Welcome to OTAN Online Blogging in the Classroom

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Welcome to OTAN Online! Blogging in the Classroom

• Presenter Barry Bakin
• If you are new to Connect, you can watch this
  short video for an introduction. Dont forget to
  come back before the meeting starts!
• http//www.adobe.com/resources/breeze/brz_attend/
• (Connect was formerly known as Breeze)

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Smile!

• This session is being recorded.
• (for future training purposes)

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Goals for todays 1 hour workshop

• All participants will sign up for a blog at one
  of the numerous blogging sites.
• All participants will become familiar with basic
  blog tools and tasks such as posting and editing
  entries.

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Whats a blog anyway?

• A simple way for an individual to publish
  information on the Internet
• A way for viewers of the information to respond
  to that information if they so desire
• A way to preserve the interaction

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Some Blog characteristics

• Organized in reverse chronological order (most
  recent information on top)
• There are ways to determine who can make comments
• You can keep them simple or add other features

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Get your blog!

• Ill be doing this in PowerPoint-you do it for
  real! (In PowerPoint I can go back and forth!)
• Im going to take you to one site. Its free and
  convenient for educators.
• Remember that you will have to resize and/or
  rearrange the windows so you can see both what
  Im showing you and the actual website youre
  using.
• http//edublogs.org

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Click here!
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Fill in, read, click here and scroll down!
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Copy the number you see into the box and click
on Next
Leave Gimme a blog checked
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If you did it right, this is what youll see. If
not, youll get all of the problems highlighted
in red
If you did it right, this is what youll see. If
not, youll get all of the problems highlighted
in red
This is your new URL
You can pick a different title
Click on Signup
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The next screen should look like this Let me
know if you got this far in the Connect Chat
room! If you did, go to your email and look for
the message from edublogs
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Click on the earliest message from Edublogs
(Activate)
Click on the link in the message to activate
your blog!
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If you have done everything correctly, this is
what you should see! (with your username and
unique blog name of course!)
You can go directly to your blog by clicking on
this link!
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But, youll want to go back to your email to get
your first password!
You will want to change it to make it easier to
remember later
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Go back to your email inbox and open the second
message to get your first password!
Click here to log in to your blog.
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Copy the password from the message
Click here to log in to your blog again.
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At the next screen choose Users, Authors Users,
and then Your Profile
Click here to log in to your blog again.
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Scroll down to change your password
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Now click on Dashboard or Write to start
posting messages
Write takes you directly to a form for posting
messages. Dashboard takes you to a page where
you can manage many aspects of your new blog.
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Start with your title. Use the typical editing
buttons to change the format or insert links or
photos
Type your message here!
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Click on one of the Save options as appropriate
to save and publish your post.
Use this area for uploading photos and other
items of interest
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Lets try adding a photo. Get back to the
write screen Type in the title of your new
posting
If the image is saved somewhere on the Internet,
click on the Insert/edit image button. If the
image is saved on your computer, Youll be using
the Upload section.
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Lets try adding a photo that is saved somewhere
on your computer
Click on Browse to locate the image on your
computer.
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Lets try adding a photo that is saved somewhere
on your computer
Select the image you want and click on Open
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Lets try adding a photo that is saved somewhere
on your computer
Add a title and description and click on Upload
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Lets try adding a photo that is saved somewhere
on your computer
Use these buttons to change how the image will
appear in the blog.
Click on Send to editor
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Lets try adding a photo that is saved somewhere
on your computer
Use these buttons to move it to the center or
right side
The image now appears in the upper area. If you
click on the image, you can resize it.
Click on Publish to immediately publish the
image, or Save and Continue Editing to add text.
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Lets try adding a photo that is saved somewhere
on your computer
Click on View post to see how it looks on your
blog!
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Success!
You should now see the image you chose!
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If you had chosen Publish
You would have been taken back to the write
screen. Once there, you can click next to the
picture and start adding text.
It might take a moment for the image itself to
appear
Now, click on Publish to see your post on your
blog.
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If you had chosen Save
Your posting is saved as a draft and not
immediately published.
Click here to resume editing and publish when
youre ready
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If you had chosen Save
Click on (View site) to see the published post!
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Now your post includes the text!
Click on Site Admin to get back to the
Dashboard!
Click on Logout to see how the public sees your
blog.
Click on edit to edit this post!
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Homework Assignment

• Continue to develop your blog!
• Post at least two new postings including at least
  one new image to your blog on the topic that
  interests you. Try inserting a link to a website
  as part of a post.
• Visit my blog at http//www.tech4esl.blogspot.com
  and try to post a comment! That blog is
  moderated so your comments wont automatically
  appear. I have to approve comments first.
• Post a comment on one of the blogs created today!
  (Use the chat to let everyone know the URL of
  your blog.)
• Visit the blog page at http//barrytrainsu.pbwiki.
  com/ and view some of the blogs created by other
  participants!

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Reminders

• Please fill out the evaluation at
  www.otan.us/otaneval
• A window will open for you when I end the meeting
• Turn in your homework to me by sending me an
  email informing me that youve completed all of
  the tasks ltbarry.bakin_at_lausd.netgt by February 22!
• Thank you for joining me today! You can also
  contact me by way of the tech4esl blog.

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Download Files from within the Connect training
platform

• Click on file name in Download Files pod
• Click save to my computer
• New window opens
• Click click to download
• Select Save
• Select your Desktop
• Click save
• After file downloads, click Done
• Close new window, return to Connect, repeat