Furthermore, it can serve as an extension of the classroom environment, a space where learning continues beyond the school day. It’s also a convenient way to broadcast assignments, announcements, and important dates or events.
When integrating blogging into your pedagogical approach, it is crucial to ground this digital tool within a structured framework.pedagogical framework, clearly outlining the learning objectives and goals. equip yourself to measureblog rubricsit can help you assess student learning and monitor their overall academic trajectory.
There is a plethora ofblogging platforms available to help you set up your class blog. Among them, Blogger by Google stands out as one of the most user-friendly and efficient platforms.
In this post, I’ll provide a complete step-by-step guide to setting up your class blog with Blogger. This will serve as your roadmap for navigating this exciting digital terrain and bringing your classroom into the modern age.
1- Login to Blogger
To start creating your blog on Blogger, you must first log in to Blogger. If you have a Google account, then it’s easy. Go to www.blogger.com and log in. Once you’re logged in, click “New Blog.”
2. Add a blog title
Provide a title for your blog and type the address you want to use as the URL. Try different iterations until you find the one that is available.
3- Choose a template
The Blogger template gallery includes tons of professionally designed templates for you to choose from. These templates are organized into different themes including: Travel (for example, flight template, beach template, studio template and road template), dynamic views (includes Magazine Template, Flipcard Template, Classic Template, Snapshot Template, Tile Template, etc.), Simply (includes just simple, pale, deep, literate, dark, etc.), image window (Shade, Open, Sceen and more), Filigree (for example, Navigator, Birds, Flower, etc.), Remarkable (includes Light, Dracula, Coral, Antique and Pink), emporium (includes porcelain, toolbox, apron, flamingo and technique) and more.
When you find the template you want, click ‘Apply’.
Now that you’ve selected and applied a template to your class blog, your blog is virtually there, congratulations!
From now on, the Blogger editor is where you’ll work to write content and customize your blog settings. Think of it as the back door to your blog.
To start writing posts, you can write your post in the Blogger editor, which offers all the basic writing and editing tools you need, or you can use a text editor of your choice (for example, Word, Text Edit, Google Docs , Scrivener, etc.) and then copy and paste your post into your Blogger editor.
This is what you can do in the editor:
A- Insert image
To insert an image, click on the image icon as shown in the screenshot below. You have four options for inserting an image into your post, including: Upload from Computer, Photos, Blogger, and By URL.
B- Add a hyperlink
To hyperlink to a word—that is, to add a URL that people can visit when they click on the word—just highlight the word or phrase, then click “Link” in the builder bar and paste your link. If you want the link to open in a new window, be sure to check the box next to ‘Open this link in a new window’
C- Insert videos
There are two ways to embed videos in your blog post. You can add them from your computer or you can embed them from YouTube. Check out this guide to learn the different ways to add videos to your blog posts.
D- Add a quote
To add quotes to your post, paste or type your quote and click the ‘quote’ icon as shown below.
E-Check Spelling
Blogger has a built-in spell checker that works best when you click the “ABC” icon as shown below. When you click on ABC, any misspelled words will be highlighted in yellow, just click on the word to automatically correct it.
F-Choose Sourceguy
To select the font for your text, click the font icon and select the font you want.
To select the font for your text, click the font icon and choose the font you want.t.
G- Change font size
To change the font size of your text, click the font size icon and choose the size you want.
H- Tag your post
Tags help you organize your posts into different categories. For example, if I write a tutorial, I would tag my post as: tutorial or guide etc, so that when I have multiple posts and want to search for a specific one, I can easily find it based on the tags I used.
I-HTML
I’m not sure if you want to modify the HTML of your post unless you have a basic understanding of HTML coding, otherwise don’t bother. HTML is useful when integrating code snippets into your posts (e.g. infographics, embedded videos, slides, etc.)
5- Share your publication
Once you’re done writing and editing, you can click “Publish” and your post will be published instantly.
Here’s how to customize your Blog settings
1- Add co-authors
To add co-authors to your blog, click on Settings located on the left side.Scroll down to Permissions and click ‘Invite more authors’. Add your email addresses and click Submit.
2- Establish Blog Readers
You can make your blog public, private, or accessible only to custom readers. To adjust your blog’s viewer settings, click Settings, scroll down to Permissions, and click Reader Access. Choose one of the three options: Public, Private for Authors, Custom Readers.
3- Adjust the characteristics of the comments
By default, your blog will display a comment box below your posts. But you are in full control of moderation. You can adjust who can write comments, moderate comments before they are posted, enable a captcha word check, and more.
To adjust the feedback features, open Settings, scroll down to Feedback, and adjust the features to your preference.
