How does a blog work? The super-basic

As I stated in my presentation on Thursday, blogs usually go in reverse chronological order - the latest post is the first you'll read. My first post happened at the conference I attended, and if you care to read it, just click on the 2007 (November) archive to the right, and it will take you to that post. It's a quick comment on why I haven't created a blog until now - yes, now you know my deep, dark secret. I can sell a product I, myself, haven't used :) Yes, I believe in a lot of technology that much. I know from research & experience that most of these technological advances have enhanced my teaching and classroom in some way, form, or fashion. My point in my first entry is that blogging takes a bit of time. Yes, doing a class blog or any blog (or any Web 2.0 concept) takes time, and we can come up with a million reasons why we don't have the time to do it; however, once it becomes routine, then it will become part of your planning, your class culture, and perhaps your grading. As well, it's a little addictive, to be perfectly honest! Again, this is somewhat of a longer conversation. Just trust that if blogging is the route you want to go, then it can enhance your classes.

You can search for entries or ideas within the blog using the concept of 'tags', which we talked about at the in-service. These are listed at the right under 'labels' - this is another term for tags. You can also search the blog using the title of an entry; this is also listed on the right under Blog Archive (by month). The titles will get archived by the month, and the labels remain showing.

If you'd like to respond to a comment or ask a question, I have set this blog so that anyone with a Blogger account (free & fast set up) can comment. Just click on the comment button to the bottom right of any post. Comments are set to be moderated, so no comment will be posted until the author (me) approves it. As a teacher, this can give you control over what shows up on the screen. It will hopefully give you some security in your classroom. There are a variety of security settings, and we'll talk about them in more depth later.

Posts usually get archived each month to save space - these are all features you can set when you create your blog. You can set up who can post, who can comment, etc. This will all be part of the 'Blogging 401' I mentioned at the end of the presentation. That session will go into what we all need to worry about (copyright, publishing students' work, etc.) and be geared toward your 1-1 'how-to' needs. I'd like to have each of you walk out of that session feeling empowered to use your new blog in a classroom setting. If you're interested in that session, which I'm hoping happens sooner than later (so we can get these blogs rolling with the beginning of the new semester), see Bob ASAP.