Welcome to YDEV 560

Welcome to YDEV 560!  

As a central tool of this class, you will create your own blog to use this semester for all of your written assignments, and to keep track of your thoughts about any of the issues we cover. You can also maintain this blog after this class is over for personal or professional purposes.
  

A blog is your very own, personal online journal. It is public, in that I and your classmates can read it and comment on it, but it is your space and you can control most everything about it. (If you want to make it private so that *only* members of this class can read it, talk to me for instructions).  




Wanna know more about why I choose blogging for this class?  CLICK HERE.

To start your own blog, you will go to: www.blogger.com

Blogger is the Google Tool for blogging so you will need to log in to your google account..   

  
Click the button that says NEW BLOG (you will see this even if you have blogged before) and follow the instructions to get started.   

Follow the instructions to enter your title, address, etc.  Don't get frustrated if you get stuck -- sometimes google will reject your set up and you will have to do it all over again.  Keep submitting it until it goes through and your blog is created.

IMPORTANT:  

You will also need to choose a design template for your blog. I am asking you to please start with SIMPLE OR PICTURE WINDOW for ease and readability.  You can add your own picture as a background to personalize it. You can change this later so don't worry too much about it initially... Once you have the account set up, you can start posting. 

A “post” is an entry on your blog. (For clarification, you have one blog, but many posts). Give the post a title and then compose as you would any journal entry. When you are finished, hit the button at the bottom that says Publish. It will not appear on your blog until you publish it. You can always go back and edit old posts and create new ones.

Your First Post

Your first post should be a short introduction to you: who are you, what do you do when you are not in class, etc. (Just a short paragraph — no big deal). Try to include one picture in this post and at least two hyperlinks.  You will post the rest of the entries as they are due (see syllabus for dates), or whenever you have something to say! 

IMPORTANT: 

When you are done creating your site and posting your first entry, please come back to this blog and post a comment at the end of my first posting (scroll down) that includes your name and blog address so that I can post it in the link list to the right. 

Some Tips and Helpful Hints:

• Once you are in your blog, look at the top right corner of the screen. If you click on the word DESIGN, you will be able to make design changes, create new posts, edit old posts, etc. (You can only do this if you are logged in to your blog.)
• Once you are in the DESIGN screen, you can do all kinds of things to make your blog a bit more interesting. Change your fonts and colors, edit a post, change your settings. See the tabs at the top of the screen for all kinds of options.
• Poke around online and make a list of websites related to education, media literacy, social justice or anything else relevant and post them on your blog. You can add all kinds of things by ADDING A GADGET from your LAYOUT screen.
• Just do the best you can with this. If you get stuck, don't fret... I am happy to help you anytime as you work on getting this started. And remember: you can't break it. It is just a blog. Everything can be changed if need be!

Good luck!!  

LB :)