Overview
The objective of blogging this semester is to get you to internalize course materials and concepts, as well as engage with these concepts in hands-on activities.
Each student will produce four well-developed blog posts during the semester.
Guidelines
In every case, the posts should be about 500-600 words and include a relevant image, media clip, or related hyperlinks.
Adhere to good blogging practices, by following these blogging guidelines.
Topic | What Is the Problem? | How to Fix it? | Why is it Important? |
---|---|---|---|
Connections | You don't draw any connections between the subject matter of your blog post and the material from class. | Identify a specific reading, class activity, or class discussion that relates in some way to your blog post. Link to it. | While exploring your ideas independently of the class is valuable, it is also important to fully register course concepts and integrate them into your everyday thinking. |
Hyperlinks | You don't link to the sources that you reference (articles, assignment banks, etc), or your links appear as long URLs. | In your visual editor, highlight the relevant text, then choose the Create Link icon from the style menu. | Hyperlinks a great way to point to external content (and therefore provide sources for your readers) without interrupting the flow of the text. |
Paragraphs | Your paragraphs are excessively long, and oftentimes, your blog is one single paragraph. | Create shorter paragraphs than you normally would. A 500-word blog post might have anywhere from 3-5 paragraphs in it. | Paragraphs serve to organize ideas in a visual pattern. When we read on the web, our eyes tend to scan more quickly, and therefore we need to be able to detect topic sentences more quickly. |
Photo credit | The source of your image is undocumented, and it is unclear whether or not you own the image and/or have permission to use the image. | In the caption under the photo, or at the end of the blog post, include a hyperlink to the original source of the image. | Giving credit to work that does not belong to you consititutes ethical blogging. Giving credit to your own work establishes origin. |
Photo format | Your image appears to "float" on the page, because it is not aligned with text wrapping | Click on the photo in your text editor > Click on the edit photo button that overlays the image > Choose an alignment option (Left or Right) | Aligning your photos with wrapped text creates a more polished look, and a better reading experience |
Titles | Your title does not invite the reader to peruse your blog post because it is vague, generic, or otherwise too abstract. | Identify the purpose of your blog post and create a title that reflects that purpose. | Choosing a specific title that reflects the content of your post not only guides readers to you, but it helps you establish the purpose of each post. |