blogging

Be authentic. Most writing is a more fun read when it comes from the heart. But there’s an easy way to be authentic – pass the “pen!” Consider giving your students the opportunity to report what they’ve been learning about, what the homework assignment is, or what the class will be doing in the coming week. Students will look forward to reading, watching, and observing their own writing, their projects, and the artifacts of their learning.

As an example, I wrote here about passion and how I believe it relates to engagement. It wasn’t something I did at work; it was simply on my mind one evening before going to bed, and I took a few minutes to get my thoughts out.

It doesn’t have to be the most polished thing… it doesn’t even have to be long. (I can be long winded, so noted!) But writing with an authentic voice will sell your content, whether your 6 years old, 16, or 46.

By the way, I’ve been embedding cool pictures into these posts through Flickr. I am using Creative-Commons licensed photos, and the “Share” capability to simply copy-paste the code into my blog.

Keep it legal. Copyright law isn’t something to mess with. Be sure you have the right to publish and use the content you’re sharing on your blog. In short, if you haven’t created “it” yourself, beware! We do not have the right to re-publish or “host” another person’s content without permission.

If you’re hosting something we own but we do not have the right to re-publish, consider placing it elsewhere or using the password-protected post feature.

Two options for publishing content under the spirit of the TEACH Act are to place it in a restrictive environment like Edmodo or Moodle, or use the password feature in WordPress.

Use metadata to organize your blog. This includes using the categories and tags to organize posts. The consistent use of these features makes content easier to find.

For instance, I’ve been tagging each one of these blog tips with two tags: blog, and blogging. If you were to click these as they appear above or below your blog post (depending upon which template you have chosen) then you’ll see the entire “collection” of blog posts about… blogs.

I think of categories as audience gates… your categories as a teacher could be:

• parent news
• for students
• on my mind
• for teachers

Parents can come and instantly blow away all the posts that don’t directly relate to them. Students can do the same. This is not the way you have to use them, but I think it’s a good general rule.

You can also have multiple categories applied to one blog post.

I therefore use tags to identify content-specific keywords. There’s no set limit; but I try to use consistent tags over time.

Describe the media

If you’re embedding a video, an image, or even a PDF file, tell us what the media is about. Media takes extra time to download, and visitors would like to know if it’s worth their time–especially if they’re on dial-up. Providing a description also helps with your media file being found in a Google search.

This is important if the media is considered “content.” If the media is simply “window dressing” or you consider it an “icon,” I don’t feel this is as necessary.

Regardless, any time you insert a picture, you should always fill out the alternate text text box. This is what will appear if the image becomes unavailable, and what search engines use to identify the media. Blind or low-vision visitors can have this text read to them with appropriate software, like Apple’s Universal Access.

Link out. You help raise the status of your writing by linking to more content. It may help “anchor” your position, providing supporting evidence, or help connect your ideas to those of others. If you mention your school, link its webpage to its name. If you mention another teacher, link to their blog. Creating webs within your posts can give authority to your writing and provide a nice service readers to expand their interaction through more reading.

And a tip for folks who are embedding links: don’t use text like “Click Here” for text chosen for the actual links! First, it’s discouraged by web usability experts. Second, the reader may not be reading on a computer (and no, don’t write “Tap or Click here!”). Third, “Click Here” stands out, but it doesn’t help your content stand out. Instead, it’s best practice to link the beginning or ending of sentences with more than one word.

Consider these three examples:

1. Google Reader is a popular online tool for collecting and reading RSS newsfeeds.
2. Google Reader is a popular online tool for collecting and reading RSS feeds. Click here to visit that site.
3. Google Reader is a popular online tool for collecting and reading RSS news feeds.

The first one makes sense. The important “keyword” or phrase is the product name. It makes sense that if you click on the title of a webpage, you’ll go to the webpage.

The second example does good to highlight the title of the website in bold text, but then the second part with the “Click me” is unnecessary.

The third example is an alternative… it’s less clear if you’re going to go to Google Reader, or maybe learn about “collecting and reading” feeds. The strength behind the third example is that it is an easier target to click or tap, because it uses more text. Like the first example, it’s strong too because the link came at the end (or beginning) of the sentence.