Personalise your blog:

1. Themes

You can only change your theme and add widgets from the dashboard/editing area.

TASK 1: Click on DESIGN to see all of the themes available. Choose one and make sure you save it. (If you’re anything like me you’ll have to do this a few times until you’re satisfied.)

Some excellent RESOURCES to help you personalise your blog:

Edublogs ‘Help and Support’ page: http://edublogs.org/support/ This page provides access to easy guides to edublogs, including ‘how to’ video tutorials that ‘show’ you how to complete most tasks.

‘The Edublogger’ is the official edublogs blog. It is searchable and easy to follow.

The tutorials located at the following link are also very useful: http://johnp.wordpress.com/tutorials/

2. Widgets

Widgets are simply small web applications that can be easily added to your blog. They allow you to add text, images, links to pages and posts etc

TASK 2: Choose at least 4 widgets to add to your blog and experiment a little with how they make your blog look and operate. Try a calendar, recent posts, rss feed, pages and a links/blogroll widget.

TASK 3: Write a new and improved post for your ‘madeover’ blog, add an image or clip that helps to illustrate your point.

Some possible image/video sites to start at: (Note: these are just a ‘drop in the ocean’)

flickr (creative commons) Images which are available for free use under certain copyright conditions

edublogs tv A relatively new site for educational videos. Less likely to be blocked by school filters

teachertube Videos for teachers and educational use. Not likely to be blocked by school filters

comiqs Have some fun! Design a comic and embed it on your blog. This site is one of the easiest to use