First off, I would like to thank all of you who have been forced to read and comment on my blog! I really appreciate it.
I've enjoyed this course so much that I really want to start another blog...as soon as I find a topic that interests me, as well as my potential readers. Once I get that figured out, I'll be sure to link to it from this blog. I also see that blogs can potentially be great in the classroom. Perhaps I'll use one, one day.
Hands on experience is really a great way to learn how to create a blog. There may be no more effective way than just throwing yourself into your work. Blogs are so malleable, that you really must try many different things to see what works, and what doesn't work. Don't be afraid to try new things!
Again, thank you all, and if you would like to throw a link out to any other blogs you contribute to, I would love to read!
The view from my front porch
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Promoting your blog
When I think of different ways to promote a blog, I think of networking. Blogs provide amazing connectivity, and when promoting a blog, we should take advantage of that. First, you could share your amazing blog with your friends via facebook and twitter. Get the word out! Generally we have a fair amount of friends that are interested in the same things we are, so maybe they would like to read your blog. Encourage them to share it with their friends too. Soon the whole world will be reading your blog. In theory at least.
Another way to promote your blog is to go onto similarly themed forums and provide helpful information. Then spam a link to your blog. Or more subtly link it in your signature. This will draw people to your blog. The same can also be said by commenting on other blogs. By providing useful feedback in their comment section, perhaps people will be drawn to your blogs.
Once you have millions of people that read your blog daily (or in my case five, Hi Mom!) maintenance really becomes the issue. You want to have a strong theme which keeps people coming back. You should also keep focused. Common consensus among Tweeters is that constant retweeting (resending a different user's message out to your followers) as well as inside jokes will cause you to lose followers. And I would bet that blogs are pretty much the same. If you're constantly regurgitating random information from other sources, as well as posting inside jokes for a small group of friends, you'll most likely lose readers. No one likes feeling left out!
Now let’s get out there and promote!
Another way to promote your blog is to go onto similarly themed forums and provide helpful information. Then spam a link to your blog. Or more subtly link it in your signature. This will draw people to your blog. The same can also be said by commenting on other blogs. By providing useful feedback in their comment section, perhaps people will be drawn to your blogs.
Once you have millions of people that read your blog daily (or in my case five, Hi Mom!) maintenance really becomes the issue. You want to have a strong theme which keeps people coming back. You should also keep focused. Common consensus among Tweeters is that constant retweeting (resending a different user's message out to your followers) as well as inside jokes will cause you to lose followers. And I would bet that blogs are pretty much the same. If you're constantly regurgitating random information from other sources, as well as posting inside jokes for a small group of friends, you'll most likely lose readers. No one likes feeling left out!
Now let’s get out there and promote!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Managing a Blog
Blog management can be a difficult thing, especially as your number of blogs grow. I'm having enough trouble as it is with one blog, I could hardly manage to keep two or three blogs updated with interesting material.When I think of blog management I think of it in relation to education. That means both managing my own blog, as well of those of my students, which is probably no easy task.
Blog management for my own blog both involves updating it in a timely matter with useful material, as well as trying to add related gadgets. For this blog choosing content to update with isn't really too difficult, as there is much that is expected of us. For other blogs, content could prove more difficult.
Management of student's blogs is something that I think a lot about. We're all well aware of the amount of inappropriate comments made by students on facebook. As teachers, we would have to do our best to make sure that that same attitude doesn't carry over to blogs. If it did, they would be largely ineffective, and our management jobs would increase tenfold.
Blog management for my own blog both involves updating it in a timely matter with useful material, as well as trying to add related gadgets. For this blog choosing content to update with isn't really too difficult, as there is much that is expected of us. For other blogs, content could prove more difficult.
Management of student's blogs is something that I think a lot about. We're all well aware of the amount of inappropriate comments made by students on facebook. As teachers, we would have to do our best to make sure that that same attitude doesn't carry over to blogs. If it did, they would be largely ineffective, and our management jobs would increase tenfold.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Features of a Blog
Blogs provide many useful features, which, I find, usually manifest themselves in the way of gadgets. Gadgets add customizability to blogs, and can really help each blog appear unique.
I think first and foremost of those features is the ability at which blogs allow us to connect. There are numerous ways which one blog can instantly link you to another. You can add a gadget to your blog that will list new posts of all the blogs you're following, as well who wrote the post. That way, someone visiting your blog can easily find out the blogs that interests you, and in turn, may find a few they like.We can also add hyperlinks to our text where a simple link will take you unimaginable places ! Or maybe just Google .
With gadgets we can also create polls, create slideshows, and let our readers know a little bit more about ourselves. One gadget feature I find interesting is the ability to add advertisements to your page. I talked a bit about this in an earlier post. To the best of my understanding, you get paid per click, so you're really trying to draw as many people in with good content.
The list of gadgets goes on and on, and even after having this blog for a couple of weeks, I'm still trying to get them figured out. Add HTML / Javascript to your page?! What does this mean!
What are some of your favorite features of a blog?
I think first and foremost of those features is the ability at which blogs allow us to connect. There are numerous ways which one blog can instantly link you to another. You can add a gadget to your blog that will list new posts of all the blogs you're following, as well who wrote the post. That way, someone visiting your blog can easily find out the blogs that interests you, and in turn, may find a few they like.We can also add hyperlinks to our text where a simple link will take you unimaginable places ! Or maybe just Google .
With gadgets we can also create polls, create slideshows, and let our readers know a little bit more about ourselves. One gadget feature I find interesting is the ability to add advertisements to your page. I talked a bit about this in an earlier post. To the best of my understanding, you get paid per click, so you're really trying to draw as many people in with good content.
The list of gadgets goes on and on, and even after having this blog for a couple of weeks, I'm still trying to get them figured out. Add HTML / Javascript to your page?! What does this mean!
What are some of your favorite features of a blog?
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Blogs in Education
Before starting this course, I had heard of teachers that set up websites or blogs as sort of a central location for the happenings in their class. I had never really given them much thought. The more I read about blogs that are used in the classroom, the more possibilities I see. If blogs are used in a correct way, they serve as a great medium to facilitate discussion and connectivity between classmates.
As an aspiring English teacher, anytime I discover a new teaching technique I instantly think about how I can use it for my subject area. Blogs would provide an amazing way for students to work on their writing skills, while being a safe place for classroom discussion. Imagine having all your students set up a blog where they keep a journal of sorts. They could write book reports there, as well as anything that interests them in day to day life. It would help them think critically about what they have just learned. By providing an equal forum for each student to speak up we're allowing every student the right to say what is on their mind. No student would be left out. At least in a perfect blog-world.
The only problem I really see is how viable is it for one teacher to manage thirty or so blogs. Smaller classes would be more ideal, but could a teacher easily manage that many blogs? A teacher would have to read every blog post, as well as all the comments, to ensure that nothing amiss was happening. Often times students think of the internet as an anonymous place, where they can say whatever is on their mind. This often leads to trouble. The teacher would have to take great strides to make sure this didn't happen, and that no individual's rights were being stepped upon.
While blogging does present some problems, I believe that the benefits can outweigh them.
As an aspiring English teacher, anytime I discover a new teaching technique I instantly think about how I can use it for my subject area. Blogs would provide an amazing way for students to work on their writing skills, while being a safe place for classroom discussion. Imagine having all your students set up a blog where they keep a journal of sorts. They could write book reports there, as well as anything that interests them in day to day life. It would help them think critically about what they have just learned. By providing an equal forum for each student to speak up we're allowing every student the right to say what is on their mind. No student would be left out. At least in a perfect blog-world.
The only problem I really see is how viable is it for one teacher to manage thirty or so blogs. Smaller classes would be more ideal, but could a teacher easily manage that many blogs? A teacher would have to read every blog post, as well as all the comments, to ensure that nothing amiss was happening. Often times students think of the internet as an anonymous place, where they can say whatever is on their mind. This often leads to trouble. The teacher would have to take great strides to make sure this didn't happen, and that no individual's rights were being stepped upon.
While blogging does present some problems, I believe that the benefits can outweigh them.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Blogs in Society
Blogs have a seemingly infinite number of uses in society. For every activity you could possibly imagine, there is probably a blog about it. Blogs cover all spectrum of any activity too. There are many "how to..." blogs as well as blogs for experts. Blogs provide a forum for people to be heard. We become the journalist. All it takes is a computer with internet.
There are blogs that people write for themselves, almost a day to day journal. They can be a great way for people to vent about the problems that life presents. Communities quickly form, where people support one another. Content perhaps isn't the most important aspect; connecting is.
On the other side, blogs could be used to make a living. You can add a function that adds advertisements to your page, where you earn money per click. Content now becomes the most important thing on your blog, as you're constantly trying to draw people in, as well as keep them coming back. You have to find a niche and stick to it.
It's absurd to try to define what blogs are and how they are used in society in one post, because they encompass so much. They have transcended web logs, and have become almost a pulse of the world. This is evident with sites like twitter that are being dubbed mini-blogs. These mini-blogs provide quick, distilled information, and avoid the occasional long winded post found on 'actual' blogs. Twitter shows us what can become when blogs have total connectivity. But I can't help but feel like we're losing something with mini-blogs. Where is the forum for discussion when people are posting that they just had Top Ramen for lunch? Just a thought.
In short, blogs are various ideas and activities that our ever advancing society embodies. They really are the pulse of the world.
I hope this wasn't as confusing to read as it was to write!
There are blogs that people write for themselves, almost a day to day journal. They can be a great way for people to vent about the problems that life presents. Communities quickly form, where people support one another. Content perhaps isn't the most important aspect; connecting is.
On the other side, blogs could be used to make a living. You can add a function that adds advertisements to your page, where you earn money per click. Content now becomes the most important thing on your blog, as you're constantly trying to draw people in, as well as keep them coming back. You have to find a niche and stick to it.
It's absurd to try to define what blogs are and how they are used in society in one post, because they encompass so much. They have transcended web logs, and have become almost a pulse of the world. This is evident with sites like twitter that are being dubbed mini-blogs. These mini-blogs provide quick, distilled information, and avoid the occasional long winded post found on 'actual' blogs. Twitter shows us what can become when blogs have total connectivity. But I can't help but feel like we're losing something with mini-blogs. Where is the forum for discussion when people are posting that they just had Top Ramen for lunch? Just a thought.
In short, blogs are various ideas and activities that our ever advancing society embodies. They really are the pulse of the world.
I hope this wasn't as confusing to read as it was to write!
Personal Assessment
I consider myself to be rather tech savvy. Blogging is making me change my mind. I'm realizing I'm more consumer than producer, if that makes sense. I can talk fairly fluently about various tech related items (phones, T.Vs, computers)but as far as understanding what makes things work, specifically computers, I realize I'm quite lost. I'm having to google quite a bit of different blogging terms to fully understand their meaning. Sure I had seen things like RSS feeds, but I really had no idea what it meant, or what purpose they served. To embed videos in blogs, who would of thought you had to click "Edit HTML." I'm slowly understanding some of the many intricacies of blogging. What about you guys? Do you feel completely lost? Or is blogging 'old hat' for most of you?
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