Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Thing 1: Blogs and Thing 2: Commenting

A blog (short for "web log") is a site where an individual (or group) can record ideas, information, or reflections. People use blogs to write about travel, work, recipes, the news, their cats. . . anything. Blogs allow writers to share their interests with a wider audience and, through commenting, connect with people who share their interests.

I will be using this blog to introduce each new thing, and you will be using a blog to share what you've learned.

Task 1:
Start a blog. Go to Blogger.com and click on "Get Started." If you don't have a Google account, you'll need to create one (it's quick and free), or you can log in with an existing Google account. Once you've set up your blog, add your first post.

For your first post, share a video about the impact (good or bad) that technology is having on education. You can either paste the link, or embed the video. If you need help embedding a video, you can check out this screencast: How to embed a video on your blog

Not sure where to find a video?
Try 90+ Technology and Media Literacy Videos, YouTube's education channel, or search using keywords such as collaboration, "24/7 education", "open learning", "web 2.0", "school 2.0", edtech, "21st century skills", "creative education", "student centered learning"

 Once you've set up your blog and made your first post, use the form below to share your blog name and address with me.





Task 2:
Once you've shared your blogs with me, I'll set up a post with all of your links (next week we'll learn about easy ways to keep track of the blogs you want to follow). Visit your colleagues' blogs, check out the videos they posted, and leave a comment.

My video:



Beyond the Things:
Want to learn more about Blogger settings? Check out Settings Every Blogger User Should Know

Want a "plain English" explanation of blogs and blogging? Check out Common Craft's video: