Setting up a blog in Edublogs (A tutorial)

Intermediate ICT Skills: Communicate & Collaborate

Creating a blog part 3

Setting up your blogin Edublogs

http://www.thutong.org.za/

By the end of this e-torial, you will be able

to:

Set up a blog in Edublogs

Log into your blogging dashboard

Change your settings

Write a blog page

Write a blog post

This e-torial make use of the following

programmes or tools:

Browser: Internet Explorer, Firefox…

A blogging platform: Edublogs, Wordpress

Outcomes

Tools


Creating a blog: Setting it up!

http://www.edublogs.org/


http://www.wordpress.org/

http://www.wordpress.org/



Index

Before you start

Sign up for an educational blog!

Activate your Edublogs account

Your dashboard settings

Changing general settings

Change your password

Change your theme

Insert login widget

Manage your posts

Write your first blog post!

Tags and Categories

Save your post

View and edit your post

Manage your pages

Add pages

View your site

Self assessment rubric



Before you create your blog….

If you have not done so before,

first work through the previous

blogging e-torials:

Why and What of blogging

The anatomy of a blog

So this means that you….

Already have a purpose for

your blog (personal, class,

organisational…..)

Have completed the first 2

steps of your blogging action

plan

Have chosen Edublogs as

your blogging platform

Purpose

•What is your blog going to be about?

•School? Personal? Organisational?

•Who is your audience? Learners? Parents

Ideas

•What posts have to be included?

•Ideas Folder

•Look for opportunities.

Create

•Where are you going to create it?

•Choose a theme

•Insert feeds, widgets, interactivity

Maintain

•Update regularly

•Look after comments

Action plan

Remember: Creating a blog without a clear idea of why you want to do it, is like

writing a book without a topic.


M12 whyblog.ppt

M12 whyblog.ppt

M12 whyblog.ppt

http://www.box.net/shared/d6fzyi36vo

http://www.box.net/shared/jnzaqbx76v

http://www.box.net/shared/jnzaqbx76v


Sign up for an educational blog!

Go to:

www.edublogs.org if you

want to create an

educational blog

Sign up!

Click here…

If your blog do not have an educational focus,

rather sign up at Wordpress.com



http://www.wordpress.com/

http://www.wordpress.com/


Sign up for your Edublogs account

Fill in your username. Try to make it easy to remember or the same as your blog title or

your name!

Make sure that you will have access to your e-mail box. You will receive an activation link

via e-mail and will have to activate before you will be able

to use your blog!!!

Use this option if you only want to be able to

comment on other edu-bloggers’ blogs

funmaths

[email protected]

You have to agree!



Sign up for your Edublogs account

Choose the domain name that is relevant to what your blog

is all about

It is a good idea to make your blog title similar to your

blog domain

Your choices are:Teacher, Student, Other

Fun Maths

Tick- you want your blog to be read, don’t you!




Sign into your e-mail inbox and wait for your activation e-mail to

arrive……

Edublogs does not allow for the resend of

your activation link to a different e-mail

address, so make very sure that you insert

the correct address in the first place

If you have not received it within a few hours, check your junk

mail/spam box




If you have not received your e-mail after 2 days, register again!

To activate your blog, please click the following

link:

Your blog will not be active

until you click on the

activation link in the e-mail!

Sometimes school firewalls

block e-mail, so first check

Spam junk mail box

For activation e-mail

Click on this link to activate your blog



Log into your Edublogs blog!

The first thing you should do is to change your blog password to something you

can remember!

Copy the given password!

To copy the password…

Highlight it

Right-click on the

password and

choose Copy or

Press Ctrl- C on

your keyboard

Log in!



Working with your dashboard settings!

The easier it is to comment the more feedback you will get.

You can always moderate or delete unwanted comments

Change your general settings:

Make your Tagline relevant

to your blog focus

Membership

Decide if anybody or

just registered users

can make comments on

your blog (leave un-

ticked -preferential)

Maths Games, fun puzzles and things



Dashboard: General settings

It is good to change the time zone to your local time!

Change your general settings:

Time Zone: UTC+2 for

South Africa

What is the time zone for South Africa?

Save your changes!!!



Dashboard: Change your password

You will also be able to insert more information about yourself on your profile

page

Click on Users

Your Profile

Scroll right down

Change your password to something that

you will be able to remember!!!

Update profile

Save your changes!!!

How do I change my password??



Dashboard: Change your theme

Click on Design

Themes

Pick a theme!

How do I decide on a theme?

Blog Themes provides blogs

with a distinctive “look and

feel”. A theme also determines:

How many columns &

sidebars (1 or 2)

If you can insert widgets

If you can upload your own

header banner

2 columns, 1 sidebar

right, No custom header3 columns, 2 sidebars

right, Custom header

3 columns, 2 sidebars

(left & right)

No custom header

4 columns, 3 sidebars

(on right)

Custom headerOver 90 themes available!



Dashboard: Insert login widget

Why do I need a login widget?

The login widget will make it

possible for you to log back into

your blog dashboard!

Click on Design

Widgets

Click on Add next to Meta

Remember to save your

changes

You can also insert the Search, Pages, Latest Posts widgets



Dashboard: Manage your posts

You can now change this Hello world post into your very first blog post!

By default you will already have

a post in your blog. Go and

change it!

Click on Manage Posts

Click on Hello world



Dashboard: Write your first blog post!

A first blog post should outline the focus of your blog…….

Change the title

Welcome to Maths Fun 4 U

What is your blog going to be about? Tell us all

about it!



Your first blog post! Tags and Categories

You can add more categories every time you write a new post

Add some tags

Categories divide your blog posts and links into folders

Tags help people find

this blog post

Separate tags with

commas

Welcome, mathematics, fun

General



Your first blog post! Save your post

If you want to create post dated blog posts, just change the post date to a

future date and save the post as Published!

Save your post

If you would like the world to see your post, choose Publish.

You can edit your post in

Unpublished mode

using your Manage

Posts feature on your

dashboard

You can change the post date as

well

If your post is not

quite ready for the

public, choose

Unpublished or

tick “Keep this

post private”



View and edit your post

You can also go back into your dashboard by clicking on the Edit this link in

your blogpost, provided that you are logged in!

In your dashboard, click on

View Site

Brilliant!

Edit your blog by clicking on

Site admin



Manage your pages

Well done, your blog is ready for the world…..

By default you will already have

a page in your blog. (About Us)

Go and change it!

Click on Manage Pages

Click on About us

Edit the page and Publish

Your About Us page is very

important as it provides

information about

Your blog focus

The authority of the blog



Add pages

Pages are usually ordered alphabetically, but you can put a number above to

change the order pages appear in.

Decide on what pages you

would like to add!

Click on Write Page

Write the title and

content of your page

Decide if it is a main page or a sub page under

an existing page (eg About us My CV)

Decide on the page order (in which you want them

to show in your tabs/page list)



View your masterpiece!

Don’t forget to let your friends, colleagues and the world know that you are now

a blogger with a blog in the blogosphere!!!

To get to your site Always, type in the domain

address in your browser address window…

Eg http://[email protected]


http://[email protected]




Self assessment Rubric

Assess your level of skill: 1 MMMmmm still need more thought/practice;

2 Getting there! 3 Cool- No problems!


This e-torial was developed by maggiev

for the Department of Education for use

by subject advisors, teachers and learners

All e-torials can be found on the

Thutong portal:

www.thutong.org.za


About this Presentation information

For more blogging resources, see:

http://groups.diigo.com/groups/blogging

101

It forms part of a online learning pathway

and is a self study tutorial

Part 1: Blog: What? Why?

Creating a blog

Part 2:The anatomy of a blog

Part 3: Registering for your blog

and creating posts and pages

Part 4: Making your blog look

good

Part 5:Making your blog

interactive with widgets and RSS



http://groups.diigo.com/groups/blogging101



M12 whyblog.ppt

M12 whyblog.ppt

http://www.box.net/shared/d6fzyi36vo

Setting up a blog in Edublogs (A tutorial)

Education

Transcript of Setting up a blog in Edublogs (A tutorial)