Q and A about Beginning Blogging

The following are questions asked at a recent Blogging for Beginners webinar. I'm posting the answers in hopes of maximizing learning - my own included. :)


Sunita asks..."Is there a way to customize the order other than reverse chronological in a blog?"

Answer: If you are using a platform that allows you to make "pages" as well as "posts", you do have a little flexibility here. WordPress, as a platform, lets you do this. Because Edublogs.org uses WordPress, here's what you can do. Certain themes allow you to make "pages"; you can then tell Edublogs to have a certain page be the first thing the viewer sees rather than a reverse chronological listing of your posts (go to your Settings tab, and then Reading Settings). Also on this static page, you can then create hyperlinks (to other web sites or even other posts on your blog) in whatever order you wish. So, in a way, WordPress, as a blogging platform, can serve as a regular website -- some have even used it as a Content Management System. Additionally, remember that you can categorize your posts by tags and "categories", as well as order them however you want on your blog by giving them a "make-believe date" to put them in the order you wish them to appear. There are more advanced options here, but you must have WordPress installed on your own server space to use these features (these options would not exist in Edublogs).


Sunita also asks..."Could you please explain how to remove the random post menu in Blogger.com?"


Answer: Please check out this video tutorial. It is pretty easy and quick. Also, here is another resource. As replacement advertising for Blogger, I'd encourage you to use an icon in your sidebar to "say" that your blog is powered by Blogger.


Dwight asks ..."What is your recommendation for balancing/allowing the world to comment, which could be very motivating for student, with having to manage SPAM or inappropriate comments?"

Answer: I really haven't had much if any problems with SPAM, to be honest. What little I've had is taken care of by requiring that I first "approve" all comments that come in before they go up to the blog. Depending on what blogging platform you have, there may be additional preventatives to help out with this (for example the ability to use a plugin called Askimet). I know that Edublogs will hold a comment in moderation if it contains more than 2 hyperlinks (usually a sign that someone has stopped by to shamelessly plug their product in some way on your blog). Also, there may be ways to set up "filters" to prevent comment spamming, as well. In Edublogs you can find this under Settings, Discussion.

GCSSD asks.... "Is there a way to leave a comment without providing an email address? Our students do not have email adresses." Sky also asks..."Does each student have to have an email address to blog?"

Answer: A great work around is for a teacher to make a gmail account and then have students use this email according to this hack. That way students can create blogs without an email, and students can leave comments without having to have an email.

Petrina asks... "How would you place the blog on the school website?"

Answer: Write down the address to your blog, and give this to your school webmaster. Ask him/her to create a hyperlink to the blog somewhere on the school site. Do consider, though, that if you have students participating in the creation of this blog, you may not want to have them identified by linking their blog to your school website. In a way, this weakens and compromises the anonymity that teachers often strive for. If it's a classroom blog that you are setting up for dissemination of information and particular students and names are not involved, this is different.

Petrina: How do you set up a blog so that the teacher will control each individual blogs.

Answer: If you're wanting to use Edublogs.org, check out Setting up Student Accounts/Blogs at Edublogs.org. Different services will handle it differently.

Sandra asks..."If the goal is to have a worldwide audience, what is the issue about the next button or random post button?

Answer: Anyone is able to create a blog at Blogger.com and Wordpress.com on just about any topic they want. Guess we call that freedom of speech here in America. However, you really don't want your students to see some of these sites as they can be quite inappropriate for the classroom (i.e. "mature"). This is what I'm talking about when I mention the "next" and "random post" buttons. Sometime clicking on these buttons might generate something good, but many have also reported that some "unsavory, blush-inducing adult content" has popped up, as well. It really isn't about a global audience as protecting our students against questionable sites.

Marcia asks ..."Is it better to have a topic focus that is very narrow or larger?"

Answer: My experience with my students is to narrow it down as much as possible. There is so much on the Internet on any given topic that if I help them narrow, they are much better at focusing in their blog posts.

Caroline asks...."What do think about Imbee.com?"

Answer: I've heard of this service but have not checked it out. Now you've got my interest peaked and I'm all game to look at it more in depth. I'd love to hear if you've used it and what your response has been. I know that in our school district, there is a fear of all things "social networking", so that will be my first exploration -- to see if I can call up this site behind the district firewall. :)

Beth asks..."Can you limit who can see and write in your class blog?"

Answer: Yes, you'd have to check out the particular platform for specifics. Edublogs allows this, but you must become an Edublogs Supporter to get this feature/control. Other platforms such as EPals offer this for free, I believe. It just depends which service/platform you use. Almost all of the platforms I suggested for classroom use will allow you to set up who you want to "contribute" to the blog.

Jonathan asks..."Do any of these sites give me the flexibility to review my students' posts prior to them publishing them?"

Answer: Yes. In Edublogs, if you are the head administrator of one large classroom blog, you can set it up so that all contributing authors must have their posts approved thru you before being published on the blog. Every platform may vary a bit, so look into this before you start. I know that Blogmeister gives the teacher a lot of control.

Theresa asks..."In summary- how do you get people linked back to your blog? You mentioned visiting and engaging in other people's blogs, and that typically people will see your comments and find your blog and share back with you. How do they do that? "

Answer: Sometimes an email is requested to leave a comment (this is not put up on the blog, but the owner of the blog can see it and have access should they want to contact you). Sometimes not. I often add my blog address in the comments I leave on other blogs to start conversations. Most blogging platforms allow you to enable "backlinks" which allows you to keep track of other pages on the web that link to your posts. When I right about someone else's blog on my blog, a backlink is placed on theirs as well. ** To promote your blog, you can also list your blog in many blog directories out there (their usefulness is somewhat debated and I would never pay for this).

I hope this has helped! Whew - you all ask some great questions! Please contact me if I've missed the mark or if anything is still cloudy. :)