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Blog

Blogs are used by students involved in a blog-based course project and others seeking to share information on the web. Examples include the Blackboard blog and Blog CFC.

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Blog
  • Blog Process Workflow Blog Course Project Blogs Information gathering Basic idea for project is communicated Identify potential Hillgroup stakeholders Fill out Course Support form Conduct Hillgroup planning meeting Identify project objectives Identify learning goals/objectives Topic Audience Intended message and goals of blog? Who should be able to see the blog? Who should be able to add entries to the blog? Who should be able to post comments to the blog? Short term or continuing blog availability? Cooperative or individual project? Discuss identification of “roles” for students Will the blog hold research papers or other long text documents Where will scaffolding occur? Identify opportunities for “Authentic Learning” Identify opportunities for formative process evaluation Identify opportunities for formative assessment of students Outcome assessment – how will we determine that learning has occurred? (behavior, conditions, criteria) Develop rubric or other measurement tool. How will student performance be assessed (refer to objectives) Secure resources and plan delivery Create timeline of events If using BlogCFC, request blog from Web Services If using blog in Blacboard, set up blog with faculty member Read blogging policies and go over blog administration Identify potential issues with blogs (blog timing out, inappropriate posts, etc) Documentation (printed and/or in Blackboard) and workshop scheduling Identification of expert/peer reviewers Technology instruction for students Blogging workshop and documentation Ongoing support as needed Students begin using the blog Faculty member monitors initial posts and comments carefully to set the tone of the blog Assessing and guiding postings Strategies for dealing with inappropriate postings discussed How to grade a blog? Students submit blog for review Instructor, peers, outside subject matter expert, global audience Assess blog content and learning Interpret feedback Student project outcome assessment and project process evaluation are completed
  • Blogging at Hamilton College Blog Signing up for, configuring, and using your blog   Introduction
  • Hamilton College Blogging Policies for Academic Blogs Blog About Academic Blogs at Hamilton College Hamilton College has implemented a flexible blogging system that provides the ability for administrative offices, faculty and students to maintain their own blog. For more information, or to request a blog for use in a course, please contact Carl Rosenfield at crosenfi@hamilton.edu. For personal or departmental blogs, please use the request form located at: http://www.hamilton.edu/blogs/. Roles, Usage, and Policies For the Blog Owner The individual requesting the blog is considered the Blog Owner. The Blog Owner’s Hamilton College email address will be listed in the Settings area of the Administrator page. Blog Owners are ultimately accountable for all content that is posted to the blog. If the blog is course-related, Blog Owners should meet with ITSST to make sure that proper use of the available options is understood before making content on the blog publicly available. For other types of blogs, please contact the ITS Helpdesk for support information. It is suggested that Blog Owners be aware of the following before making posts: Hamilton College policies related to use of email and listserv lists also apply to blog posts. The blog owner should be familiar with the Appropriate Use of E-mail and ListServ Lists sections of the policies listed at http://www.hamilton.edu/its/rc/policies-electronic-mail-e-mail. As Blog Owner, your posts will set the tone of the blog. Be careful with your wording. Avoid unintended meanings and offensive language. The blog is not to be used in a way that adversely affects Hamilton College or the Hamilton College community, or to personally attack others. All comments will held for moderation until the Blog Owner or designated moderator decides to approve or delete them. The Blog Owner is responsible for checking for new comments and preventing comments that violate Hamilton College policies or are otherwise inappropriate from being posted on the blog. The Blog Owner should fully understand that any actions such as post or comment deletions are irreversible. Under extreme circumstances, blogs can be recovered by Web Services. For Admin-Level Users Administrative Users are the user accounts that will have FULL CONTROL of the blog. Since the Administrator level provides the ability to grant all levels of access to other users, it is strongly recommended that the Blog Owner is the only Administrative User. The blog owner should recognize that any other users with Administrative access can approve, modify and delete entries and comments and add or remove access to the blog for other users, including the Blog Owner. In the rare cases where users other than the Blog Owner are provided with Administrative-level access, the new Administrative User should refer to documentation or consult with ITS to make sure that proper use of the available options is understood. Posts made by Administrative Users will not be subject to moderation and usernames of Administrative Users will be visible on any posts made by that user. Assigned Administrative Users must follow the same requirements as Blog Owners (see above). Administrative Users should not perform any actions with the blog that are contrary to the wishes of the Blog Owner. For Post Users Post Users are the people who will have access to post blog entries on this blog. They will not have full control of the blog settings, but will be able to add and edit posts. Posts made by Post Users will not be subject to  moderation and usernames of Post Users will be visible on any posts made by that user. This is usually the appropriate role for students in a class that are making substantial initial entries to a course blog. It is suggested that Post Users be aware of the following while making posts: Hamilton College policies related to use of email and listserv lists also apply to blog posts. The blog owner should be familiar with the Appropriate Use of E-mail and ListServ Lists sections of the policies listed at http://www.hamilton.edu/college/its/policies_standards_plans/sec_5_email.html. Post Users must be made aware that the entries that they post on the blog are associated with their Hamilton College user id and viewable by anyone in the world with an Internet connection. Additionally, entries are likely to be cached by web search engines such as Google and are extremely easy to copy and disseminate. Be careful with your wording. Avoid unintended meanings and offensive language. If you receive confrontational or threatening responses to content that you have posted through the blog, by email, or some other way, notify ITS and your instructor immediately. Do not use the blog as a tool to personally attack others. For Comment Users Comment users and groups are the people who will have access to post comments on this blog. Comments submitted Comment Users will be subject to moderation and usernames of Comment Users will not be visible on any posts made by that user. It is suggested that Comment Users be aware of the following while making posts: Be aware that your comments must be approved by the Blog Owner or a designated moderator before being made visible. Be careful with your wording. Avoid unintended meanings and offensive language. The blog is not to be used to personally attack others. Comment Users cannot edit what they have written after submitting their comment. If an edit is desired, the commenter should email the blog owner directly to request that change be made. Authentication Additionally, Hamilton College blogs can be set to require a Hamilton College username to login. Note that while this may discourage individuals outside of the Hamilton College community from viewing or posting comments to a blog, it may not fully prevent this from occurring. In the blog settings area, permissions can be limited to specific audiences to prevent guest accounts from viewing or posting.
  • Using Blog CFC Blog Viewing Blog Entries Using a web browser, navigate to the blog's URL. If they have been specified, navigate to specific pages by clicking on the links under Navigation at the top right of the page. Type keywords into the Search field and click the Search button to find entries that contain that keyword. Navigate entries by category by clicking links under the Archives by Subject section. Find recent blog entries under the Recent Entries section. Find recent comments under the Recent Comments section. Subscribe to the blog using the RSS url in the RSS section. Look for frequently used words in categories in the Tags section. Adding Blog Entries Navigate to the URL of the blog and add /admin to the end. For example to add entries to the Workshop Blog, a user would enter workshop.hamiltoncollegeblogs.com/admin press the Enter or Return key on the keyboard. In the options menu on the left side of the page, click on Add Entry. Enter a tittle for the blog. Enter the text for the blog. Select categories for the blog. Multiple categories can be selected my holding down the Control key (Windows) or the Command key (Mac) while clicking on the desired categories. To create a new category, type it into the new category field. To add an attachment, click the Browse button next to the attach file field, navigate to the desired file, and click the Open button. Note that attached images will be displayed at the bottom of your blog entry. When you are ready to submit your entry, click on the Save button. Adding Multiple Images to a Blog Entry Before adding any images to your entry, make sure they are 700 or fewer pixels wide. Images from modern digital cameras are far to large to display properly on a blog. Use Image - Image Size in Photoshop to resize large photos. Place the cursor where you want to place your image and click the Add Image icon. Click the Browse Server button. If you haven't done so already, click the Create New Folder button, type in your username as the name of the new folder and click the OK button. Click on the link for your newly-created folder and then click on the Choose File button. Navigate to the desired image file and click on the Open button. Click the Upload button in the far right bottom corner of the window. In the top left of the window, click on the link for the file you just uploaded If necessary, change the width of the image to 700 or fewer pixels. Click on the OK button to add the image to your blog entry. To add more text or another image below this image, select the image, click the right arrow on the keyboad once, and then click the Return or Enter key to move to the next line.
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