What's a Blog?

A blog a log or journal maintained by a person or a group of individuals with entries listed in chronological order, and many blogs allow others to reply to original entries via comments. Entries can include text, images, podcast audio/video, links or embedded content from other sites - the choice is up to you. A blog is a place for personal reflection, a place to take notes, share pictures, publish your movies, and anything else that you can dream.

One of the greatest things about your blog is the way you can actively engage visitors. Using blog comments a great way to generate discussion - from the class room to the work place to cyberspace. The examples below are just some of the ways blogs can be used.

Course Examples

• Amigos Hispanos - Practice for reading Spanish
• Information Technology in Landscape Contracting - news on technology in landscaping
• Phil 38 Course Blog - Course announcements and other information
• White Pine (Forestry) - Reflectons on the field of forestry
• University of Minnesota Blogs - an eclectic collection of blogs from the University of Minnesota

See the Teaching Tips page for information about using blogs in a Penn State course.

Other Teaching Examples

• Russian Chronicles 2005 - Travel log of a trip across Russia.
• Tina's Alaska Adventures - from Penn Stater Tina Hay
• Language Log - Linguists comment on languge usage and linguistic issues in modern life
• Science Blogs - Multiple blogs covering different topics in science
• Your Daily Art - Commentary on a single artwork each day
• Cole Camplese - Comments on instructional technology
• Botony Photo of the Day - A botanical museum shows and describes a new plant everyday.
• Dave Barry's Blog - A "typical" personal blog with links to amusing stories

Professional and Portfolio

The Penn State Blogs Directory contains links to a wide variety of Penn State bloggers. A few have been highlighted as examples of professional blogging.

• Kevin Morooney's Liberty Road - From the Vice-Provost of Information Technology (ITS)
• Christopher Long's Portfolio - Structured like a CV
• David Stong (design) - Mix of how-to's, demos and and philosophical reflections
• Allan Gyorke (educational technology)
• Flat Tyre (Cycling in Centre County)

Blog Directories

• Blogwise - Includes blogs by country
• E-Talking Head Political Blogs - Sorted by political philosophy
• Top 10 Sources - A hand selected listed, sorted by topic. Lots literature and culture

Where do I start?

Getting started is actually really easy. Any person with a Penn State Access Account can create a blog at http://blogs.psu.edu. Instructions for getting started are available at http://blogs.psu.edu/help.

Everything you write in your blog will be published in your own PSU Personal Webspace so you can always get to it. This means you must activate your Penn State Personal Web space in order to use the Blogs at Penn State. We want you to understand that this is your space and you are responsible for taking care of it. Please read the ITS Web Services policy which give guidelines on appropriate Web space content.

After you log in to http://blogs.psu.edu, you'll see your personal Blog Dashboard where you'll be able to create and manage as many blogs as you choose. Want a blog for a course? One for sharing pictures? One for random thoughts? No problem. The Penn State Blog platform lets you decide what you want to share.

What Can I Do?

The Blogs lets you

• Create multiple blogs for multiple purposes
• Include images, audio, video
• Embed (or "mash up") content from You Tube, Google Maps, Flickr and other Web 2.0 services
• Customize look and feel with Styles, including Penn State styles
• Create and publish Web pages with an HTML Editor

Need Help?

Just take a look at some of the getting started with Blogs at Penn State materials and you'll be creating your blog in no time at all.

Advantages to Blogging

Publish

Your blog gives you a chance to say what you want quickly and easily. With only a few clicks it is possible to be ready to create content without the need to know HTML or really anything about web publishing. Your blog is your ticket to create all sorts of content that is easily shared on the web.

Once your blog is setup you can use it to create content of all types. From thoughts, course notes, managing class discussions, to sharing pictures, movies, or podcasts your blog makes it easy. And since it works with your established Penn State Personal Webspace, everything you create belongs to you. Think of your blog as your personal content management system that you will be able to sort, search, and retrieve anything you decide to create with it.

Whatever it is that you want to create, the Penn State Blog platform will enable you to publish it.

Engage your Community

One of the greatest things about your blog is the way you can actively engage visitors. Blogs allow you to accept comments on your posts to create conversations with your readers. If someone reads your words and feels compelled to talk to you about it, all they have to do is click "comment" and share their thoughts.

With the Penn State Blog platform you are in control of how you engage the community. You can decide to accept comments, have them moderated, or just make certain posts read only. It is your blog and we hope you take advantage of the opportunity to engage your community.

Share your Media

Sometimes a movie speaks louder than words, why not just share it? With the Penn State Blog platform sharing your media is simple. With a few clicks, you can instantly share pictures, movies, podcast audio, and other things you create with any knowledge of HTML.

And since the PSU Blog stores all your media in your Penn State Personal Webspace, everything you share still belongs to you.

Links on Using Blogs

• EdBlogger Praxis
• Sample Blogs (part of a Webquest)
• Weblogged-Ed Com
• Some Uses of Blogs in Education Matrix (Image)
  

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