10 Education Blogs You Should Follow According to Teach.com

Teach.com recently came out with Teach100, which ranks and scores hundreds of education blogs across the web.

Each blog is scored on four components:

• Social Reach: The combined social shares on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook of the ten most recent posts, as well as the blog's main domain.
• Activity: The frequency at which the blog posts articles.
• Authority: Measured by the number of inbound links to the blog.
• Teach Score: This is a subject score that measures how media is used on the blog, the relevancy of the topics, and the overall presentation of the blog.

Anyone can submit a blog they find helpful or educational, whether it's one you write on or one that you follow, and Teach.com will score it and list it on their site (they currently have 638 blogs listed). According to Teach100, here are the top ten education blogs to follow, and what content you can find on them.

1) Inside Higher Ed

This is a great source of content for anyone in higher education, including those looking for jobs. They have sections including Admissions, Books, Technology, Career Advice, and Diversity. They also offer a number of webinars and research in the higher ed space. Their most recent study was on Federal Accountability and Financial Pressure which surveyed college and university presidents.

2) The Learning Network

This blog is under the New York Times umbrella. Their main audiences are teachers, students, and parents that want to use the NYTs content as inspiration for teaching materials. Teachers can use the section "Text to text" as lesson plans in areas such as American History, Civics, Current Events, and Social Studies.

Students can also comment on stories in the Student Opinion section, as long as they're 13 years or older. 

3) Edutopia

Edutopia is part of The George Lucas Educational Foundation. The blog's focus is on k-12 educators and students. It's two main purposes are to produce content that improves learning and engages students and to "collaborate with researchers, teachers, and curriculum experts" to advance the field of project-based learning.

Recent content includes topics like "How to Help Adolescents Online Evaluation" and "Teaching K-8 Finanical Literacy: A Case Study."

4) Classroom 2.0

This blog is focused on bringing social media and web 2.0 into the classroom. It's not just a destination for content, but also acts as a social network for educators that are looking to learn more about integrating online strategies into their classrooms. They have groups at different schools that you can join and interact with, as well as many educational videos. They have over 78,000 members from 199 countries which really provides a variety of perspectives on education.

5) Edudemic

This blog is all about technology in the education space. They provide tactful advice about incorporating technology in the classroom, including a teacher's guide to technology and learning as well as product reviews on the best laptops, tablets, and apps for teachers. They also provide best practices for online learning, including posts like "15 Tips for Facilitating Online Discussion" and "How to Design Effective Online Courses."

6) TeacherTube

This is an online community for teachers to share videos of instructional learning. For teachers in any school or even home teachers, this is a destination to learn from your peers. You can also find photos, videos, and audio recordings to use in your curriculum. You can also join different groups focused on specific topics.

TeacherTube is about community and education for teachers, by teachers. 

7) MindShift

Mindshift is another technology focused blog that incorporates data and research into a lot of the content. It has a unique section around games and learning and how apps are changing how toddlers are learning their basic skills and knowledge through technology. Some of the recent articles cover "Beyond Angry Birds, Five Apps That Test Your Physical Skills" and "How Do Parents Think 'Educational' Screen Time Affects Learning."

8) Educational Technology and Mobile Learning

This blog focuses on apps and mobile devices that educators can use in the classroom, as well as strategies to integrate them successfully. It provides educational presentations on topics like "Free Educational Android Apps for Teachers" and "Free Math Resources, Lesson Plans and Games."

Mobile devices are changing how students learn outside the classroom, and educators and schools need to be aware of how to integrate them properly with lesson plans and curriculum. 

9) TechThought

This progressive blog is for all educators who are looking to be more digitally connected. They have great sections on testing with technology, best practices for iPads in the classroom, what hashtags to follow on Twitter, and research around how thinking habits and neuroscience impact students' learning processes.

Some of the most popular posts include "15 Literacy Apps to Create Books on the iPad" and "50 Top Sources of Free eLearning Courses".

10) Homeroom

To #10 best blog ranked by Teach100 is the official blog of the U.S. Department of Education. The blog's main purpose is to continue the conversation around education issues in the U.S. They also allow individuals to comment and suggest ideas and feedback on the topics discussed. The most recent topics included "Championing International Education Priorities" and a discussion around the Department of Education increasing their innovation, transparency and access to public data.

This is a great resource and destination for anyone in the education field to stay on top of the current issues in the field and lend their insight and experience to the discussion.

Bonus Blog: hop online

If you're in the higher education space, this blog provides a lot of specific tactics for using inbound marketing to attract and acquire new students. They offer great resources on content marketing and social media strategies for admissions and marketing departments. Some of their recent content includes, "The Content Marketing Matrix For Higher Education" and "How to Leverage Social Media During the March Madness for Admissions".

What education-focused blogs do you follow?