Wikis+and+Blogs-Professional+Uses



=**Blogs- Professional Uses **=

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[| What Is A Blog.pdf]

Blog is short for weblog. A weblog is a USER GENERATED journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the Web site. The entries (or Posts) are often displayed in chronological order.

A blog is basically a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is "blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger." Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog.

Blogs can also contain links to other sites, images, movies, podcasts, and so on. Sometimes you can embed the movies (i.e.. from teachertube.com) directly into your blog (meaning it shows up as part of your page and not a link to another page) other times you just provide links to other sites that contain the content (which is better in terms of your storage quota).

Many blogs focus on a **particular** topic, such as web design, home staging, sports, or mobile technology. Some are more eclectic, presenting links to all types of other sites. And others are more like personal journals, presenting the author's daily life and thoughts. Generally speaking (although there are exceptions), blogs tend to have a few things in common:
 * A main content area with articles listed chronologically, newest on top. Often, the articles are organized into categories.
 * An archive of older articles.
 * A way for people to leave comments about the articles.
 * A list of links to other related sites, sometimes called a "blogroll".
 * One or more "[|**feeds**]" like RSS.



=Samples of Professional Blogs=

[|The Principal Blog] (ES) [|Principal Learner] (ES) [|The Principal and Interest] (ES) [|Caught in the Middle at Stewartville] (MS) [|The Chatfield Connection] (MS) [|PHSprincipalBLOG] (HS) [|Principal 2.0] (HS) [|G-Town Talks] (Assistant Superintendent) [|Chalkdust101] (Administrators Blog) [|Effecitve Teaching, Quality Instruction and Professional Development] (Professional Development Blogs) [|Principal's Office] (NAESP) [|Daniel H. Pink] (Professional Blog) [|BoardBuzz] (NSBA Blog) [|InService] (ASCD Blog)

=Blogging Sites= There are many Blog sites available both free and for purchase. However, [|edublogs] and [|21Classes] are the most frequently used sites in Virginia Beach.

Other examples of Blog Writing Tools include:
 * [|Blogger.com]- free, host on your server or theirs with advertisements
 * [|Easyjournal] - free
 * [|Tribe.net] - free
 * [|Crimson Blog] - free, but might include pop ups
 * [|weblogger.com] - not free
 * [|Radio UserLand] - desktop software you buy - requires some server space for publishing
 * [|TypePad] - not free
 * [|Xanga] - free basic service

=[|VBCPS Blog Site]=

=Creating an Edublogs Blog= [|Edublogs Overview]

Directions:[| Creating+an+Edublogs+Blog.doc]

Other tutorials specific to Edublogs: [|Writing posts and pages] [|Customizing your design] [|Configuring your settings] [|Playing with your plugins] [|Managing 'Users'] [|Using the 'Manage' tab]

==

=Wikis- Professional Uses  =

= = =What is a wiki?= ="Wiki" ( /wiːkiː/  ) is originally a [|Hawaiian] word for "fast".= = =

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 * Wiki Supporter

Articles

 * [|Make Way for Wikis]
 * [|Wiki Wisdom: Lessons for Educators]
 * [|English Teacher Shakes up Learning with Positive Results]
 * [|How Do I Use WIkis in the Classroom]
 * [|For Teachers New to Wikis]
 * [|Benefits of a Wiki]

**Samples of Professional Wikis**
PTA Board at Indian Lakes Examples of Educational Wikis [|CR 2.0]

Free Wikis for Educators:

 * [|PB Wiki For Education]
 * [|Wet Paint]
 * [|Wikispaces for Educators] - ** This is the one we recommend **

**Wikispaces Tips**
When you sign up for an account, be sure to identify yourself as a K-12 educator by using the above link (Wikispaces for Teachers). This will make you eligible for a wiki __without__ advertisements. If you happen to sign up for your wiki on the regular wikispaces page, click on "Subscription" under "Manage Space" and request a complimentary upgrade to **Plus for K-12 education**.

A few important notes that will help wikispaces.com create student accounts for you quickly:

//Usernames// A large number of accounts already exist on wikispaces.com, so many combinations of first names, last names, and initials are already taken. It's much more likely that they can make all the accounts you request if you add a school identifier to the students' usernames. For example, if your school is called Alanton Elementary School, instead of requesting for the usernames, //adam//, //james//, and //dom//, we recommend //aes-adam//, //aes-james//, and //aes-dom//.

//Length of Usernames and Passwords// Please make sure that usernames are __at least__ 3 characters long (we allow letters, numbers, underscores _, or dashes -) and that passwords are __at least__ 6 characters long.

//Which Space?// Finally, make sure to let wikispaces.com know to which wikis you'd like the students added as members.

[|Wikispaces Video Tutorials]