Introduction
A blog is a personal space to record and communicate thoughts, discoveries, and understandings. A blogger observes their experience, reflects on it, and then provides a written response. As the written commentary has a global audience, others are able to read your reflections and respond from their perspectives by commenting or writing their own blog article. Learning, therefore, becomes socially negotiable, as reading the varying perspectives cause one to analyze and possible refine their viewpoints. There are several free online hosting services: Blogger, Wordpress, and Typepad. View blogs created by teacher-librarians and educators to formulate ideas for the design and purpose of your blog:
Explore
To create a blog, follow these three easy steps. You may want to print the instructions.
- Create An Account
For this tutorial, Blogger will be demonstrated due to its extreme ease of use. However, if you already use a different hosting service, you are welcome to post your responses on your existing blog. Setting up a blog through Blogger, requires the creation of an account. Google asks you for an email address - this becomes your username. Remember to write down your Username and Password.
As a blog's title and address are public, you may not want to use your real name. Consider creating a blog name that’s anonymous, yet uniquely you. The URL for your blog will look like these authentic examples - http://librarywriting.blogspot.com/ or http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/. The format is name.blogspot.com when you use blogger.com software. Please note that there are no www in the address when using Blogger.com software. Also, remember your URL address and/or bookmark it.
Blogger has several templates. Select one that represents your unique flair.
Reflect
Create a post that provides insights into your initial thoughts, discoveries, and learnings about blogs. Label each entry with the name and number of the tutorial. For example: Tutorial #1: Blogs
Email Carlene Walter your blog address. The response will contain a link to the second tutorial.
