Learning and Leading - November 2012

Tip

Smore Offers a Delicious Way to Create Online Newsletters

Learn to use,
implement,
and lead with
technology.

Problem: Teachers, students,
parent organizations, and friends
on Twitter often ask me what tool they
can use to create an online newsletter.
They want something that allows them
to add photographs, videos, links, and
other things electronically and to share
them globally.

Take one of ISTE’s
NETS-based
online courses.

Here’s a solution: Until recently, I did not have a favorite website that I could recommend to create online newsletters. Then I found Smore! What really caught my attention right away were the words: “Design beautiful online flyers and publish instantly.” I knew I just had to try this website.

This free tool is so easy to use. Simply go to Smore.com, and click Start a New Flyer. Then you can select a template, such as one for an event invitation, a product, a business, or a newsletter. If you want, you can opt out of the templates by clicking Start from Blank. After choosing what type or style of flyer you want, you can personalize the design by picking the color, background, and fonts. The really awesome thing about Smore is that you can put it all together using elements such as video, audio, text, and photographs.

Once you’ve created your Smore, you can share it through social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook. You can also email it and embed it within a blog or website.

I used Smore to create the Van Meter Library Voice Monthly, a newsletter for the Van Meter School libraries. I like how we can look back and see the online activity of a particular Smore, determine who shared or reposted on Twitter and Facebook, and embed it in a site or blog.

I loved creating my Smore newsletter and sharing it with our school community and the world. This tool is definitely one everyone could find a use for. And now I have a wonderful online newsletter tool that I plan on sharing a lot too.

|

You can connect with Smore on Twitter at @SmorePages and on Facebook.

\

L e arn

Shannon McClintock Miller is the district teacher librarian and technology specialist at Van Meter School in Iowa, USA. You can find her on Twitter shannonmmiller and blogging at Van Meter Library Voice ( vanmeterlibraryvoice.blogspot.com.)