Why I make my students create blogs …

Well, I think everyone can benefit from regular writing practice. And, I do mean everyone.

A blog gives students an opportunity to pick a topic they are interested in writing about and set off to create a collection of posts that would impress a future employer.

I stress this point multiple times. "Your goal is to have a completed blog that shows a future employer you have some skills."

You can showcase writing, organization, search engine optimization, writing to a specific audience and technical ability.

Podcasts help students practice delivering short audio messages. Speeches without the stage fright. And, the technology is free and available to all to do both.

So, welcome to MM199, let's get blogging!

1,247 reasons to scream!

Meet my inbox.

Oldest message: March 9, 2016
Newest: 8:12 a.m.

Odds of me getting it cleaned out this month: 1 to 1 million?

Only send emails that are absolutely necessary. Or maybe skip those, too.

Blog Lingo

So, I am teaching a bunch of terrific academics all about Blogger  and perhaps …ahem … Wordpress tomorrow. YIKES! Nothing frays my nerves more than standing in judgment before your peers.

And yes, I really am generally this dramatic.

Here's the Blogger handout I created for the event:

Later tonight, I will continue and create a little something to help us out with Wordpress.

Fall 2015 Blogs

image: www.clayton-mcculloh.com

If all 23 students enrolled in my Media Boot Camp class had the assigned six posts completed, I would have read and remarked on 138 blog posts over the last two days. Without giving too much encouragement to those who are dragging behind, perhaps I should thank them?

Anyway, I wanted to give some early kudos to some of my top blogs this week.

1) Most passionate blogger about topic: Connor (Hockey, anyone?)

2) Most informative and fun to read blog: Miyuki (learn about the Japanese culture)

3) Best how-to blog: Mark's cigar box guitar blog, but Maria's car care blog is pretty informative on some basic car maintenance.

The Class has Spoken…

And, the most feared of all the summer 2015 blogs is… (in terms of being a great competitor for your own blog)

Stephanie's

Getting Back to You

Other students with mentions include:

Annika

Katy

Natalie

Taryn

Good Job!

Portfolios 101

Stephanie's Portfolio is a great one to check out. She has all of the requirements under control.




For more portfolios, check out this link.

Pages & Posts: Appreciate the difference

A post appears in the main body of your blog. Newest posts go on top, etc. 

THIS is a post. 

A PAGE on a blog takes a bit more work. 

Notice across the top of this blog a PAGE called, ironically enough, "Pages on Blogger." 

Check it out if you are struggling to create your own page …

Podcasts rock!

Here is my podcast about podcasting.
 Assignment "Specs"

1. 3-5 minutes -- DO NOT go over 5 minutes. Your grade will be based on the first five and you will be penalized for anything over or under 5 minutes.
2. Your blog must stay true to the topic of your blog.
3. You can use a lot of things to record it. I download audacity from the web and use it. I've also used the voice memo on my iphone. We have audacity in the Mac Lab in Henderson 7. Let me know if you need access.
4. You have to host the audio on a non-Blogger site because the free Blogger does not allow you to post audio to your site. I use podbean.com because I always have, but some prefer other sites. Just as long as you can embed a player and your podcast, you are fine.
5. Have some fun. It's OK to partner with a friend or interview an "expert" on your subject matter.

I hate slideshows -- seriously

Now it's time for anyone to share some sage wisdom with me. I spent a lot of time yesterday trying to figure out how in the heck to get a slideshow to embed into a POST. I did not want it on the side.

When we first started teaching, it was super quick and mostly painless to use Picasa or Flickr to create a fun slide show. Not anymore. I tried lots and lots of different options and created about 10 new accounts on various websites that promised to make my dreams come true - HA!

In the end, my shoutout goes to photobucket.com. If you cannot see the slideshow, please let me know. I'm signed in to a lot of things, and it's always important to make sure your sharing settings are on public before you send out to the masses. Or they will simply see an empty box.

aaauuggghhh. Once I recover from this disaster, I will include some updated tips on creating the perfect podcast.

How to create a link list in Blogger

I hope you all have been poking around and exploring Blogger, but just in case…

To create the list of your group members in Blogger, follow these easy steps. If you forgot your group, here you go. (you say, "thanks, mom" with your head ducked low).

Group 1: Taryn, Stephanie, Natalie, Makayla
Group 2: Kelsey, Katy, Jordon
Group 3: Jenn, Annika, Alyxis, Abbie

If you go to your blog, you can access the dashboard by clicking on the orange Blogger logo (B) in the upper left corner of the page.

From there you want to choose layout from the dropdown menu.

Next you will choose where you want it and select the Add a Gadget link. Scroll down until you see Link List and the rest is pretty self-explanatory. Just read the buttons. Sometimes you need trial and error to make something work. Sometimes it's a browser issue. Sometimes you just need to reboot your computer and do the exact same thing and wonder why in the heck it worked the 43rd time and not the 42 times before.