Tips for Blogs in Medical Education: How do I put a special section just for my students on my blog?

An attending has a medical blog that he uses for education of medical students and residents. He asks the following questions: "How do I put a special section just for my students to access on my blog -- a place that only they could access and possible could even post to... or would that be a separate blog site?"

There are 3 options to do it:

1. Add a label to your posts, for example, "Residents" and label all you resident-related posts with it. Then when you click on that label at the bottom of one post, all posts under that label will show together. You can share that URL with the residents.

Advantage: Simple, no need to create a different blog.

Disadvantage: The label is not secure, anybody can see it and the students cannot edit the posts.

Reference:
How do I label my posts?

2. Start a simple wiki at Google Sites and share it with students via email.

Advantage: Simple, uses the same Google account and login you used to create your blog. The best solution for collaboration to let students add information and edit pages. It is secure and only persons who are granted access can see the site.

Disadvantage: You need to create another website.

Reference:
Google Sites makes creating and sharing a group website easy

3. Start another blog which is open only to invited users.

Advantage: Uses the same platform as your old blog. It is secure and only persons who are granted access can see the site.

Disadvantage: You need to create another website. The residents can see the information after logging in, then you need to grant them access to edit the old posts. The process is not intuitive.

Reference:
How do I control who can view my blog?

Summary

Simplest solution: Add a label to your posts.

Best solution: Start a simple wiki at Google Sites.

Related:
Tips for New Medical Bloggers: How to Get Noticed?
Example Blog Launch Checklist: http://bit.ly/heAfo

Image sources: public domain.

Updated: 05/12/2009