UA Technology in Motion

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Welcome to the UA Technology in Motion Blogging Workshop.

The objectives for today will be:

1) Identify the concept of blogging.

2) Understand and explore how blogging can be used in education.

3) Locate resources to create and learn about blogs.

4) Design and use a blog.

OBJECTIVE 1: What is a blog?

Definition:

Blogs (short for “Weblogs”) are Web sites organized in reverse chronological order, with the newest entries on top. They can be set up quickly and updated regularly by people with little or no Web programming experience.

This format and function supports personal “diary” style blogging, but blogs are also used to express political opinions, discuss hobbies and interests, “think out loud” on academic subjects, and as a form of first-person reporting.

Source: http://dmc.umn.edu/etf/blogs.pdf

Further Defined:

“Blog” is an abbreviated version of “weblog,” which is a term used to describe web sites that maintain an ongoing chronicle of information. A blog is a frequently updated, personal website featuring diary-type commentary and links to articles or other Web sites. Blogs range from the personal to the political, and can focus on one narrow subject or a whole range of subjects.

Many blogs focus on a particular topic, such as web design, politics, sports, or mobile technology. Some are more eclectic, presenting links to all manner of other sites. And others are more like personal journals, presenting the author’s daily life and thoughts.

Generally speaking (though there are exceptions), blogs tend to have a few things in common:

• A main content area with articles listed chronologically, newest on top. Often, the articles are organized into categories.
• An archive of older articles.
• A way for people to leave comments about the articles.
• A list of links to other related sites, sometimes called a “blogroll”.

Source: http://codex.wordpress.org/Introduction_to_Blogging

Why do you think people blog? Post a comment if you would like.

OBJECTIVE 2: Blogs in Education

Why use blogs in education?

http://www.weblogg-ed.com/why-weblogs

The educational uses of blogs are endless. Some obvious benefits are:

• Free Web Space
• Discussion Boards
• Homework Posting
• Keep reflective journals on class topics
• Create annotated web resources
• Post drafts of papers for peer feedback
• Brainstorm about class reports or projects

• Maintain a list of news articles relevant to particular a topic

Watch the video on slide 5 of To Blog or Not to Blog to see how the Blog Master, Will Richardson, uses blogs in his classroom: http://www.ahistoryteacher.com/sdcue2005/blog.htm

There are many excellent sites with ideas for blogs in education.

1. Five Major Uses for Blogs in Education: http://www.pembinatrails.ca/program/technology/uses_of_blogs_in_education.htm
2. Ways to Use Weblogs in Education: http://www.eschoolnews.com/eti/2004/10/000180.php
3. Blogging Ideas for Math Teachers: http://futureofmath.misterteacher.com/blogs.html
4. Blogging Rubric Example: http://www.masters.ab.ca/bdyck/Blog/
5. Matrix of Blogs in Education: http://www.edtechpost.ca/gems/matrix2.gif

Sample Blogs:

Math: http://verity7math.blogspot.com/

High School Art: http://www.lhsartpro.org/

Kathy Schrock’s Blog: http://kathyschrock.blogspot.com/

A History Teacher: http://www.ahistoryteacher.com/blog/

Science Teacher: http://msfrizzle.blogspot.com/

Secret Life of Bees: http://weblogs.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/bees/

Pre-Cal Class: http://pc30s.blogspot.com/

10th Grade Writing Project: http://blogs.writingproject.org/eastside2008/

Award Winning Blogs: http://incsub.org/awards/2005/the-edublog-awards-2005-shortlist

Social Studies Lesson Plan Blog: http://weblogs.hcrhs.k12.nj.us/socstarticulation/
Post comments on any of the above samples.

Blog Risks to Consider:

School districts have guidelines and acceptable use policies (AUP) regarding the use of school and division-wide computer networks and the Internet. These terms and conditions identify acceptable online behavior and access privileges. Policies regarding the displaying of any student work must be adhered to strictly. Take the necessary steps to secure parental permission before using the blog in a participatory manner.

Blogs may be viewed publicly, as any other Web site. Students must be trained on issues regarding access, privacy, security, and free expression. As blogs have no publisher, producer, or editor, students must carefully consider the content of postings to avoid anything defamatory, libelous, or an infringement upon the rights of others.

Blogs are created by individuals for various and assorted purposes. Content should be recognized as the opinion of the blogger, and, therefore, may not necessarily be factual.

Preparing Students for Blogging

• Determine that all students’ AUPs are in place and up to date.
• Inform parents of procedures and secure parental permission.
• Teach students safe, acceptable, and sensible behavior as online authors and readers.
• Review policies and guidelines pertaining to student access.
• Teach the non-posting rules of no complete names, e-mail accounts, or references to reveal location.
• Set clear expectations regarding tone, respect, and consequences.

Source: http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/47

OBJECTIVE 3: Resources

****The New Literacy-Blogging: http://www.resco.ca/blogging/
An excellent resource for blogging information is Mark Wagner’s Blogging for Teachers Workshop Series:

http://mark.blogspot.com/2005/03/blogging-for-teachers-part-1-what-are.html

http://mark.blogspot.com/2005/03/blogging-for-teachers-part-2-blogs-in.html

http://mark.blogspot.com/2005/03/blogging-for-teachers-part-3-more.html

Three FREE blogging sites that are educator friendly are:

Edublogs: http://www.edublogs.org (This is site used for this workshop.)

Blogger.com: http://www.blogger.com (Maintained by Google)

Class Blogmeister (requires a registration and code from the designer) http://classblogmeister.com/

How do I get started?

• Determine audience (Students, Teachers, Parents, Public)
• Determine purpose (What do you want to do? What do you want your students to do?)
• Determine the service (free sites, paid sites, in-house hosting, etc.)
• Set up the blog & Introduce it to your students

OBJECTIVE 4: Setting Up A Blog

Because of time limitations, we will not use Edublogs to create our blog today. If you would like instruction on this blogging site, please set up time for individual instruction.
 

Instructions for Edublogs:

1. Go to www.edublogs.org.
2. Locate Create your edublog in the lower left-hand corner.
3. Choose a username (your blog address will be username.edublogs.org)
4. Name your blog and enter in your school email address.
5. A confirmation email will be sent to you.
6. Check your email to obtain your password. Write this down!!
7. Click the link in the email to login.
8. Enter your username and password to login.
9. Click Presentation to change what your blog looks like.
10. Click Write to post.
11. Click Manage to delete the hello post from the company.
12. To monitor comments, click Options, then Discussion, and check the box stating that an administrator must approve the comment.
13. You can also blacklist words from your blog in this section.
14. Always remember to click update options any time you make a change.
15. To view your blog, click view site at the top of the page.
16. To return to the editing site, click Site Admin in the Meta section of the column on the right side.
17. To change your password, click My Account in the upper right-hand corner, then go to the bottom and type your new password in both blanks.
18. To Post to your blog, click Write, type your post, and then click publish.
19. To add users to your blog, go to Users, then Authors & Users, type the student’s username, and then select the role, and finally click update. Repeat this for each student. If you want to monitor posts before they are published, select Contributor as the role for each student. You, as the administrator, will be responsible for publishing each post in the Manage area.
20. For help with this blogging site, go to http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page.

Blogger.com Instructions 

We will walk through the steps for setting up your Blogger.com account together.

Please record all of your information on the back page.

If you need a review, see this Printable Tutorial for Using Blogger.com: http://www.resco.ca/blogging/Setting%20up%20a%20Blogger.pdf

1)     To begin, go to www.blogger.com and click on create your blog now.

2)     Fill in the information and click continue as necessary.

3)     Be sure to record your information on the next page.

4)     Topics in using Blogger.com (Explained in detail in the above tutorial)

a.     Posting to your Blog

b.     Settings

c.     Template

d.     Dashboard

e.     Profile
  

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