{Session 5 Overview}

A blog is an online web log. A blogger is the author of a blog. However, for the purposes of this online professional development session, Blogger is Google’s free web 2.0 tool for creating blogs. It can be found at http://www.blogger.com.

You can create a blog for just about anything you’d like. Use it as a tool to update your family and friends about something going on in your life (a marriage, a new home, a new baby). You can use it as an online family newsletter that family from all over the world can access and comment on. Use your blog as a way to discuss your political views, favorite hobby, or just about anything you can think of. Use your blog as truly an online daily journal to document the ups, downs and in-betweens of your life.

Professionally, you can use a blog to keep your students and parents updated about the happenings of your classroom; use it as a homework blog.

{Objectives}

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

1. Create a blog using Google’s blogging tool called Blogger
2. Create posts on your blog
3. Upload photos to your blog
4. Maintain your blog in regards to comments and personalizing it

{Assignments}

1. Read the brief online tour for Blogger to fully understand what Blogger is capable of and how you can begin to use it yourself as a web log.
2. View the Atomic Learning tutorials, Blogging Workshop
3. Set-up your own blog using Blogger
4. Post the URL of your blog on the Web 2.0 Bulletin Board
5. Comment on at least one person’s blog (find their URL via the bulletin board)
6. Answer at least one of the questions below, using the Web 2.0 Bulletin Board

{Tutorials}

{Questions - to be answered on the bulletin board}

{PDLC Credits Upon Completing Session 5}

5 PDLC non-contract hours