Penzu--Just a Journal

 

I recently saw where a fellow ITRT in another district highly praised “Penzu.com”, a site I wasn’t familiar with.  He stated that it was one of the more heavily used sites by his teachers.  I decided to check it out and upon reading about it, I was puzzled, it seemed to be just another blogging site.  But, after going to the site and using it, I began to see what makes it distinctive—its simplicity and security.

Penzu is very easy to use, even for those who aren’t too computer savvy.  Click here and you’ll see what I mean.  What comes up is a window which looks like an old fashioned sheet of writing paper.

You can immediately start journaling.  By running your mouse across the icons on the top of the paper you’ll find buttons to create a new entry, save, print,  insert a photo, and change the appearance.   All in all though, it is a lot quicker and easier to use than your typical blog.  There are self-apparent reasons why an English teacher  would want their students to journal,  so let’s look at Penzu from a teacher’s perspective. 

Penzu is not set up for classroom use, it is intended for individual use.  To sign up for an account, one does need to have an Email address—if this seems like an insurmountable barrier to student use, see your friendly, local ITRT and we’ll  help you out here.    The creators set Penzu up to have advantages over a paper/pencil journal.  For example,  it can’t be lost or destroyed—it is stored on line (although you can download entries).  One can access their online journal from multiple platforms—iPads, Android devices,  or any internet computer.  My immediate reaction to this was—yes, but the big disadvantage compared to pencil and paper is its vulnerability in the area of privacy.  A quick investigation revealed how wrong I was.  Not only can it be set up so no one except you can access it, but it can also be encrypted with government/military level  encryption, one reviewer called it the “Rambo” of such sites. 

You might be wondering, if it is so private and super-secret, how does it fit into a classroom?  Well, it can be private, but, it can also be shared.  You can Email the entry (anonymously if desired) or you can share a link to the entry.  Comments can be allowed at the author’s discretion. 

One more observation, part of the charm (for me) of Penzu, is its appearance—it looks like a diary I might have kept “back in the day”.  However, that appearance may not have the same appeal to today’s student.  All  in all, I’m impressed with this and site find it an option worth considering for a teacher that wants to have their students do some journaling.