Week 2 Reflection

What did you learn? I learned about using custom templates in blogger, how to edit the layout in HTML, and a little more about widgets and the HTML code used for widgets.

How will you use what you have learned? I will use it to keep the blogs looking sharp, and I'll try to make sure the widgets and sidebar is utilized in the best way... on both my class and professional blogs.

How did you feel about this information? I think I should invest lots more time on emedded content and HTML in general.

What makes a template work for you? What do you look for in a template for your website!
Crisp, clean, simple, user-friendly, big-and-easy-to-read fonts.

What widgets did you add this week? Text - About Me, HTML - Label Cloud, Post Archives, Twitter updates, RSS Feed - Delicious updates, 3rd Party - Feedjit.

What purpose do you see for widgets on your website? There are a variety of reasons to use widgets. Professional blog: RSS feed, site statistics, blog navigation, link to social network, link to social bookmarks. Class Blog: Translate page, Dropio for assignments, Google Docs/Scribd for displaying material, "How-to" videos or screencasts, RSS feed, site statistics, blog navigation

What questions do you still have about blog templates and widgets? none.

What would you like to see covered next week? I'd like to learn how to use Yahoo Pipes for RSS and more. Maybe HTML basics.

Week 1 Reflection via Mail-to-Blogger

What did you learn? I learned how to utilize some of the blogger options I had never heard of and/or played with before. I have used blogger, but I have mainly used edublogs for the class blog I set up last summer. So the mail-to-blogger was pretty interesting for me, as I had trouble getting student participation on the blog last year. I love the "remove next button" video where I learned how to remove the google navigation bar. So lots of new fun stuff to play with in Week 1. How will you use what you have learned? Well, I already have started using what I learned, but I need to start considering Blogger for the class blog. How did you feel about this information? I feel confident that I will utilize all the activities from Week 1, for both my class and personal blogs. Do you feel that comment moderation is a benefit or a detriment? Why? Both possibly. It is obviously a benefit to avoid spam and innappropriate comments, but notifications fill up mailboxes and moderation time takes away from spontaneous and/or real-time chatter. Who did you ask to try the Mail-to-Blogger feature? Did it work? Would you use this with your students? colleagues? I did it myself but hopefully I try to utilize it with some classmates for guest blogging. I really like the idea and I think there are lots of ways to utilize it in the classroom. They love Youtube, and this might be a way for them to contribute class content easily: copy and paste Youtube embed code into an email. Also, students could email answers to test reviews and you could pick a 100% to be a post before the test. Student work is on display... digitally. What do you not want to forget about this week's information? Not to lurk... What questions do you still have about blog settings and templates? None right now.