blogger instructions and how-to video

As we talked about in class, there are multiple benefits to expressing yourselves to a wider audience.  There are also multiple challenges in adopting new media.  In the next few weeks you will learn more about privacy, security, and how the Internet and its business models actually work.  This information will enable you to take full advantage of online resources without making yourself vulnerable to unnecessary risk or embarrassment.  In the meantime, both to avoid any confusion and to ensure that we get off to a good start, please err on the side of caution and email me at dpreston.learning@gmail.com if you have any specific questions or concerns.

Here are the instructions for building your blog:

1. Go to blogger.com and create a blog
2. The URL for your blog should be [first initial][last name][rhs14exposcomp].blogspot.com
3. The title of your blog should be "[first name] [last name]'s Expository Composition Blog"
4. You can choose your own layout and template design features.  Feel free to change these as the course begins and you learn more about how to organize and curate information on this platform
5. Once your blog is set up, please email the URL to me at dpreston.learning@gmail.com so that I can add your blog to the Member Blogs page on the main course blog.
6. Francisco Ayala has already done a terrific job of setting up his blog, which you can see HERE.

NOTE: Don't be shy about asking others for help if you need it.

Once you've set up your blog write an introduction that you can put somewhere on your homepage.  This should tell readers a little about you and what your blog will be about.  You can draw on some of the thinking I've asked you to do already, such as:

• your reason(s) for taking this course;
• what you're excited about and what makes you nervous;
• your goal(s) for this course and beyond;
• how you expect your knowledge and thinking to be improved by creating this blog and getting feedback from readers.

Here is a tutorial on how to get started with Blogger. The first couple minutes are about registration and set-up, which most of you have already done. Around 2:30 he gets into posting and design, layout, and embedding pictures and videos.