Module I - Blogger Introduction

No matter where you are - we’re glad you’re here!

Essential Questions:

• How can educators use new media to better reach and teach Alaska's students?
• Why is an awareness of Place important?
•  How can an awareness of Place create better learning for Alaska students?

ENGAGE    

If you're reading this, you're reading a blog. If you're taking this course for credit, your assignment each week is to respond to each module in your own blog, created just for this course.  

You may already be a blogger and use another blog program or service. Feel free to use any other blog program or service you like. Otherwise, try Blogger. It's quick! It's easy! And it's free! 

Naming Your Blog   

It can be a surprisingly difficult task to reduce the scope of ideas in this course to a few helpful words. Feel free to be creative and personalize, but please choose a title that is informative, professional and directly relates to this course. 

Choosing a Design Template 

You will be prompted to select your basic template for your blog. You can change colors, add gadgets, and move elements around to suit your style. Take a little time to play with your blog design. Strive to make it unique, appealing and easy for others to use and read. 

A Note on Privacy 

While you are not required to provide personal information on your blog, you are asked to include professional profile and contact information. Here are some tips:

1. Recommended: Only provide information that is already public (school, name, professional email, etc.) .
2. Recommended:Include only professional information in the personal profile section of your blog.
3. Required: Use Comment Moderation under Comments in the Settings menu, and only post the comments you approve. Click Here for a YouTube Tutorial.

Bottom Line: Treat your blog as a professional portfolio.

EXPLORE   
Start by clicking on this blogger link. Follow the prompts to set up your own blog for this course.    

• You'll also find a helpful Quick Tour and Video Tutorial along with other useful features - just a click away.
• YouTube hosts a variety of helpful tutorials at the Blogger Help Channel.

Your first test blog post:
For your first test post, please include an image of a favorite place along with a paragraph or two describing your connection to that place.

Linking your blog to the course blog
After you save your blog, send an email to the course instructor at explorealaskablog@gmail.com - including the blog title and its URL.

• It should look like this: 

1. Your Name
2. Your Blog's Title 
3. Your Blog URL (looks like this: http://your-blog-name-here.blogspot.com)

• The instructor will include your blog as a link in the Course Participants menu on the main page of this blog.

EXAMINE 
 

Put Your Best Foot Forward 

The Web is a very public place where it's a good idea to always put your best foot forward. Many of you are already skilled using new media. Some of us could use some help.

For some guidance in creating a better blog, read Sailing the C's to Better Blogging. It's a summary guide I created to help students when posting their first blog. 

Designing a blog that rewards the reader for the time spent there begins with understanding how humans respond to design and function features. We recommend using the Contrast-Repetition-Alignment-Proximity method. 

Learn more about these easy, useful, powerful principles for creating a better blog. DailyBlogTips.com posts a good overview of these concepts.

Or explore what Dr. Jason Ohler has to say about using the Seven B's of Visually Differentiated Text.

The Good News is that you'll also have plenty of opportunities to learn from each other as we start visiting and commenting on each others blogs.


EXTEND
Good Is Good News

Speaking of Good News and Good Blogs, here's a favorite blog with links to other great education-themed blogs. It's design is engaging and it's features are easy to use. You just may like Good Is