As a part of my class, I incorporate this blog using a site (and app) called wordpress. It’s a free service and gives me the freedom to create a “website”. WordPress allows users to customize their webpage, settings, themes, and other essential elements of web design. WordPress allows use to start at the novice level and still build a dynamic site. Blogging allows me to post daily content to a front page as well as “static” pages, or pages that don’t change on a daily basis. These are noted at the top in the tabs. This is where I post links to documents and answer keys.
The blog posts are the daily updates that read like articles on the front page. This would be information that is pertinent to that day and I would direct my students there at the beginning of a class. Its a great way to post information, task lists, and weblinks. Each post is tagged with a yellow marker showing the date, a title, and a category so I can keep organize posts for different classes on the same front page. When writing a blog post, it can be as simple as writing out a document…
I choose to use wordpress because it gives me the freedom to use ‘html’ code or as well giving me a lot of options to customize my page. The ‘dashboard’ is where I choose which options I want to change, use, or update…
You can see on the left side some of the options. Posts and pages are for my information; Media is where I upload pictures or animations (you can also insert pictures from weblinks called “hotlinks”); Comments is where I can monitor student comments on my posts; Feedback are for polls; Appearance is where I customize the look.
I would strongly encourage other professional educators to start a blog of their own because of the flexibility it gives you to post daily information as well as static information.
MrKubuske.com 