A+Blogger+Tutorial

A step-by-step approach to Blogging (with Blogger!); by Scott Richmond

Hey all. The purpose of this page is to show people how easy it is to get blogging.
First off, what is a blog? Well, Dictionary.com says it's short for "weblog, a journal written on-line and accessible to users of the internet."

Okay, I can't dispute that definition, but what is a blog good for? Most often, it is one person setting down entry after entry, like an online diary or series of articles. It would almost not seem like a Web 2.0 tool, except for a few features: - some blogs allow you to "follow" them, which sends you notificatins when they update - many blogs will incorporate multimedia presentations, like embedded video or podcasts. - finally, most modern blogs have areas where followers of the blog can post comments and create an ongoing dialogue regarding the blog's content.

All this is well and good, but what can we, as educators, use them for? Blogs can be excellent tools for a teacher, giving us a space to post assignments, read feedback, link students to video and audio clips...in other words, many of the things that we do in class, but in an online environment that the students can access at any time.

So, on to the nitty-gritty... how can you create a blog? Before you do, however, you will need an active Google account. If you don't have one, head to www.google.com and create one.

Assuming you have the Google account, let's get started:

1. Head on over to www.blogger.com.



2. After logging in with your Google account, you should be prompted with the following screen.



Pick a "Display Name" that will appear on your blogs. Since it's an education blog, I'll put in "Mr. Richmond". Make sure to check the box that says "Acceptance of Terms", but I wouldn't sign up for the email notifications... they're annoying. Click the Continue arrow...

3. Okay, now you have reached your "Dashboard" page. You can return here at any time to change settings for your account, reach the blogs you author, and link to any blogs that you follow.



What we're looking for is that big blue button in the middle, "Create your blog now". Go ahead and give it a click.

4. Now we're at a page where we can name our blog. You can name it whatever you want...but the website part might be tricky.



In the Blog Address (URL) field, add some text that would be part of an appropriate address for your blog. You'll notice that, no matter what, that you cannot alter the "http:" prefix, or the ".blogspot.com" suffix. You're just filling in the middle.

For example, I used Mr. Richmond BP, but had to make it "mrrichmondbp" to make it work. No capitalization, punctuation or spaces in website addresses!

I clicked "check availability", and lucky me, it wasn't taken. If yours is, enter a new address till it works.

Let's click "Continue".

5. Now we can pick a style for our blog page, or a "Template". The ones they offer here are free - just click one (it will outline in orange) and hit Continue.



6. You should see the following screen if you did everything right. There are Advanced Options, but let's leave that alone for now.



Instead, let's just "Start Blogging". Click the arrow!

7. Here we have a standard text entry box. You'll need to do two things... create a title for your post, and a message that will appear under it. Let's start by welcoming people to the blog.



8. Not a bad start, I suppose. Let's get it posted. Click the orange "Publish Post" button.



9. Well, that was easy. Let's see how it looks on the blog itself! Click "View Post".



Pretty snazzy for such a minimal amount of work! A few things to point out here, since there is a lot on the page: - below the post is a pencil symbol. You can click that to edit a post you've made. - To the right is the "blog archive". Once your blog has been around for a while, you can click through those links to find old posts. - At the bottom of the page, once you scroll down, is a comment box. Anyone reading your blog can type whatever they want about your post, and those comments will be posted below your original post. Note that users comments will appear as "Anonymous" unless they too log in to Blogger.

10. Now, this wonderful blog deserves to be shared with the world...let's find the link for it. Scroll up, and hover over the name of the blog with your pointer, and click.

What gives, you might say? The page didn't appear to change, but the web address in the top of your browser sure did.



There it is, I circled it in green. Write that address down, copy/paste it somewhere... that is the link you will use to direct people to your blog.

11. So far, so good. Let's create a new post before we leave this page however. The "New Post" link is up in the upper-right hand corner, right next to your Google account name.



Click, and we're back to the text entry box. Go ahead and make a new post, and publish it.

12. Here's my new post. You'll notice that I cannot see my first post from this particular page, just the most recent one.



13. So, click the title of the blog, and back to the main page we go. Notice what happens here... I can see all the posts, but if there were any comments, they would be hidden. There are links below every post that indicate how many comments have been made to each post, and clicking on that link would bring you to them.



14. You've now learned how to post, and where to check for comments. The last thing this tutorial will cover is looking at the options that this service provides.

Find a small orange and white "B" in the upper -left hand corner, and click on it.



Click it, and you'll be sent back to your Dashboard.

15. And here we are back at the nerve center, your dashboard. From here, you can access all of your blogs, settings, preferences and options.



There's a lot to explore here, but let me just point out some highlights.

- on the left, under your name, are links to edit your profile, photo, and email notifications. These are all very important, but the profile section bears special mention. This is where you control how much of your personal info (real name, email address, hometown, jobs, interests) appears to the general public. By default, most of these fields are blank... just be aware that what you put there shows up online to just about anyone. - under "Manage Blogs" are all the blogs you have set up. You'll also notice some hyperlinks that allow you to post, edit and view comments to your blog without having to visit it directly. This is very handy, especially if you are maintaining multiple blogs. This is also the only area where you can access "Design", which allows you to change the appearance of your blog. - finally, if you decide to follow blogs, or want to see what some popular blogs are, click on the "Reading List" tabs below to keep up-to-date with them.

That's all for now! Happy blogging, and feel free to post any blogs you make to the discussion thread attached to this page!


 * This tutorial covers ISTE Standards 2 (Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments) **
 * and 3 (Model Digital-Age Work and Learning) and MTSE Standard 3 (Demonstrate the ability to use **
 * technology for research, critical thinking, problem solving, decision making, communication, collaboration, **
 * creativity, and innovation). **


 * By learning to blog, teachers can create learning experiences that **
 * - incorporate digital tools, **
 * - demonstrate fluency in technology systems, and **
 * - potentially collaborate with their students and peers. **