Personalising the
appearance of a blog – After googling for advice
I found that I could personalise the appearance of my blog from the dashboard
by going through templates and customising the background. It is also possible
to upload your own background image but blogger has such a variety available
that I didn’t feel the need to do this. I found that the title of my blog
didn’t show up against some backgrounds I really liked but realised that going
into the advanced settings allowed me to change the font and colour of the text
at different levels ( e.g. blog title, description, post title etc. ). I
decided not to spend too much time doing with this (it is a little too much fun
and a bit of time waster for me! ) and just limit myself to changing the colour
of my title so that it is visible.
Personalising a blog is a great way for students to feel
that they have ownership over their learning space and provides a basis for
discussions around visual literacy, audience and purpose.
I also found how to fix an error in the title of my EDEL
20001 blog. I spotted it a week after creating my blog but could NOT figure out
how to change it!
Adding Widgets/ Gadgets
There are a wide range of Gadgets that can be added to
blogs. There were some gadgets I the basics section I thought may be for
students such as
·
Translate: Let visitors translate your blog into
different languages.
·
Follow by email: makes it easy for visitors to
subscribe to email delivery when you publish a post.
·
Poll : survey your visitors by adding a poll to
your blog.
·
Link List : display a collection of your
favourite sites blogs or web pages for your visitors.
Blogger also allows you to add your own gadget from the web.
A quick search of Educational
gadgets for blogger brought up a host of interesting options. I chose
EducationAtlas.com free dictionary and thesaurus. I had problems adding the
widget as Blogger expected me to add a URL and the site had given me HTML
embedding code. After some googling I found instructions on how
to use the Html /javascript gadget to add the embedding code.
After adding the gadget I realised that it did not show up
on the dynamic view … so I personalised a little more and found that in
the “static” blog templates it did.
Adding speaking Avatars:
Voki or Read the Words
Each of these tools allow you to create an avatar, choose a
voice and add text for the avatar to read. You can then embed the recording in
your blog. Both free versions are limited to 30 second clips. Voki allows more
options for creating or choosing an avatar, allows you to record your own voice
if you wish and can be embedded
in the sidebar of your blog or in a post. Read-the-words will allow you to
paste the URL for a website into the tool and your avatar will read it…. but
only for 30 seconds.
I prefer to use creative commons search, google advanced search to find suitable images to use. I recently discovered the advanced search option in Flickr also ( I also found that I needed to register to access licencing information about the images).
I was concerned about embedding without attributing the author correctly. After reading Dana’s post I found that when you roll the mouse over an embedded image the source details are shown. Dana also mentions that Youtube allows blogger authors the option to share directly from Youtube. I have noticed that some sites also have this option. Flickr and Voki also have a “ blogger button” that automatically creates a new post and embeds the media.
Authors are also able to add captions to images which ensures they will be located directly under the image.
After reading Brett’s blog I was inspired to create my own image to upload from my iPad. Here it is ….. I hope !
Adding Video : Youtube
Linking : First follower: Leadership Lessons from Dancing Man
Embedding : I have already uploaded a self-created video to Youtube and embedded it within my blog.
Here I have added embedded a video I created using SockPuppets and uploaded to YouTube from my iPad. Sock Puppets is a free app that allows users to record 30 second video creations free. If you want to record for longer you need to pay. I paid 99c to enable me to upload my own images as a background. The image was sourced from Flickr under a creative commons licence and has been attributed with under the video in YouTube. I downloaded the Youtube app which allowed me to login to my YouTube account and upload the video from my iPad. I found that the sharing options available in the app did not give me the option to embed the video – only to share the link. I also found that I was unable to retitle the video and add the copyright information for the image. I returned to my laptop to complete these tasks.
I was also able to add captions to the video. You tube has a very helpful function that automatically pauses the video as you type !
I listed the video under a creative commons licence but set privacy to unlisted. When I clicked the link to share Youtube gave me a very nice reminder “ This video is unlisted. Be considerate and think twice before sharing” .
Adding Audio
It is possible to add personal audio content to a blog through a roundabout process using Google sites. This is a multi-step process that includes creating your own Google site to store content, uploading it, then placing it on your blog. I haven’t explored this fully as I may be guilty of stretching the functionality of blogs too far. I will wait until I’ve explored some of the other tools before making a commitment to this function.
Audio recording and upload >> Links to outside content – Example Survey Monkey
I created a quick survey using the templates provided on the Survey Monkey website, however surveys could be created about any of the content posted on the blog to collect information from fellow students and/ or the wider blog audience. Unlike the poll widget I have added to the sidebar of my blog, SurveyMonkey allows multiple formats from Yes/No to short answer responses. It was easy to copy and paste the link into my blog posting.
Click here to take survey
Links to own content
Blogs allow author’s to link/ refer to their own previous content. I have found this to be a valuable function when reflecting on my personal learning journey and developing the ability to draw the complex threads of ideas together. Before beginning this course I was not aware of the way hyperlinks should be used, i.e. without breaking the flow of writing. They have their own grammar. I would write things like “ See my previous reflection on learning theory here” rather than “ In my previous reflection on learning theory…”
Adding Text
Labelling content is a useful function of blogs that I have only recently discovered. Not only is it useful for increasing traffic to your blog ( if that is your goal) , it is a useful thinking strategy to sum up a post using only a few words. Writing labels for a post also forces the writer to think from the perspective of their audience and ask “ what would be the most useful labels for this post?”
Publishing to blogger in Word : In my version of Microsoft Office I am able to publish directly from Word by clicking File – New – Blog post. I am then asked to register my Blogger account ( I shied away from doing this as I am concerned about privacy settings and password security). There is a “ Publish” button that I assume will publish my work documents directly to my blog.
Reflection on VCR Blogs after implementing in Project 600
After discussions with other SDE teachers and Kylie it was decided that we would create group blogs for students in the 2014 Virtual Classroom. In the previous year we had constructed individual blogs where students would post their personal profile and homework ( Must Do ) tasks.
Group blogs allow students to easily view and comment on each other's contributions. From my observations this change has provided students with more opportunities to interact and learn from each other and hence greater motivation to contribute.
In setting up the blogs I found that there was a greater investment of time in creating, naming and linking each blog to the appropriate teacher's group folder but this only needed to be done once while the benefits should be visible for the length of the project.
One aspect of the blog process I would change in hindsight is the format we asked students to use when uploading their profiles. This involved students writing the profile using a PowerPoint template, then saving it as a jpeg file to be uploaded. This allowed the profile to be viewed directly from the blog. It did not need to be downloaded as a file and opened.
The downside of completing the task in this way was that it does not take advantage of one of the seemingly minor affordances of blogs - that they are editable. In hindsight I would encourage students to type their profile directly into their blog. Students would then be able to easily make changes in response to my feedback ( in comments) and the feedback of other students.
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