the sidebar (so you can add the widgets).

3.  Drag the widget from the Available Widgets into the desired Sidebar.

You drag by clicking on the widget with your left mouse button and moving the widget.

4.  Drop the widget when you see a dashed line appear –- this indicates the widget is in place.

Add widgets

5.  The widget will automatically open — just configure, click Save, and then Close.

Widget Video tutorial


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How to remove widgets

Removing a widget is as simple as:

1.  Go to Appearance > Widget.

widgets

2.  Click on the small arrow on the right hand side of the widget you want to remove.

3.  Click Delete.

This returns the widget to the Inactive Widget area.


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Overview of Available Widgets

Here’s a summary of the main widgets you’ll find in your dashboard and what they are used for:

Archives Used to organize your previously published posts by month. Handy for readers who want to browse for older content. To save space on your sidebar, change the configuration to ‘Display as a dropdown’
Blog Avatar Used to display your blog avatar (uploaded via Settings > Blog Avatar).
Calendar Displays links to your posts by date on a calendar. Can’t be used as an Events calendar.
ClustrMaps A simple widget for quickly adding a ClustrMaps to your blog sidebar. It’s added when the Widget plugin is activated in Plugins.
Custom Menu Allows you to display pages, categories, and custom links with a single widget. To use, you first need to set up your custom menu in Appearance > Menu.
Email Subscriptions A simple widget for adding email subscription to your blog. When readers sign up, they get an email to let them know when you’ve published a new post.
Links Used to display a list of links in your sidebar. It’s commonly used to share your favorite blogs or websites with your readers.
Meta Simple widget for easy log in and log out of your blog, to access your dashboard and to locate your RSS feed.
Pages Displays a list of your pages in the sidebar. Commonly used for themes that don’t have page links in the top navigation.
Recent Comments Displays the most recent comments left on your blog by readers.
Recent Posts Displays the most recent posts you have published. This makes it easier for readers to see what’s new on your blog.
Search Adds a search box to your sidebar that makes it easier for readers to search the contents of your blog.
 Tag cloud Displays a cloud of the tags that you’ve assigned to posts. It helps your readers quickly see what topics you write about.
 Text Allows you to add text or embed code to your sidebar. This is a very useful widget because you can use it to add content from other sources to your sidebar using their embed code (Note: only available on Pro or CampusPress blogs).

Some widgets are also added to your widget area when you activate plugins.


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Add widgets using embed code in text widgets

The handiest widget you’ll find in your dashboard is the text widget.

You can add any other widgets you find on the internet by pasting their embed code into a text widget in your sidebar.

This is how you add widgets from Voki, Flag Counter, Google Calendar and so on!

We’ve added links to popular widgets in our Pinterest cool widgets board.  Clicking on a widget takes you to the website where you can grab the embed code.

Adding a widget from another website is as simple as: 1, 2, 3….

1.  When on the widget website, copy the embed code for the widget you want to add. Highlight the code with your mouse or press Control A (Command A) to select all.

Then copy by right clicking on your mouse and selecting copy. Or, press Control C (Command C). 

Copy embed code

2.  Go to Appearance > Widgets.

widgets

3.  Drag a text widget into your sidebar.Add Text Widget

4.  Click on the text tab in a text widget in your sidebar.

Click on Text Tab

5.  Paste the embed code into the text widget.

Right click on your mouse and select Paste. Or press Control V (Command V).

Flag counter embed code

5.  Click Save and Close.

6.  You should now see the widget in your sidebar.


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Commonly used visitor tracking widgets

Visitor tracking widgets are popular on class blogs because:

  • Knowing you’re writing for a global audience is incredibly motivating for students.
  • Realizing people from other countries are reading what’s been written increases students’ interest and excitement. This can motive students to blog.
  • It also provides built-in geography lessons — many students constantly check for new visitors and enjoy finding out more about the countries where their visitors are from.

Class blogs often use more than one visitor tracking widget as each widget provides different information about visitors to the blog.

Tracking widgets

Here’s a quick overview of the most commonly used visitor tracking widgets on class blogs:

ClustrMaps ClustrMaps is a thumbnail hit counter map widget that shows the geographical location of all visitors to your blog. Number of visitors from a location is indicated by the relative size of the dot.
 Flag Counter Flag Counter widget shows the total number of visitors from each country next to the country’s flag. Every time someone from a new country visits your site, a new flag will be added to your counter. Clicking on the flag counter takes you to your Flag counter page which provides more detailed charts and information about your visitors.
Revolver Map Revolver Map displays all visitor locations and recent hits live and in realtime on a revolving globe of the Earth. A click on the widget opens the live statistics page.

Read more about how to add these widgets to your sidebar.


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Link widgets on class blogs

Links widgets are commonly used on a class blog to provide links to other class blogs, student blogs, and resources— they are designed to help you, your students, and other readers.

Traditionally, the most common type of link widget you’ll hear mentioned is a blogroll. Bloggers commonly use blogrolls to list their favorite blogs. Blogrolls help readers locate other blogs worth reading — you are saying, “These are some blogs I like which are worth checking out!”

Blogrolls on class blogs are used often used to provide links to student blogs, other class blogs they interact with, or resources.

Please note:

  • If you are using the My Class tool, you add links to your student blogs by adding the Class Blogs widget to your sidebar. You don’t have to add each student blog individually.
  • You can read about managing student blogs using My Class here!

Here is how you create links to websites or blogs:

1.  Go to Links > Add New.

Add New

2.  Add the name of the website or blog to the Name Module.

3.  Add the URL to the Web Address module.

Best option is to copy/paste the URL from the address bar of your web browser as you are less likely to make a mistake. 

4.  Select Blogroll in the Category Module or create a new Category then click Add Link.

You use different categories if you organize your links in different locations in your sidebars.  

Once you’ve created the links, you add them to your sidebar by adding the Links widget (via Appearance > Widgets).

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Commonly Asked Widget Questions

Here are some answers to questions the Edublogs support team are frequently asked about.

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1.  I’m trying to remove a widget and I can’t find it listed in my sidebar in Appearance > Widgets. How do I remove it?

The most common reason why you may have trouble removing a widget, or see two of the same widget on a blog, is some themes hard code widgets into their sidebar. Hard coded widgets can’t be removed.

NotePad Chaos is an example of a theme with hard coded widgets. Pages, Categories, Links and a What is this Place are all coded into the theme.


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2.  Why don’t the categories I set up in Posts > Category display in my Category widget?

Categories and tags on posts are used to help readers locate information in different ways. When your readers click on a categories link on a post or in your sidebar, it loads a page with all posts that use that category.

Categories won’t display in your category widget until the category has been assigned to a published post.


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3.  Why are some tags in my tag cloud widget larger than others?

When your readers click on a tag link on a post or in your sidebar it loads a page with all posts that use that tag.

The larger the size of the word in the tag cloud, the more published posts that have been tagged using that term.

The Tag Cloud widget displays a list of your top 45 tags that you’ve assigned to published posts.

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4. Why doesn’t my Calendar widget show the correct date?

The calendar widget creates a calendar in your sidebar with clickable links to your blog posts for particular dates. Dates that appear in bold type indicate dates you’ve posted.

It doesn’t let you set up a calendar of events. It’s only used is to display links to your posts by date.

If you want an Events calendar we recommend you add a Google Calendar to your sidebar or embed it into a page.

Alternatively, if you want to add a simple calendar use this Monthly Calendar.

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Your Task

We’d like you to add your voice and ideas to our ongoing conversation about student blogging by completing the following:

  1. Try adding some of the widgets to your class blog. Leave a comment to tell us which of the widgets you added to your class blog and why.
  2. Read through the most recent comments in reply to this step and leave a response to another person’s comment.

412 thoughts on “Step 5: Adding Widgets

  1. Hello,

    I liked the class calendar widget but couldn’t find how to add it as it just gives a google calendar to add instead of the one listed as class calendar (on the widget demo blog).

    Thanks,
    Donna McBrayer
    BMS Career Center

    1. Hi Arlis,

      Looks good! I think the sticky note clocks are a fun addition to the blog!

      Dan Leeman,
      Edublogs Support

  2. I liked many of the widgets such as Shelfari Bookshelf, Flag Counter, and ClustrMaps. I especially like those widgets which help my students connect to the global community. I have added all of these widgets to my blog as well as the calendar. I will work with my students to add book reviews to the Shelfari Bookshelf although I do wish there was a picture of the bookshelf and books on the blog instead of just a text link. I guess I will learn about that later or maybe you only get the image with the pro version.

    I used the links widgets to link my school district site and my school site.

    1. Hi Sandra,

      That’s right, embedding special embed codes such as Shelfari (rather than just the links) is a feature of Edublogs Pro. Linking to your school and district site is helpful for parents and students to more easily navigate between your school webpages.

      Dan Leeman,
      Edublogs Support

  3. Hi Dan and Sue
    Thank you for your help in setting up my links and widgets. My class is so very excited about all the visits we have had so far. They crowd around our IWB and the discussion is so positive and uplifting, if nothing else it has taught them that there are others out there looking at what we are doing.
    I do have a question about categories… Are categories a better way to set up a page for each other students in my class or should I stick with pages and just add a widget for each of them?
    mrspayne143.edublogs.org

    1. Hi Mrs. Payne,

      I’m glad to hear you and your students are having a great experience blogging so far!

      Since you have a Pro blog, I’d recommend taking a look at the My Class tool: http://help.edublogs.org/my-class-overview/

      Whether you are having students all blog on your main class blog, or want them to have their own student blogs attached to your class, this tool will help you manage their posting.

      If you do want them posting on your main class blog, you can set up categories with each of their names, i.e. “Dan” as a category, and every time I write a post, I can select the “Dan” category. We can help you set up a custom menu in your sidebar to display all of the categories. Then when someone clicks “Dan”, they can see all of the posts I have written.

      Drop us an email at support@edublogs.org if you need any assistance 🙂

      Dan Leeman,
      Edublogs Support

      1. Hi Mrs. Payne,

        As Dan highlights you can assign categories to posts for student names and link to their posts using categories. The alternative option if you want to add students as users to the class blog, and for them to publish posts on the class blog, is to add the authors widget to your sidebar.

        Sue Waters
        Support Manager
        Edublogs | CampusPress

  4. I have added the Subscribe by Email widget, so that students’ parents can subscribe to the blog. As my class is comprised of many different language backgrounds, I have included the Google Translate widget, so that all of the families are able to access the blog in their own language. I have added a Calendar, so that students and parents can be kept aware of assignment due dates and when events are happening. Lastly, I added the Feedjit widget. I am hoping that we make connections with other classes, and want my students to realise that they do have an audience that they are writing for.

    My class blog is at http://1008wgs.edublogs.org/.

    1. Where/how did you add the subscribe by email widget? I don’t seem to have it …
      nancyvculture.edublogs.org

    2. Hi Miss Andrews,

      Yes, I think Google Translate is an especially important tool, especially in communities with diverse language backgrounds. Sounds like you’ve chosen some great widgets!

      Dan Leeman,
      Edublogs Support

    3. Hi Miss Andrews

      The subscribe by email widget is a good way to help parents connect with the class blog. Another activity you might like to try later in the year is family blogging month. Let me know if you want to know more about Family blogging month.

      Your widgets are looking really good. I notice that your ClustrMaps is displaying as broken image. Please let me know if it is still like this in a few days so I can follow it up with the ClustrMaps team.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  5. I use several widgets on my blog – My favorite is the countdown timer. It tells my kids how long (how many days) until the AP test that we are all prepping for. At the beginning of the year it seems so far away, but now, yikes! It is getting close. I also use widgets to link to other blogs I want my students to see – this way they know what resources I consider acceptable to use as sources for articles to write their own blog posts about.
    Jen K

    1. Hi Jennifer,

      That’s a great use of a countdown widget! Those seemed to be the most important calendar dates in my high school existence – how many weeks do I have left to study for the AP exams?!

      Dan Leeman,
      Edublogs Support

    1. Hi mrallison525
      Just wondering if the Live Traffic Feed is a pro feature?
      By the way I loved the poems by your class!
      Lots of insights into the way they view the world 🙂
      From Mrs Payne

      1. Thanks for the help, Mrs. Payne – right on 🙂

        Embed code widgets in the sidebar are a Pro feature.

        Dan Leeman,
        Edublogs Support

  6. I’ve added a tag cloud which is an easy way for readers to quickly jump to a post of interest. Also, a calendar and a search bar.

    For some reason my account is not appearing as a Pro account even though my colleagues and I have done so.

    http://jenncain.edublogs.org/

  7. I like the “books we like” and the class calendar. I think these would be very practical. I think I have the basic widgets working on my site and I’m excited to show the students their blog and get started! You can see it at sebrooks81.edublogs.org.

  8. Question-I added two widgets to my blog and they both appear in the footer area. This was the only option I was given. Is this because of the blog theme I picked. I don’t want them in the footer area but in the sidebar where they would be visible when looking at the blog.

    Comment-I like the ease of adding the widgets from Edublog and am working to add others from outside of Edublogs.

    Widgets from demo I liked: Calendar, Our Calendar, Shelfari. I think for a library blog the calendars would be a good way to keep the parents informed of special events and due dates for books etc. Shelfari could display recently received books on the shelves. I like the Voki Avatar as well.

    1. Hi there,

      Yes, some themes only have widgetized areas in the footer, others only in sidebars – it just depends on the particular theme – good question!

      Shelfari is one of my favorites; there are lots of great ways to incorporate into a library blog!

      Dan Leeman
      Edublogs Support

  9. I stated in an earlier post, that I like simplicity and usually do not like anything that distracts from what is most important. However, I found some of the widgets very useful and can see a place for most of them when necessary. I loved the Flickr widget and added it to my blog, along with a link to my website and a link to our school district website. Both of these sites have great information and resources and want it to be available should students need to get to those site quickly. The Flicker Photostream has photos from across our district showing the use of technology in the classroom. Hopefully, I will be able to add some pics of blogging taking place in our classrooms very soon! Here is a link to my blog so you can see the features I added: http://dspears.edublogs.org

    1. Hi dspears

      Class blogs tend to have lots of widgets as they can engage younger students. I think with your blog keeping the widgets to what you need is a good approach. The Flickr widget looks really good on your blog.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

    1. Hi Nancy

      Email subscription is an Edublogs Pro only feature. This is why you don’t see the subscribe by email widget.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  10. I really like the translate and clustrmaps widgets. This makes it easier for students around the world to read and comment on our blog as well as for us to see where people are from that are commenting. In the classroom I would definitely use the Shelfari widget. This is a great resource to recommend books or show what the class has read. I added the clustrmaps widget with no problem. You can see it on my home page. http://amyard.edublogs.org/ I had trouble with the Google translate. When I read the comments about the widget it seems that it is a common issue. When I pasted the code into the text widget and hit save it removed almost half of the code. Not sure how to get that to work. Any help would be appreciated. I added the links widget to my page and added our Tangischools website to that widget. I also deleted several of the edublog site links. I did keep the help and support link.

    1. Hi Amy

      Your widgets are looking good. You can only add embed code to Edublogs Pro blogs and student blogs attached to a Pro blog via My Class. We can’t allow it on free blogs due to misuse by spam blog creators (people who create blogs to promote products and websites). If you want to add a Google Translate widget you would need to upgrade to Edublogs Pro.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  11. Hi there,
    I have just spent my Sunday morning playing around with the Voki widget! It is lots of fun! It’s pretty basic at the moment however, I will ask the students for some input this week. They will love it! I have also added the SunSmart widget app. This will prove to be quite useful as we head into our summer. It’s hard not to get too carried away with the widgets!
    http://year4ceps.global2.vic.edu.au/

    Annie

    1. Hi Annie

      The Voki avatar is a lot of fun and students also love creating their own Voki. The students might also enjoy helping select some widgets to add to the sidebar. You could show them the demo widget blog and ask them which widgets they like and why. Would be interesting to know which widgets they choose.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

    1. Hi Amy

      I think you’ve chosen your widgets well as your theme Magazino is better suited to a few widgets since the widgets are located at the bottom of the theme.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  12. Knowing my students would be very interested in seeing what connections we could make globally, I put the flag counter and rotator globe on our blog. There are lots of other things too but I didn’t want to load it up too much with visual clutter. I thought that if I wanted the students to be focussed on the dialogue and text, reading not being distracted, I would keep the effects to a minimum but make them worthwhile. I am considering adding a widget that might let visitors know our time and weather. When we do collaborative projects with other countries it is the first thing my students want to know. I will leave this for later and keep the blog clean. I also like the GoodReads or Shelfari bookshelf for the constant invitation to books and reading.

    1. Hi Tina,

      Yes, that’s always a difficult balance to keep between adding worthwhile widgets for fun and functionality, and keeping a clean blog that focuses on the writing.

      The great part is, it’s so easy to add and remove widgets, that if you change your mind later on it won’t ruin your content or your theme!

      Dan Leeman, Edublogs Support

    1. Hi Mrs. Grosfield

      Your new twitter widget looks really good in your sidebar!

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  13. Hi!
    I wasn’t able to add a shelfari widget to my blog…I’m not really sure how to do it- I tried following the instructions but then the shelf doesn’t appear- it only appears as text.
    Please help!
    my blog is books7.edublogs.org

    I also want to try and add a goodreads widget- becuase basically I want to use this blog for my students to socialize great books they are reading, leaving their own book reviews….am getting a little frustrated and overwhelmed and don’t want to give this up!!!

    Thanks
    Maxine

    1. Hi Maxine

      I’m sorry and you aren’t doing anything wrong. Only Edublogs Pro blogs, student blogs attached to a Pro blog via My Class and CampusPress blogs can add embed code to text widgets and embed code to posts and pages. We can’t allow use of embed code on free blogs because people who create blogs to promote products and websites use the ability to embed in ways we can’t allow.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  14. http://marggrosfield.edublogs.org
    We have loved having a clustrmap on our blog for the last few months. We just got a class twitter account and some parents were struggling to learn twitter so they could see us. Now, thanks to this course I have a twitter widget and the problem is solved! Hooray! This is a perfect course for me – I just wish I had started earlier!
    Marg

    1. Hi Marg

      I hadn’t thought about how the Twitter widget is a great way for parents to view the class tweets without needing to learn how to use Twitter. Thanks for sharing the tip!

      Glad our Challenge series is helping!

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  15. I am having all kinds of trouble with addint a link. I was able to add the Widget easily and find it on my blog, but I have no idea where my link is on my blog or if I added it. The site is also responding very slowly, and it keeps jumping to a Edublogs page that is not mine or something, I cannot expalin it, but I need help with adding a link. Thanks.

    1. Hi Laura

      I think you mean you added some links using Links > Add New and are trying to work out how to add it to your sidebar? If so, I’ve now added the links to your right sidebar by adding the Links widget to the sidebar.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  16. I am a bit behind in this process, but I am doing my best to catch up. It has been a very busy start of the school year. I checked out the widgets, and for the first time I think I have a much better understanding of what a widget really is. I am excited about learning more and adding them to my page.

  17. I loved adding the Widgets and seeing which ones would be fun to add to my page. I already had the Clustrmaps, which the kids LOVE. I decided to venture out into adding a Shelfari to my page. The kids and I can add to it throughout the year. I have only had time to add three books to my Shelfari, but I love having a book shelf on the page! Thanks for the clear instructions.

    1. Hi Amy

      Glad our instructions helped! Shelfari is a great choice.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

    1. Hi Katie,

      Well done adding the weather widget! It looks really good in your sidebar,

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

    1. Hi Miss Cruise

      The Goodreads book shelf widget is a good choice! It is easy to use and a good way to display books you are reading.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  18. Hi Sue,
    I have added widgets to the side bar (now that I know what they are). I have some questions = how do I add the blog avatar to the side bar (I tried but it was blank). I tried to add Weather bug but couldn’t see how to do it. I thought I had added it, but nothing appeared. Also what is the secondary bar please?
    Sorry about all the questions, but I want to work it out.
    My blog is at http://library1884.edublogs.org/
    Regards
    Cheryl

    1. Hi Cheryl

      You need to first upload your avatar to Settings > Blog Avatar and then add the blog avatar widget. Here is where you will find more information – http://help.edublogs.org/upload-avatar/

      Please share a link to the Weather bug widget you want to add. We need to try testing the embed code to see why you weren’t able to add.

      It looks like your theme might support two sidebars. Try opening up the Secondary area by clicking on the arrow and then add a widget to the secondary area.

      Looks like your ClustrMaps isn’t working. I recommend you try one of the other visitor tracking widgets if it doesn’t start displaying the map.

      Always happy to answer any questions you have.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

    1. Hi Christina

      Thanks for sharing a link to your blog so others can check out how your favorite widgets work. BrainPop Jr., Shelfari, and Wonderopolis widgets are very popular on class blogs. Students love them. Great choices.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  19. Found adding widgets quite tricky. For some reason, when I added the code, it shrunk and only a link appeared on the blog. I was able to add the UV alert this morning so success at last!
    http://yrprepj.edublogs.org
    The challenges are great and help you to learn so much more about blogging!

    1. Hi Jenny,

      it sounds like you may not have been copying all the embed code. Try holding the Ctrl key and then pressing A. This selects all the text then you hold Ctrl and press C (this copies the text you highlight). Then place your mouse in the text widget and hold the Ctrl key and press V to add the code.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  20. Hello again,
    I have distributed widgets in my blog in two different sections. On one hand, on the right hand side of the blog home page http://stopandlearnenglish.blogspot.com.es/ I have placed the social widgets and those others regarding the blog itself.
    Then, I have created a page, http://stopandlearnenglish.blogspot.com.es/p/gadgets-and-widgets.html , where I have embedded widgets that I think might be interesting or useful for the blog target audience.
    Hope you like them
    Best regards

  21. I love Twitter, Shelfari and Voki. All of them are great widgets, and so are the rest on the demo, thanks for sharing them!
    Best regards

    1. Hi Maria

      Thanks for sharing a link your blog and page so that others can check out the widgets you find useful.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  22. I would put the Clustrmaps widget on my blog because I would find it interesting to see where people are visiting our blog from and I think my students would like it too.

    I know widgets are popular and fun, but I think they clutter up a blog too much with unnecessary stuff, which is why I only added the one. I don’t really want my students to add them either, because I’m afraid they’ll get carried away and make their blogs too “cutesy.”

    1. Hi Mrs Wreggs

      ClustrMaps and other visitor tracking widgets are a great way of making students aware of the fact they are writing for a global audience. For younger students you can integrate them into a wide range of class activities for learning about other countries and use for maths.

      I personally prefer to limit widgets to only those that are necessary however widgets are an important way students personalize their blog and you want them to feel ownership. I would use Miss Wyatt’s approach, but adapt it to the age of your students, and recommend a few that are worth considering – http://www.eschoolblogs.org.au/students/2013/08/13/activity-8-widgets/

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  23. Great ideas! I’m a huge fan of a reading widget so students know what I’m personally reading. I think it’s important that they see literacy extends beyond the classroom! One can even – gasp! – enjoy reading! 😉

    I struggle sometimes with making students tone down their own widgets. They tend to get a big crazy at first adding so much to their blogs that you don’t even read the content! However, usually they get annoyed by it too and delete the more obnoxious ones within a week or so!

    1. Hi Petra

      Reading widgets are popular!

      Widgets can be challenging on student blogs. Students often love widgets that make noise when you go to their blog. Which can become overwhelming when you have to check lots of blogs like I do 🙂

      Here is Miss Wyatt’s widget tips post she uses with student bloggers – http://www.eschoolblogs.org.au/students/2013/08/13/activity-8-widgets/ and her post of adding those with embed code http://www.eschoolblogs.org.au/students/2014/05/26/widgets-and-html-code/

      Miss Wyatt supports remote student bloggers so her series includes lots of helpful tips for them.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

    2. Hi Petra
      I was predicting the same problems with the widgets that you describe. I want the students to have fun and personalise but want the focus to be on the exchange and the text. So reading your post I might set some limits or a number that they can use from the start.
      Thanks for your post.
      Tina

  24. I added the tag cloud widget but I don’t see it as a “rotating” cloud just a list. I also activated the share widget but it does not display the buttons (FB , Twitter etc) just the title “Share if you like”. I would love to modify the blog roll but am not sure if that’s the links widget? Blogroll shows on my blog but I did not add it. Also one last question- How to I generate an RSS feed of my blog in order to follow it from another location? Blog URL is
    http://cunninghamclass.edublogs.org/
    thx
    Mrs. C

  25. I’ve added the flags widget but already had a few on my page. think i would like to add a weather widget and time one too. any suggestions on others that might be good for my site? thanks i feel like i’ve actually gotten a much more interesting blog happening now 🙂 http://leahsharp.global2.vic.edu.au

    1. Hi Leah

      Great work! I’ve scheduled a tweet from our accounts asking people to visit your blog to add a map for their location for later tonight. Hopefully that helps.

      You could add a few YouTube videos to your sidebar. I’ve seen that done on art blogs. If you are interested let us know which videos you would like to add and we will show you how it is done.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  26. I love my cloud tag widget but from the demo site i added the world flag widget (so far there are a few i’d like to play with once production is over ) I chose this one in particular as i make a point of identifying where some of the artworks we look at are from so it kind of fits in 🙂 now fingers crossed we start getting some international visitors

  27. Did It! I added an email subscription feed and a flag counter. So far we have only had visitors from the US, but maybe that will change… especially if I can organize some quadblogging like Silvia did in her school!

    It took me a long time figure it out, but I did it!

    1. Hi Amanda

      Well done! If you are on Twitter share a link to your blog and ask people to visit it to help add flags from other countries. Most educators are happy to visit a blog to add flags.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

    1. Hi Mrs MacInnis

      Your widget area is looking good. The Google Calendar is slightly wider than the sidebar. You may be able to fit it into the sidebar if you try a custom width of 300 pixels wide. There should be an option for custom width inside Google Calendar.

      Thanks!

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  28. Loving widgets! Our best blog widget is the SUNSMART UV & Weather info. The children use it daily to check if they should wear their hats. You can see it here… http://prepg.edublogs.org I have just added shelfari, but despite adding books on the link at the site, they don’t appear on the blog…more work needed there. Thanks for the widget blog – lots of ideas.

    1. Hi Fiona

      Thanks for sharing how you use the SUNSMART UV & Weather info.widget. Hadn’t thought of how helpful that is especially for younger students. Perhaps because my son’s primary school policy was no hat no play outside?

      The Shelfari widget looks like you still need to add books. What does it show inside your account?

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

      1. Thanks Sue. We too have no hat no play, however by using the widget the the kids are aware of why they are doing it, rather than it being just a school rule, hopefully transferring to out of school life as well. A dear friend’s husband recently died of Melanoma cancer so I am on a mission!! Perhaps you might like to add it to the sample blog widget page to inspire others to use it? (It does also show the local weather!)

        Re Shelfari, I do have books on the shelf in my account…need to put some time into that, must have missed a step.

        Thank you. Am loving the sessions, follow up is excellent.
        Fiona

        1. Hi Fiona

          I agree and it is a great way to educate students about the need to be sun smart. I’ve now added the Sun Smart widget to our Demo blog and have also added the Wonderpolis widget. Thanks for the suggestions!

          Thanks for the nice feedback! Glad you are finding the Teacher Challenge and our feedback helps!

          Sue Waters
          Support Manager
          Edublogs | CampusPress

  29. Hello Everyone! Are you enjoying these challenges because I certainly am. I have learned so much thus far!

    I liked Shelfari as it can give parents a running list of some good quality literature that we’re reading in class. This way parents can look at the listing if they are purchasing books for some great examples.The Twitter widget provides parents to a link of more up-to-date information. It is a fabulous way to keep in touch. I also liked the flag counter. It gives students a good indication of where the visitors are coming from as well as a visual to the audience they are writing for.

    I have added the Twitter widget, Shelfari and flag counter. I love that the flag counter provides a listing of where we are being viewed from.

    http://essexcounty.edublogs.org/

      1. Hi Mrs Essex

        Great to hear you are enjoying the challenges.

        Hi Melanie

        They are all great widget choices. It isn’t possible to separate the widgets in the sidebar. They are displaying as I would expect on this theme. You may find one of the mobile friendly themes makes the widgets look less cluttered. Would you like us to suggest an alternative theme? We can incorporate similar tones with a different theme using an image header and background.

        Sue Waters
        Support Manager
        Edublogs | CampusPress

  30. Big fan of the categories widget!! If you recommend any other cool ones for an elementary classroom blog, I would love to hear your suggestions!!

    1. Hi Brandon

      I’m thinking a bookshelf widget from GoodReads or Shelfari bookshelf would be good. Another idea would be to add interesting videos to your sidebar and change the videos each week. If you like this idea you just need to find the video on YouTube, click on Embed code, click on Custom size and make the width about 200 pixels then paste the embed code into a text widget into your sidebar.

      Another option would be to activate the Dogo Content Widget plugin – http://help.edublogs.org/dogo-content-widget/ and add some of their widgets to your sidebar.

      Let us know if you need any help with these widgets.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  31. Hi. I’m having fun learning how to work with this. I have added the class blogs widget to my page which will make it easier for my students to share their posts. I would like to find out how to add the class calendar. I couldn’t find it on the widgets page on my dashboard.

    1. Hi KBeal

      I’m sorry and you aren’t doing anything wrong. Only Edublogs Pro blogs, student blogs attached to a Pro blog via My Class and CampusPress blogs can add embed code to text widgets and embed code to posts and pages. We can’t allow it on free blogs because people who create blogs to promote products and websites use the ability to embed in ways we can’t allow.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

    1. Hi Dallas

      Your class blog is looking good! Love your theme. I’ve tweeted out a link to your class blog and asked people to visit your blog to help add locations to your Visitors widget. Hopefully it helps collect data that you can use it to discuss geographic with students. I can see the globe lighting up now so looks like it helped!

      Let me know if you need any information on using a class twitter account.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  32. I would like to add the ClutrMaps widget, and maybe the Twitter widget once we get a class Twitter account 🙂

  33. Hi,

    I had great fun playing with the widgets and finding some for my site! I have always wanted the flag counter and now found it finally:) Because my site is going to be used by kindergarten students I enjoyed loading some virtual pets. We have some turtles in our classroom so they will love this. I also enjoyed displaying some of the books we have been reading in the classroom. Here is my site link: http://kidblog.org/MrsLeonardandMrsDsKindergarten/

    1. Hi Bernice

      The widgets in your sidebar are looking really good! The younger students always enjoy the virtual pets and Shelfari bookshelf is a great way of sharing books they have enjoyed in class or to encourage them to check out other blogs.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  34. I added a Clustrmaps, tag cloud, and calendar widget to my blog. I’m starting to like the word “widget,” and I feel accomplished.

    1. Hi VH

      Great work! The only one you might want to reconsider is the Calendar widget. The calendar widget is designed to display the dates you publish posts. You can read how it works here – http://help.edublogs.org/calendar-widget/

      If you want a calendar that displays dates you would be better using a different calendar widget. Let us know if you would like help choosing a different calendar.

      Sue Waters
      Support Manager
      Edublogs | CampusPress

  35. OK, I’m stumped. I cannot add any widgets. I’ve gone through the steps and nothing happens except the title. Is this another item that only works if I upgrade to pro?

  36. Looking at the various widgets, I would probably use the voki (since I have one), goodreads (since I teach ELA), and maybe the pet one just as a way to get some students engaged. I could see it could become a distraction since I threw the monkey around a bit myself before posting this comment.

    1. Hi There, thanks for sharing which widgets you would add to your blog. Vokis are very popular on class blogs and a bookshelf using GoodReads or Shelfari is a great way of sharing book lists. Pets are very popular. An alternative option for younger students is to use the Something Fishy theme. As you scroll down the page you go fishing. I’m a bit addicted to catching fish with this theme!

      Unfortunately we’ve had to restrict the ability to add embed code to posts, pages and text widgets to Edublogs Pro users and student blogs attached to My Class via a Pro blog because spam blog creators, people who create blogs to promote products and websites, were using it in ways we couldn’t allow. This was the only way we could prevent them from using it 🙁

  37. Here’s a link to my blog with the widgets that I’ve added. This is beginning to be so much fun!

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