It’s hard to keep track of everything a university has to offer its students. Sometimes it’s hard enough just to keep track of homework and extracurricular activities. According to John Mazzarella, Instructional Support Specialist here on campus, the University of Massachusetts Boston Blog Network is a hidden gem that many students might not know about. 
“It’s a WordPress system maintained by staff in the IT department,” Mazzarella says. He explains that anyone can log in with their umb.edu password, and [their] account will automatically be created. And a blog will be created for them also automatically.
He continues to say students and faculty use can the system for a multitude of different reasons. Teachers may use the blogs to augment their blackboard accounts with supplementary information. Students, however, have an endless number of possibilities when choosing what to do with their own particular blogs. 
A high degree of customization is available through various themes and plug-ins users can apply to their blogs. The university offers some premium themes and plug-ins, which would cost bloggers money on the regular WordPress site. For UMass Boston community members, these premium themes and plug-ins are free on the UMass system.  
Mazzarella assures that the UMass Boston blog system is accessible and very easy to use.  “You don’t have to be a tech savvy,” he says. “WordPress lets anyone create a website without needing to know HTML or anything technical.” 
“The blog can be as unique as the person who writes it,” adds Mazzarella. He believes that the UMass Boston Blog Network will provide students an easy and free way to express themselves, or share their viewpoints.
According to Mazzarella students can have access to their blogs as long as they have access to their student email. In addition, students can export to their blog content to any free WordPress.com site
To create a free blog, visit http://blogs.umb.edu, click Sign In.