SlideShareShow for Beginners


When you are first beginning to blog it helps to become familiar with the different vocabulary related to a blog like blog titles, articles/posts, sidebars, links, permalinks, comments, archives, blogrolls, and other terms. Please refer to the very basic  Blog Vocabulary page for definitions of each of these terms. This SlideShare show will help you see where these different parts are located. You will not always see all these parts on every blog. It depends on what the software allows or the author chooses to show.

 

The first thing I look for on a blog is an "About" link or a place that tells me about the author of the blog. I want to know who is writing the information and other information. I like to know if they are classroom teachers or what their job is. It helps me understand their perspectives. If I can't find it easily sometimes I navigate back to the very first post. Sometimes authors will introduce themselves there. You will see archive links on many blogs.

 

Take note of the "permalink" because later if you are writing about an interesting post you will want to share the URL of  that link so people can see only that post.

 

When I first started blogging there were just a few  blogging software programs. Now there are many of them. They all basically have the same features but may be laid out differently  and may differ in other ways but once you learn one you can easily make transitions to others. I decided to focus on BlogMeister for this presentation. It is not the fanciest one on the block but it is the safest one. It gives you the teacher control over every word that is written. The teacher can make it public or private and approves all posts and comments.. The other big plus is that you do not have to use student email addresses. It also has a very good support group that is run by David Warlick.

 

David created this software and does all the work maintaining it on his own time. He is due a huge thanks for this! Many times the other programs are blocked in schools. BlogMeister is not. This is a good place to start and prove the worth of blogging.  It is a good place to begin. and learn. Many teachers choose to stay in this arena.

 

Enjoy the slide show! I hope it helps you begin to understand the many parts of a blog. My favorite sllide on this show is the one of Lani and her student. Students often tell me that receiving comments is the best part of blogging!

 

 

 Link to : Blogging is Learning