Going Wiki:EDU Blogs & Apple Smart Board Video

in the Classroom

A Maplewood Middle School Professional Development Seminar

Presented by: David Eisenberg

The Get-Go• Today, we’ll be learning about EDU Blogs and

Apple Smart Board Video. Here’s some food for thought:

– What is Apple Smart Board video?

– How can EDU Blogs help with teaching?

– How do I set up an EDU Blog?

– How do I control who and what gets posted?

Why start a class blog:• Blogging isn’t just about writing posts; it’s about

sharing your learning and reflecting on what you have learnt. It encourages students to:– Read each others posts – Interact, evaluate and comment on each others posts by challenging

each others thoughts and views – Write posts in response to each others posts

EDUBLOGS: Signing up

Sign up using their FREE service while exploring its use. Remember to confirm their activation email you’ll receive after creating an account.

When ready to implement in the classroom, the PRO version eliminates all advertising and adds extra controls, which we will discuss shortly.

Setting Student Blogging Rules

• What types of identifying information is appropriate in posts and/or comments e.g., What are your rules about use of last names, IM, images and personal information?

• What should/shouldn’t you write in posts and/or comments?

• Post the rules on your class blog.

Understanding Pages and Posts

What’s a Page?

Pages are displayed independently of post history. They remain the same from day to day & are rarely updated (Posts are updated frequently)

You can create sub-pages which you assign to a parent page Pages don’t show the date they were posted (Posts all do show time posted)

Creating & Writing Pages• You create new EDU-Blog pages using the Add New Page Screen in your administration

panel. Click on Page > Add New in the navigation menu.

So what’s a Post?• Blog posts appear in reverse chronological order so that the most recent post is the first post that your

readers see• You can assign tags and categories to organise blog posts• Posts appear in RSS feeds, so your readers who subscribe to your blog will receive your latest post in

their feed reader

Using the Add New Post Screen To Write Posts• Give your post a Title • Add your content • Add your tags and categories • When finished writing click Publish

Uploading An Image From Your Computer

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Uploading An Image From Your Computer• If you upload more than one image you will need to

click on the Show link to edit the image details and insert an image into a post

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Uploading An Image From Your Computer• If you upload more than one image you will need to

click on the Show link to edit the image details and insert an image into a post

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Using the Image Options Screen• In the image option screen you need to:

– type a title for the image – choose how you want the image align (None, Left, Center or Right) – select size of image you want to insert (Thumbnail, Medium, Large or Full) – and then click Insert into Post

Puma Team Blog Explained• http://msazukas1.edublogs.org/

• Now we’ll look directly at a functional and well-respected blog created and used right here at Maplewood Middle School, the Puma Team Blog.

• How did they do it? What controls are they using? And we’ll discuss in what ways is it being used and in what other ways could it be if desired?

Uploading An Audio or Video from Your PC

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• These are the icons you use to insert images, photo galleries, videos and audio files into your posts.

• The file cannot be larger than 20 MB.

• Allowed file formats on Edublogs Include: jpg jpeg png gif doc pdf mp3 ppt wmv mp4 xls ins isf te xbk notebook m4a ist kmz kes mov flp avi swf wxr xml wav fjsw docx pptx xlsx xml m4v max kmz zip

Uploading An Audio or Video from Your PC

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Uploading An Audio or Video from Your PC• In the video/audio option screen insert a suitable title for the video or audio file.

• Then, click on File URL. The File URL must display the link to the location of your file for it to be inserted into your post when you click on Insert into Post.

Using the Apple Smart Board Recorder

Wrapping Up

• Classroom blogging is a great way to integrate technology with learning. The Apple Smart Board recorder is an option to post lessons (with both audio and video) on the blog for students to do work independently and easily in the classroom or at home.