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.