Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Part 1 Blogging

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Introduction  Blogs are a way to create your own space for your own classroom needs – for free  There are some effective blogging platforms of which Blogspot (ranked 21 of the most visited sites in the world) and WordPress (ranked 41 of the most visited site in the world) are the most commonly used.  Since this is an online classroom and we are learning new topics each day, I will teach one platform, and I am choosing Blogspot, for the obvious reason of its rank  You may already be familiar with using a blog, you may already have your own blog, however, the final product I will use as a grading mechanism (in additional to your mashup and contributions) is the blog which will be a be a point of access for the online tools you plan to use in your classes  I am assuming you have your gmail account ready to start

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Some Research  The best place to start is by looking through other well-rated blogs and take careful note as to what makes them easy to navigate, interesting, useful, attractive - and what they have in common. Here are some examples: (scroll down to look through categories)  the initial instructions are covered generally in this tutorial:

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog:  using your gmail address, log into blogger.com and start creating your own blog  You may need to click on the orange “continue to blogger” button

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: give your blog an appropriate title  now click on “new blog” and get started! Your blog name should be appropriate to your module/ topic/career/profession al interests  the only way to really build a blog is to explore and experiment; the results are worth the effort

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: layout and template tabs  you already know your target audience, and as you build on your blog, keep it in mind  the “layout” and “template” tabs are very useful (see the screenshot). I would also suggest that you try several templates to find one that suits your style  experiment with the layout, background and heading picture of your blog template

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: layout page  the screenshot is that of the all-important “layout page” which will enable you to build your blog  you will keep need to keep coming back to this page  Whatever changes you make to the layout, be sure to click on “Save arrangement”  Look through the left hand side navigation bar  In particular, note “Posts” “Pages” “Layout” “Template” “Setting”

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: gadgets  try the different gadgets by clicking on any “Add a Gadget” button and use the ones that you find appropriate. You can search for gadgets too – but note there may be many that have embedded advertising  as an example, the screenshot below illustrates an easy way to import your Picasa slideshow/ pictures

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: the layout page of my sample blog, so far

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: creating your first post

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your First Post: insert an image

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647  Now preview or publish/ view blog  Go back to Layout view

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647  “Save Arrangment” and preview  Not tha tmy blog already has other features that you will be adding in

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 creating your Blog: preview of my sample blog, so far

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: important reminders  click on “preview” often to keep track of your progress – and remember to save  When you are viewing the blog, and you want to return to the adding new elements to the blog, click on the “design” tab on the top right and then click on the “layout“ tab  You can edit any gadget easily when you are in the “view” mode of the blog, by clicking on the lower right hand icon next to each gadget

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: restricting comments  click on “setting” tab  look through the options for “posts “and “comments” to control who can read your posts or who can leave comments  you can always adjust these settings to suit your specific needs

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: creating new pages  create an additional “page” by clicking on the “pages” tab  place a list of professional/ academic accomplishments (much like a resume)  OR your page can contain some list related to your audience. The point is to have additional pages that may be useful

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: creating new pages  be sure to mark the “show pages as” option to “top tabs” as opposed to “don’t show”

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: embedding your glog  log into your glogster account  find your glog  copy the “embed” link

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: embedding your glog  the next 2 screenshot sshows you how to embed your glog, using the gadget feature.

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: embedding your glog (as gadget or new page)  the screenshot shows you how to embed your glog, using the gadget feature.  but some of you may prefer to have your glog on a separate page – up to you.

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Wednesday: Session 2 keep adding to your blog and glog

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: next steps – work in progress  link to our class blog: and feel free to use it as basic guideline – but your blog is your unique product, so do be creativehttp://nazlihardy11.blogspot.com/  the “About Me” should always appear somewhere at the top of your page  add a list of at least 5 useful sites and other links you found yesterday that are relevant to your audience  these links can be placed on the side bar on your blog, using gadgets or they can be placed in a new page (possibly called ‘useful links’).  click on “preview” often to keep track of your progress – and remember to save  link to any relevant videos  these links can be placed on the side bar on your blog, using gadgets or they can be placed in a new page (possibly called ‘useful links’).  at this point, feel free to link your blog/ glog to your Facebook and other social media pages  work on your blog profile – professional and interesting. You can include an appropriate picture of yourself.

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: next steps – work in progress ( for Friday)  there should be at least 2 entries to your blog by the time I look through them next week  keep building on your blog – this is an assignment that cannot, and should not be completed in a few hours – instead you should continue to work and build on it all week. You have already visited blogs that are popular and useful and valued - strive to make yours one of those  this is your online presence over which you have control – take it seriously but have fun with it  create a blogroll that includes the class blog as well as all the blogs created by the other educators (see screen shot on next page)  you can de-roll them once the class is over, but for the next week it will be extremely helpful to see and assess your classmates’ blogs – to that end, include your blog address so that your classmates can add you (temporarily) to their blogroll  you will customize your template

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: creating you blogroll (of the other educators)

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 Creating your Blog: the layout page of my sample blog, so far

Introduction to Blogs Dr. Nazli Hardy Millersville University EDW 647 creating your Blog: preview of my sample blog, so far