Since I want my students to be anonymous, it is important they do not link their blog with their Google+ account. Google+ connects them to all their friends and family, as well as the name associated with their account.
When students are prompted to type their name for "Who's blogging?" I have them type: Me. This way their name does not show up anywhere else on the blog.
Remind students each time they are given an assignment to read and blog about, that they are not to create a whole new blog; they are simply to write a new post. Sometimes the vocabulary can be confusing.
Would you like any other help or advice? Feel free to email me at ebraun@cvcc.edu
Friday, April 17, 2015
Getting Started
Here are the basic steps to creating a blog in Blogger.
1. Go to gmail.com and create a new gmail account. I require students to write down their account name and password and then using the new gmail account, email it to themselves at their college account. This proves extremely helpful during the semester. (Note: I also encourage students to try using a free password application like LastPass to help them keep track of all of their accounts and passwords)
2. Go to Blogger.com. Once you are logged into gmail, Blogger will bypass the homepage and automatically take you to the dashboard, which is the behind-the-scenes control center of the software. It looks something like this:
3. Click on the box that says "New Blog" A pop-up screen will display asking you to give your blog a title and search for an open domain name. My domain name is braundre098, so my blog address is braundre098.blogspot.com. The pop-up looks like this:
4. Give the blog a title and then search for an address that is not taken. **I require my students to choose a title related to the course and an address that does not use their name in any way. This anonymity serves two important purposes. A) It allows them to speak freely in their blog and read each other's blogs without fear of judgment from their peers. B) It protects them, generally, from being discovered online by anyone who might be trolling, or who might accidentally stumble upon it.
5. Begin blogging!
6. Encourage students who are interested to go beyond the default blog template and expirament a little. My only major criteria is that students remain anonymous, and that the choices they make for backgrounds, fonts, and colors, are both legible and appropriate for a college course.
1. Go to gmail.com and create a new gmail account. I require students to write down their account name and password and then using the new gmail account, email it to themselves at their college account. This proves extremely helpful during the semester. (Note: I also encourage students to try using a free password application like LastPass to help them keep track of all of their accounts and passwords)
2. Go to Blogger.com. Once you are logged into gmail, Blogger will bypass the homepage and automatically take you to the dashboard, which is the behind-the-scenes control center of the software. It looks something like this:
4. Give the blog a title and then search for an address that is not taken. **I require my students to choose a title related to the course and an address that does not use their name in any way. This anonymity serves two important purposes. A) It allows them to speak freely in their blog and read each other's blogs without fear of judgment from their peers. B) It protects them, generally, from being discovered online by anyone who might be trolling, or who might accidentally stumble upon it.
5. Begin blogging!
6. Encourage students who are interested to go beyond the default blog template and expirament a little. My only major criteria is that students remain anonymous, and that the choices they make for backgrounds, fonts, and colors, are both legible and appropriate for a college course.
Pitfalls of Blogging with Blogger
Most colleges provide some sort of learning management system (LMS) such as Blackboard or Moodle. There are others, as well. While these systems can be invaluable to teachers, they can also present frustrations. The blog tool in Blackboard is not very user friendly, especially if you want students to read and comment on each other's blogs. On the other hand, it is contained within a college system and password protected; not just anyone can happen upon it.
This leads me to stress some of the difficulties and frustrations with using Blogger instead of the college LMS.
This leads me to stress some of the difficulties and frustrations with using Blogger instead of the college LMS.
- Blogger becomes one more thing they have to check, including additional web addresses and passwords.
- Blogger cannot be used with having a gmail account.
- Even if your college uses gmail as their student email system, Blogger will only work with email addresses that end in @gmail.com, so students may need to create a new gmail account (see #1).
- Your college firewall may make the sign up process a little frustrating for students by rejecting blog titles.
- If your college uses gmail for student email, students CAN NOT be signed into their college email at the same time they are signed into their newly-created gmail account.
- ** Finally, and most important, the same benefit of having their information out in the electronic world for all to see, also has the potential to be a serious problem.
Welcome to Blogging in College
It's easy to create a blog that you can use for your college students.
There are also many benefits!
Here are a few:
There are also many benefits!
Here are a few:
- The blogger software by Google is very user friendly.
- Students can easily look at and comment on each other's blogs.
- Students can share their writing with friends and family.
- Because their blogs are live on the internet, open for all to see, blogging is an authentic type of low-stakes writing for students.
- Some students will continue to post on their blogs, or have the knowledge to create a new blog if they decide in the future to create a blog.
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