Using Weblogs for Training and Education and Fun

1
Using Weblogs for Training and Education (and Fun)

• Bruce Muller
• Instructional Design and Multimedia Development
• COMET/UCAR
• July 2004

2
Outline

• What's a Weblog
• Create your own 'blog'
• Discussion Does a weblog fit into your training
  needs?
• Customizing your blog

3
What's a Weblog?

• Weblogs are
• Web-based publishing tools
• Use a browser for authoring
• Use a browser for viewing
• Come in many flavors Wiki's, Manila, TypePad,
  Blogger, etc.
• Easy to use (more or less)
• Free (well, sort of)
• Potentially useful tools for education and
  training
• Fun and narcissistic!
• http//www.pmwiki.org/wiki/Main/WikiSandbox
• http//manila.userland.com/
• http//www.typepad.com/
• http//www.blogger.com

4
Examples

• Informational http//scottadams.blogs.com/handhel
  d_instructional_te/
• Collaborative content development
  http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
• Journalism http//warincontext.org/
• Education/Training http//manila.mems.rice.edu/me
  ch211/
• Self-indulgent drivel http//caliblog.com/
• Search for more http//www.blogarama.com/

5
Blogger Overview of a free service

• Go to http//cometone.blogspot.com/
• Explore postings, comments, links, archives,
  profile
• Post a comment

6
Create a blog 1. Log in

• Go to http//www.blogger.com/start to begin
  setting up your own blog.

7
Create a blog 2. Create a new account

• Dont use the same information as in this sample
• Youll be asked to use a different name if your
  choice is already being used

8
Create a blog 3. Name your blog

• Provide a title for your blog
• Use a simple URL prefix
• Note youll be using Bloggers free hosting
  service for this workshop
• The Advanced Setup allows you to ftp your blog to
  your own server/host skip this option for the
  workshop

9
Create a blog 4. Choose a look

• Preview a few templates using the magnifier, then
  select your favorite

10
Create a blog 5. Start publishing!

• Click the Start button and start blogging...

11
Publishing The Posting Tab

• Type a posting in the text field
• Click the Publish Post button to add the posting
  to your blog

12
Publishing View Blog

• Once the process is complete, click the View Blog
  tab
• A new browser window will open displaying your
  updated blog

13
Publishing Edit Posts

• To edit a post, click the Edit Posts option under
  the Posting tab
• Select the post that needs editing by clicking
  the Edit button
• Make your edits and click Publish Post to update
  the blog
• Note that you can also change the date using the
  More Post Options... button

14
Add More Postings

• Go ahead and add a few more postings
• Experiment with adding links
• See how well the Spellchecker works

15
Settings Tab

• Explore the many options under this tab. Be sure
  to
• Save Settings after each change
• Republish Entire Blog
• View Blog to see changes
• Basic Title, description, public or private
  blog
• Publishing Publish to BlogSpot (with ads) or
  FTP to your server
• Formatting How many days to show, date/time
  formats, language, posting template
• Comments VERY COOL! Be sure to turn them on.
• Archiving How often, post pages (separate page
  for each posting)
• Site Feed syndicate for newsreaders (XML
  formatted for newsreaders)
• Email VERY COOL! Update your blog via email
• Members Share the burden and add members for
  collaborative blogging

16
The Dashboard

• Provides access to all your blogs (you can have
  as many as you want!)
• Misc. Blogger news and updates
• Access to edit your Profile

17
Edit your Profile

• Provide information about the owner of the blog
• Optional to share this information

18
Group Publishing

• Invite someone here to collaborate on your blog
  (if you have time and are so inclined you'll
  need access to web mail)
• Be sure to give them Admin privileges if you want
  them to have control over postings

19
Discussion

• Can a weblog serve fill a need in a
  training/education program?
• Your thoughts...

20
Discussion

• Some suggested uses
• Course syllabus/assignment postings for classroom
  courses
• As an assignment discussion board (using the
  comment feature)
• As a collaborative space for content gathering

21
Customizing your Blog

• Edit current This provides access to the xhtml,
  css, and template tags used to create your blog
  pages
• Always Preview before saving changes
• Don't forget to Republish the entire blog

22
Template Tab

• Pick new Choose a preformatted template
• Be sure to republish the entire blog after
  choosing a new template.
• Note you will lose any changes that you made to
  the xhtml/css/template tags previously

23
Adding Pictures

• The easiest way is to use an absolute link to a
  picture on your server (i.e. http//www.comet.uca
  r.edu/bmuller/images/tuxed.gif)
• Alternately, explore the use of the free
  servicehttp//hello.com/how_bloggerbot_works.php
  to post pictures directly to the blogspot server

24
Misc Resources

• Aggeragtors using XML/RSS to gather blogs -
  http//bloglines.com/
• More ideas http//www.learnnc.org/index.nsf/doc/t
  imesaver0501?OpenDocument
• RSS Feeds http//blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss,
  http//www.mnot.net/rss/tutorial/
• Educational use http//www.weblogg-ed.com/,
  http//www.ebn.weblogger.com/,