Who else is ready fore ISTE 2011!?

I will be there and look forward to meeting as many people as I can!

After scouring through all of the amazing sessions, I put together a list of ones that looked promising to me – especially ones that relate to blogging, social media, and professional development.

There are a tons more that aren’t on this list, but thought I would share:

EduBloggerCon 2011

If you are in Philly on Saturday, don’t miss the unconference EduBloggerCon. It’s a FREE all day event in the convention center full of conversations, impromptu sharing sessions, and what I’m most looking forward to, 3-minute long Keynote Smackdowns!

Be sure to learn more about EduBloggerCon here.

The Bloggers Cafe

This is the place to relax, meet fellow educators, and maybe get a bit of blogging in too.

I’ll most likely be spending the majority of my time here if anyone wants to meet up! I might even have a free Edublogs t-shirt to throw your way if you ask about it

Send me a tweet (@ronnieburt) or an email (ronnie @ edublogs.org) if you are in the area and hopefully my phone or laptop will let me know to look for you.

Not Attending? Check out ISTE Unplugged!

ISTE Unplugged are live presentations held near the Bloggers Cafe which are also streamed live via Elluminate!

See the website for session times and links which you can participate in remotely on Monday – Wednesday of next week.

What a cool way to bring a bit of ISTE to you, no matter where you may be!

Hope to see many of you soon!

This is why we created the Skype Other Classrooms list — to help educators make connections with other classes interested in having Skype conversations.

And over the past 2 years since the Skype Other Classrooms list was first created in 2008 — it’s been very popular.

But it has needed serious updating.

Like with class blog list I’ve looked at how else can I make it a better resource?

Embedded Google Doc

Firstly, I needed to make it easier to quickly add new contacts to the list.

Embedding a Google Doc into the page means I’m able quickly update the list while making it easier to sort by time zone, country, grade and subject area.

Updated all contacts

Next I’ve checked all contact details on the list and removed any that:

1. Aren’t obvious if they’re still interested in connecting
2. Haven’t supplied enough details for other educators to easily connect

And off course, made sure all new contact details submitted were added to the list.

Please check the updated Skype Other Classrooms list if you had previously left your contact details and let me know if I need to update your details.

Also apologies if your details were removed by mistake – it was hard to work out who is still interested in connecting.

Are you on the list?

I’m now closing off the original Please Share your contact details post so I can make the Skype other classroom submissions manageable.

If you would like your contact details to be added to our Skype Other Classrooms list leave a comment to share with us:

1. Your name
2. Preferred method(s) of contact such as email address, Twitter name, Skype username or blog URL
3. Blog URL or Website URL (optional) – makes easier for others to know more about you and your class plus helps us work out when we update the list if you are still interested in connecting
4. Grade(s) of your students
5. Subject areas you are interested in making connections for
6. Your Country and State (or Province)
7. Your timezone in UTC/GMT (refer to the Skype Other Classrooms list if you are unsure)
8. Whatever information you will like to share with other educators to help them understand the types of Skype connections you are wanting to make (optional)

And don’t forget to check out The Complete Educator’s Guide to Using Skype effectively in the classroom if you are new to using Skype!

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

From connecting with classrooms in other locations to learning about each others’ culture to connecting with content experts – educators are extending learning beyond classroom walls.

So how do you use Skype effectively with your class?

Hopefully this will help!

Here’s our educator’s guide on every thing you need to know about Skype from……

1.  Setting up your account

A. Installing Skype and creating your Skype username
B. Setting up your Skype Profile
C. Updating your Privacy Options
D. Configuring your Audio and Video settings
E. Adding People To Your Skype Account

2.  Using your Skype account

A. Skype Status
B. Sending or Receiving an Instant Message
C. Calling someone who’s on Skype

3.  Using Skype in your Classroom

A. Setting up the equipment
B. Using the microphone and video
C. Being part of the audience
D. Using the Chat window
E. Finding classes and content experts to connect with

Alternatively, here’s The Complete Educator’s Guide to Using Skype effectively in the classroom PDF version — for you to download and print off.

About Skype

Skype is a free application that allows you to call people from all over the world using the Internet.

When you contact another person that uses Skype you talk or chat for free.

Best of all you can tell when another user is online and what their status is so you know if they are available.

Setting up your Skype account:

A. Installing Skype and creating your Skype username

Before you can use Skype you must install it on your computer and set up a Skype account.

Here’s how you do it:

1.  Download and install Skype from the Skype website
2.  Once installed open Skype and you’ll see a start-up screen
3.  Click on Don’t have a Skype Name?

4. Follow the directions to create a new Skype account and username then click Sign In

• Remember first impressions count!  Choose your username carefully
• Choose a username that makes it easier for others to find you and conveys the right impression of who you are

B.  Setting up your Skype Profile

Before adding contacts to your Skype account it is important to set up your Profile.

The more relevant the information you include in your Profile the easier it will be for others to ensure they’re connecting with the right person.

To change your Profile you need to:

1.  Click on the Profile tab

• or select Skype > Profile > Edit Your Profile from the menu bar

2.  Change Your Picture by clicking on Choose picture from file

• or select Skype > Profile > Change Your Picture from the menu bar
• It’s harder to located the correct contact without a profile picture and you’re less likely to added as contact if you’re using the default avatar.

3.  Add your Country/Region, State/Province, City, Time, website (if applicable), gender and language by clicking on each field or using the drop down menu.

4.  Complete your About Me information.

5.  You can check how others will see your profile information by clicking on the Public profile and Contacts only buttons at the top of your Profile page.

• Public Profile is what people see when they search for your Skype contact details.
• Contacts Only are what people who have been added to your Skype account can see.

C.  Updating your Privacy Options

Your privacy settings control who can contact you via Skype, how long your IM history is kept and is used to manage blocked users.  It’s worth adjusting these before getting started using Skype.

By default, only the people on your Contact list are able to:

1. See your profile picture
2. Application share their screen
3. Video talk with you
4. Send IM’s

While anyone on Skype who searches for you can add you as a contact or call you.

To change your privacy settings select Skype > Privacy in the menu bar.

What privacy options you choose is entirely up to you!

However,  if you want to minimise unwanted calls from anyone you might want to change it to “Allow calls from …. people in my Contact list only”

D.  Configuring your Audio and Video settings

It’s best to make sure your audio and video is set up properly before using Skype to make calls.

There’s nothing more annoying frustrating than the other person not being able to hear your voice and/or you not being able to hear theirs.

To make calls you’ll need to have either:

1. Headset with microphone
2. Microphone with speakers

Equipment for personal Skype calls:

• In built microphone and speakers on laptops work fine but you may need to adjust the sound setting to prevent the other person hearing their own voice feedback by your computer
• Comfortable headset with microphone is recommended if you’re planning to use a lot and for extended periods
• Headset choice is very personal however I use Logitech Laptop Headset H555.  Cheap headsets work just as well
• Alternatively, use a cheap desktop microphone with speakers
• Web camera (optional) – dependent on whether you like to video talk

Equipment for Skype calls in classrooms:

• Desktop microphone
• Speakers
• Web camera
• Interactive white board for display or a data projector if video conferencing with another class

Once your Skype equipment is connected to your computer all you need to do is configure your Audio settings by going to Call > Audio Settings in the menu bar.

Now just select your Microphone and Speakers from the drop down options.

Repeat the same process to set up your web cam using the Video Settings options.

Testing your Audio, Sound and Video quality is as simple as:

1.  Click on Echo / Sound Test Service

2.  Click on Call

3.  Now follow the instructions to test your set up using Skype’s automatic sound test service

• If you don’t hear any sound you’ll need to check your set up

4.  Alternatively, you can click Check Settings to the right of Call.

E.  Adding People To Your Skype Account

To contact people you will need to add their username to your Skype account.

The easiest way of finding someone’s Skype username is to contact them to ask:

1. If  you could add them to your Skype account
2. For their username

However, you can easily search for  friends’ Skype account using their email address or name.

You add people to your account by:

1.  Select Contacts > Add a Contact in the menu bar or click on Add Contact.

2.  Enter their full name, email address or Skype name.

3.  If the Skype account of the person you wish to add is displayed, click Add below the contact.

• Clicking on their Avatar displays all their profile information
• If more than one Skype account matches your search, click on view to check out all matches found.

4.  Before the contact can be added, you must send a contact request to that person. Enter some text to introduce yourself and click Send request.

5.  The contact will be added to your contact list, but will appear offline until they accept your request.

6.  Once the person agrees to your request, they will be added to your Contact list. You can then make free calls and video calls to that person, and send instant messages and files to each other.

• Occasionally they won’t receive your notification to add to their contact list – in this situation just ask them to also add your username to their account.

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2.  Using your Skype account:

A. Skype Status

Best part of Skype is you can tell when another user is online and what their status is so you know if they are available.

Some one’s Skype status is showing Available or Away from keyboard are normally near their computer.

However, it good etiquette to send a person a short Instant message and waiting to see if they reply rather than calling them as it might not be convenient, you might be interrupting their work flow or they may not have their audio configured.

Once you’ve engaged in a IM conversation then you can nicely ask them if they mind or if it is convenient to use voice.

Changing your Status is as simple as:

1.  Click on drop down menu next to your status
2.  Select your new Status

B.  Sending or Receiving an Instant Message

Sending an Instant message is as easy as:

1. Find the person or group you want to message from your contact list.
2. Their username will load in the main window and you just click inside the conversation box.
3.  Now type your short message and click the blue Send message button, or press Enter on your keyboard.

If someone IMs you, your Recent tab will turn orange and will show a number to to indicate how many new IM you have received.

You’ll also see an orange dot against the person’s name in your contact list who has sent the IM.

To check newly received IM:

1. Click the Recent tab. You’ll see a list of contacts who have recently contacted you using IM.
2. Unread messages are indicated by the person’s name shown in bold with a number next to their name.
3. Click on the person’s name to open up the main window and view the conversation.

4. Type your reply inside the conversation box and click the blue Send message button, or just press Enter on your keyboard.

Other useful things you can do in an instant message include:

1.  Add more people to the conversation to create a group IM

• Click on Add People
• Choose their names from the Contact list and click Select
• Now click Add

2.  Use emoticons or add small pictures to show how you are feeling

3.  Send documents, photos or videos

4.  Use Extra features like play games and personalise your Skype.  Read more about Extras here.

C.  Calling someone who’s on Skype

Remember it good etiquette to send a person a short Instant message and waiting to see if they reply before calling them as it might not be convenient, you might be interrupting their work flow or they may not have their audio configured.

Once you’ve engaged in a IM conversation then you can nicely ask them if they mind or if it is convenient to use voice.

Calling someone who’s on Skype is as easily as:

1. Find the person you want to call by looking in your contact list.
2.  Check their Skype status and if they are available click their name. You will see their details in the main window.
3.  Click the green Call button . You should hear ringing. If you don’t hear the other person or they can’t hear you, click the call quality icon in the call bar .
4.  Hovering your mouse over the main window during a call brings up the Skype menu items which you use to access different Skype features.

5.  To hang up, click the End call button.

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3.  Using Skype in your Classroom

Using Skype with your students does require new skill sets to developed.

For good video quality students need to think more about impact of:

1. Their own movement
2. Their movement of objects
3. Where they place objects to display to the other class.

For good audio quality students needs to:

1. Be confident
2. Think about what they want to say
3. Speak clearly and loudly enough
4. Slow down their speech and avoid use of language specific to their country unless they explain what the term(s) means

The keys to an effective skype classroom session include take the time to:

• Practise all skills before the Skype session
• Decide what outcomes you want to achieve and plan the Skype session including the questions, what you want to discuss and show before you start
• Allocate students different job roles for during the Skype session such as webcam operator, microphone manager, speaker, photographer, film session, IM writers, live bloggers, data recorders

It’s also worth keeping parents and families informed of why and how you’re using Skype in the classroom so they feel comfortable with the process.  Check out Keith Ferrell’s Rationale for using Skype in the classroom and parent permission slip — which he uses to explain the process to his families.

For detailed information on planning and running a Skype session refer to Silvia Tolisano’s:

1. Skype jobs for Students
2. Assessment of learning via Skype – excellent explanation of pre-activities, during skype call activities and post activities
3. A few tips for student filming in the classroom

Equipment for Skype calls in classrooms:

• Desktop microphone
• Speakers
• Web camera
• Interactive white board for display or a data projector if video conferencing with another class

Below are tips adapted with permission from:

1. Sue Wyatt’s Improving our Skype Calls
2. Ann Mirtchin’s Using Skype in the classroom

A.  Setting up the equipment

• If using a webcam where the videoconference is projected onto an interactive white board for display or via a data projector locate the webcam beside the board, so the speaker can see both the webcam and class they are speaking to.
• Have a chair near the microphone for speakers to sit on.
• Have the webcam on eye-level with the speaker so they don’t have to look up or down at the webcam as this will distort the view of the class watching.
• Set up the desks for students not at the microphone, so they can still be seen by the class you are speaking to.
• Ensure everything is set up from the start including any objects you want to share.
• Do a test Skype call with the other teacher before the day so you can both trouble shoot any video and sound issues.
• Test the equipment before starting class.
• If you experience issues with the call during the session try switching off the video to see if that helps.
• Have a management plan for discipline problems before commencing — so you can intervene quickly if needed.

B.  Using the microphone and video

• Speak clearly and try to slow down your normal speech.  It takes time to adjust to some accents — talking slower helps.
• Speak fluently with no small talk or swearing.
• Avoid language that is only from your country unless you explain the meaning to your viewers.
• When it is your turn to talk, make sure you know what you are going to talk about. Try to explain rather than give a one or two word answer.
• Show confidence when speaking – this might mean a few rehearsals for some students.
• If using a desk microphone, hold it straight and speak straight into it, not swinging it side to side
• Minimise too much movement of objects or people as this can cause blurring
• Left mouse click on the corner of the main window and drag to increase the window size to enlarge the video and then click on the Show IM icon so you can send IM and watch the video.
• If not using IM, then just click on Full screen to enlarge the video stream.

C.  Being part of the audience

• Be quiet when someone is speaking on the microphone.
• Listen attentively when you are not the speaker, as you might know the answer to the question being asked by the other class.
• Ideally only one person should speak at a time
• Don’t sit friends near each other as they will tend to distract each other when not the speaker.
• Sit where you can see and hear the conversation but where it is also easy to get up and go to the microphone.

D.  Using the Chat window

IM is excellent for feedback and questions.

It’s especially ideal when connecting with classes that English isn’t their first language, or when sound quality isn’t good — it’s a great way of  typing in key phrases to ensure information is being understood.

• Use IM to send a quick message to check the other class is ready before calling.
• Allocate students to be in charge of the IM conversation during the video conference and provide them clear guidelines of their role.

E.  Finding classes and content experts to connect with

Here’s where you’ll find some connections to get you started:

• Skype other Classrooms!
• Around the World with Skype – scroll down page
• Skype in the Classroom website

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Final thoughts

Would love to hear about your experiences!

What advice have we missed?   What other advice would you give educators using Skype in their classrooms?

And we’d love to hear what you’ve gained from using Skype in the classroom — please leave a comment to let us know.

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We recently had a presentation on Internet safety through our State Attorney General’s Office.

The special agent advised us that there shouldn’t be any info given that could help predators identify where our students live and go to school.

I am just wondering what your opinion is regarding this.

I understand the practicality and reality of using my full name, but I’m worried about how it could link me to my students and, in turn, allow predators to link up to my students.

Anyone could search my name and find out where I teach, what grade I teach, etc. I look forward to hearing your thoughts or directing me to other discussion of this topic. Thanks so much.

And it got me thinking……

There are widely differing opinions on Internet Safety, building digital literacy skills and working with students online.

It would be so much better if we all shared opinions and advice so we could all gain ideas from each other.

We would love to hear your thoughts and advice:

1. What advice would you give to educators new to working with students online?
2. What advice do you give your students about Internet Safety?  How do you educate them on this?  What resources do you use?
3. How much identifying do you allow (or are you allowed) for yourself and your students?
4. What other aspects should we be talking about?

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The aim of the post is to help educators and students with their personal blogging.

For my responses to student blogging questions refer to What You Wanted To KNOW About Student Blogging.

Want my blog to be well read and have a great appearance

Here’s my thoughts including recommended widgets:

1. Always put the most important widgets at the top of your blog
2. Search widget – top of blog or top of sidebar
3. RSS feed using Feedburner – here’s how to add it to your blog
4. Subscribe by email using Feedburner – here’s how to add Feeburner email subscription to your blog
5. Effectively use both categories and tags on your post to make it easier to find posts – here’s the difference between categories and tags
6. Place category widget above tag widget in your sidebar
7. Consider all widgets you add very carefully.  Do you really NEED them?  Do they help or distract from your blog appearance and content?
8. AVOID excessive use of bold, italics and colored font in posts
9. Use headings, number listed, bullet lists, short paragraphs to break posts into manageable chunks– here’s my first five tips for writing better blog posts
10. Use images effectively to engage attention –- read these posts:
    • Copyright and Using Images in Blog Posts
    • Finding and Adding Creative Commons Images To Your Blog Posts
    • Uploading Photos From Digital Cameras Into Blog Posts
11. Avoid blog themes with strong colors or text that is too small that distract the reader from content and make them not want to read it
12. Choose a blog title that is immediately meaningful and relevant to first time visitors – this can make or break their decision to become a subscriber.
    • For example, the original name Mobile Technology in TAFE for my personal blog is a classic example of a REALLY bad blog title

Here’s what to consider when choosing a blog theme.

And think about using your own custom image header like I’ve done on my personal blog – here’s how to upload custom image headers

Do a first time reader audit on your blog

A good approach to improving your blog appearance is to “Do a first time reader audit on your blog” by:

1. Following Darren Rowse’s Run a First Time Reader Audit on Your Blog instructions to observe how someone who has never read your blog navigates it
2. Contacting a few experience bloggers and ask them to do a quick audit of your blog to give you advice on what works and what doesn’t

How you see your blog and what you write about is often totally different from how viewed by others

What experienced bloggers spot differ from someone who normally doesn’t read blogs.

Can you tell how many times your blog has been viewed?

Knowing how many times your blog has been view doesn’t give you a true reflection of your readership.

Blog readership is made up of two totally separate components:

1. People who visit your blog site
2. Readers who subscribe to your blog using RSS or email subscription

The number of people who read your blog by visiting your blog site is generally considerably lower than those that subscribe by RSS or email subscription.

To understand your readership and changes you need to:

1. Set up Google Analytics for your blog
2. Set up Feeburner RSS and email subscription

PostRank is also good for monitoring other engagement factors.

How can a blogger attract more readers?

Hard question because it’s a combination of factors including:

1.  Your blog’s appearance

Some bloggers write great content but:

• Their blog theme and sidebar clutter distracts readers from appreciating the great content
• Lay out of their posts makes their posts hard to read -  here’s my first five tips for writing better blog posts

2.  Type of posts and how frequently you publish posts:

Bloggers like Stephen Downes, Larry Ferlazzo and Richard Brynes all have high readership because they all:

• Have high posts frequency (post several posts per day)
• Publish posts that provide great information for their readers

As a general rule high posts frequency combined with great content increases readership faster than low post frequency with great content.

But you don’t always need high posting frequency to have high readership.

For example, some one like Vicki Davis posts less frequently but  has high readership because of her great content and amazing support of the educational community.

It’s worth checking out Post Rank’s Education list even though their list is based on engagement factors (as opposed to readership) — to check out different edublogging approaches.

3.  Connecting with others

Being a blogger isn’t just about publishing posts.

It’s also about reading others posts, taking time to comment on their posts (in meaningful ways), engaging with your readers by commenting back when they leave comments — being a good blog citizen.

A natural part of connecting with others means that more people are likely to become aware of your work.

Don’t forget that linking to someone else’s post is an important part of blogging.  Why?

Because reading posts that talks about other bloggers or their posts but doesn’t include links to them is really frustrating for readers. Readers like to follow the links and check out the information in more detail but without the links they can’t!

And when you include links to another bloggers post it sends a pingback to that blogger.  Most bloggers check out pingback to their blogs.

Here’s more information on What’s A Pingback? And How To Write Links

But please note — I can’t stress meaningful ways enough when connecting with others, writing comments or using pingbacks.

4.  How you make people aware of your posts

I know other bloggers feel uncomfortable about this as myself.

But nowadays increasingly readers are reading blog posts by links shared on twitter rather than RSS.   So it is now a good idea to tweet when you’ve written a new post.

If you’re not currently using twitter – here’s how to get started.

Bloggers are also using Facebook to connect with more readers – here’s how you do it.

How do you get more people to read your blog and comment?

Increasing readership doesn’t necessarily lead to more comments.

As a general rule if you publish several post per day readers are less likely to comment on posts than if you publish posts two or three times per week.

Scheduling posts several days apart gives readers time to process your posts and means they are more likely to write comments.

However, it does all depend on how you’ve written your post.  Has your post invited a response?

There are skills to writing posts that make readers want to comment — my Comment Count post should give you some ideas.

What are your best practices to ensure uninterrupted publishing posts?

We’re all always busy — so time can be a challenge.

The key is work out what routine works best you and set up a system that helps you.

For example, decide how often you want to publish posts?  Several times daily, once daily or a few times a week?

As a general rule writing a post 2-3 times a week is more achievable for most educators.   So how you do it is decide that Tuesdays and Thursdays are the days your posts will publish.

And to make life easier you can write the posts at the same time and then schedule to post on those days.

Some bloggers also find using a calendar where you plan the topic of your posts helps.  While I’ll also use Google Document which I update with new post ideas.

How do you determine “worthy” topics to attract readers

Really gets back to the reason why you blog.

For many edubloggers blogging is a bit about their readers and a lot about their own personal needs to reflect on what they are learning or what they want to share.

One of the commonest mistakes I see made by new blogggers is focusing on what they think their readers want to read.

My advice is forget about your readers and focus on your own needs.  You’ll be more passionate and it’ll come through in your posts.

And never assume that someone’s already written what you’re saying.

Have bloggers block.  How do I get going again, post length, finding my voice etc

Don’t feel alone — we all suffer from it at some stage.

Some find having a break helps.

Whereas breaks don’t help me and the best solution is to force myself to write the post (any post) to get back into my blogging routine.

Post length

Post length is an interesting topic.  As a general rule shorter posts are more likely to get comments while longer posts are more likely to be bookmarked.

It’s really about what works for both you and your readers.

For example, this post is definitely too long but I didn’t want to break into a series of posts because I normally post twice weekly.  Would it have been better as separate posts for each question?  Probably!

Finding your voice

Each blogger has their own distinct writing style which we often call their voice.

Once you’ve got your blogging routine back I’m sure you’ll find your voice comes back with it.

Final thoughts

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions.

Would love to hear your thoughts!

1. What did I miss in my responses?
2. Do you have any other questions on blogging you would like answered?

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

Anyone can tune in and participate in this live event which will start at 12:30pm Mountain Time.

If you have questions for Richard or Sue Waters about blogging, please join them in the Elluminate session.

If you like, you can submit your questions ahead of time through the Google form embedded below.

To listen in to the live stream, visit isteunplugged.com and scroll down to near the bottom of the page for the Elluminate link (which isn’t published yet, but will be before the event).

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We hope that you can make it!

Final thoughts

This post was adapted from Richard Bryne’s post by Ronnie and posted with permission from Richard.  Thanks Richard!

We already have questions coming in.

So far the questions are mainly about student blogging, which is great.

We’re also more than willing to answer questions about general blogging issues such as comment moderation, post length, finding your voice, etc.

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

It’s all about having fun, improving your blogging while connecting with a global audience!

About the Student Blogging Challenge

We’re now into our 3rd Year and 4th Challenge.

We provide weekly tasks for 10 weeks to help you connect with student bloggers in other countries and improve your blogging.

It’s a really great way to learn more about each others cultures!

You can read more about it here:

1. About the student challenge
2. Student Blogging Challenge FAQs

Your blog doesn’t have to be hosted on Edublogs to join.

Students using any blogging platform such as 21classes, Blogger, Blogmeister, WordPress, Primary Blogger, Creative Blogs etc, can participate!

So far 44 Class blogs from 10 countries (Australia, Argentina, Canada, Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand, Normay, UK, United Arab Emirates, USA) have registered.

Register your student blog now!

Follow these TWO simple steps to register:

STEP 1:  Register Your Personal Blog Using the Google Form

Complete the Google Form below by adding:

1. Your Name as First name and initial of Surname
2. Your personal blog URL — for example my blog URL is http://theedublogger.com/
3. Country
4. Your age
5. A few of your hobbies  so other students with similar interests can connect with you

Please Note:

• Please register from home if you can’t see the Google Form on your school network!
• You only need to register once!
• If you are having trouble registering please leave comment on this post so we can help you.

STEP 2: Check your registration details!

Go to the March 2010 student page a couple of days after you added your details to the Google Form to check that your name and blog is on the page.

If your name is not there, it’s probably been removed because your blog URL was wrong.

Please note:

• The delay in adding your information to the March 2010 student page is because we need to check your details before adding.
• If your details haven’t been added please leave a comment on this post with your blog URL so we can sort it out for you!

Final Thoughts

Teachers and class blogs need to register following the steps in Student Blogging Challenge – Time for teachers to register their classes.

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

All about having fun, improving blogging and reflective writing skills while connecting with a global audience!

Now into our 3rd Year and 4th Challenge!

We provide weekly tasks for 10 weeks that are like a buffet — you pick and choose what works best for you while we guide you and your students through the process!

Your students don’t need their own blog! You can do the activities using your class blog or by commenting on other class and student blogs.

The Student Blogging Challenge is coordinated by Sue Wyatt and Sue Waters.

You can read more about it  here:

1. About the student challenge
2. Student Blogging Challenge FAQs

Register Your Class!

We’ve opened registration for teachers to register their class to participate in the challenge which starts in March.

We’ll be inviting individual student bloggers to register next week!

Follow these THREE simple steps to register (Teachers Only!):

STEP 1:  Add your email address to our mailing list

Complete the form below.

We’ll be using this to send classes newsletters without Sue Waters or Miss Wyatt having to do separate emails.

STEP 2:  Register Your Class Using the Google Form

Complete the Google Form below by adding your Name, Class Blog URL, Country and Student Age.

Please register from home if you can’t see the Google Form on your school network.

STEP 3:  Check your class details!

Go to the March 2010 Classes page and confirm your class details are correct.

Please leave a comment on Miss Wyatt’s post or mine if you are having any problems or need to ask questions!

FINAL THOUGHTS

We’ll be inviting individual student bloggers to register next week!

Here’s some tasks that will help prepare your class blog for the Challenge:

1. Week 1 – Create A Class Blog
2. Week 2:  Set Up Your Blogging Rules and Guidelines
3. Week 3 – Add A Visitor Tracking Widget To Your Blog Sidebar
4. Week 4 – Add your student blogs to your blogroll
5. Week 5 – Add Students To Your Class Blog So They Can Write Posts

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But first let me tell you the history behind this post.

About Our Guest Blogger

Last year student bloggers wrote some amazing posts for our Share Your Tips– and win BIG! Competition and on my winner’s post I said:

The winning posts submitted by the students are so ‘must read’ that it would be an honour if they guest posted on The Edublogger.

Dominique, a Grade 8 student (13 years old), from USA decided to take me up on this offer (here’s her winning post).

She continues to astound me!

And it was a pleasure to discover that her work inspired her sister Caroline (10 years old) to:

Want a blog so much that she put it on her Christmas list!

Caroline got her Christmas wish early and is blogging at Caroline’s Corner.

J’adore les langues!

Guest post by Dominique from My Blog!

J’adore les langues, ils sont très important en notre monde. Je voudrais être fluent en francais, allemand, espagnol, italien, japonais, chinois, arabique, gaelique, and portugeuse. Et plus je ne peux pas pense de maintenant.

Today our world is so interconnected because of technology that it  is even more  important to know foreign languages.

Although I am only in my third year of taking French, I am happy that I can communicate with French speaking people in the blogosphere.

From blogging I am also alerted to the fact that there are so many wonderful languages just waiting for me to learn them, whenever I find a class blog in a different language I always wish that I could understand it, and that is something that will motivate me to learn more foreign languages.

Imagine how simple communication would be if you could speak a foreign language. And how many opportunities would be available.

Around the beginning of December I entered a podcast contest about the importance of learning foreign languages, hosted by the American Council of Teaching Foreign Languages.

I made a podcast for the contest, but unfortunately mine was not chosen as one of the finalists. Even though it did not amount to anything it was still fun to do.

On the other hand one of my friends, Adrian, made a podcast rap about foreign languages with her friend Peggy. They have actually been chosen as finalists and can be voted for on the website. I already quickly made an account and voted for them.

Here’s Adrian and Peggy’s video — I really hope that they win the middle school category for the contest which is announced this month!!!

It was a coincidence that the podcast contest was brought up in French class shortly after I conceived the idea for this post, specially written to go on Ms. Water’s blog. I think that just goes to show how important foreign languages are  becoming in our world.

p.s. When I mentioned in French, the languages in which I would like to be fluent, those are not all. There are many other languages that I would also like to learn  (I simply do not know how to say them yet in French…).

Thank you very much to Ms. Waters who allowed me to guest post this blog post on the Edublogger, it is such an honor!

Final Thoughts

Thanks Dominique for writing this guest post for us and for all your great work!

And to honor Dominique’s work I would love it if we could all leave comments on this post in different languages and include our locations!

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This step is to add a visitor tracking tool to your blog sidebar.

Why Use Visitor Tracking Widgets?

It’s likely that your blog gets visitors from around the world.

But unless you find ways of displaying visitor numbers and their geographical locations, your students won’t appreciate that they’re publishing posts for a global audience.

Benefits include:

• Knowing you’re writing for a global audience is incredibly motivating for students.
• Realizing people from other countries are reading what they’ve written increases their interest, excitement and motives them to blog.
• It also provides built-in geography lessons — as most students constantly check for new visitors and enjoy finding out more about the countries where their visitors are from.

There’s numerous different types of visitor tracking widgets you can use, and it isn’t uncommon for teachers and students to use more than one type on their blogs.

Below are the most commonly used ones with instructions on how to install.

Please note:

All visitor tracking widgets require you to add embed code to a text widget

To be able to add the embed do you need to be either using:

• An Edublogs Pro blog
• free Edublogs blogs which have been upgraded using a Pro blog to enable embedding of HTML code

Each Edublogs Pro blog can upgrade up to 50 student (or other blogs).  Once upgraded these blogs:

• Will have absolutely no advertising displayed on them
• Access to and full use of all 100 + Premium themes
• The ability to embed videos, JavaScript and other third party code

ClustrMaps

ClustrMaps is a thumbnail hit counter map widget that shows the geographical location of all visitors to your blog. Number of visitors from a location is indicated by the relative size of the dot.

Clicking the ClustrMaps thumbnail takes you to a large World map so you can examine your traffic sources more closely.

There is a ClustrMaps widget in the left hand side bar of this blog.

Here’s comprehensive ‘how to’ add a ClustrMaps to Your Sidebar Using:

1. A Text Widget – free Edublogs blogs which have been upgraded using a Pro blog to enable embedding of HTML code
2. The ClustrMaps widget – Edublogs Pro blogs only

Flag Counter

Flag Counter widget shows the total number of visitors from each country next to the country’s flag. Every time someone from a new country visits your site, a new flag will be added to your counter.

Clicking on the flag counter takes you to your Flag counter page which provides more detailed charts and information about your visitors.

See it in action on Technology in Our Classroom!

Here’s how to add a Flag Counter:

1.  Go to Flag Counter

2.  Choose the maximum flags to show, number of columns of flags and your color scheme then click Get Your Flag Counter

Please Note: most blog sidebars will only fit 1 or 2 columns of flags.

3.  Copy the HTML embed code

4.  Go to Appearance > Widgets in your blog dashboard

5.  Click on the desired Sidebar to expand (so you can add the widgets)

Please note: In new blogs sidebars in your dashboard are empty and adding widgets automatically removes the default Edublogs widgets

5.  Add a text widget to the desired sidebar by dragging it from the Available Widgets or Inactive Widgets areas on the left into the Sidebar area on the right.

6.  The widget will automatically open — just add the HTML code from Flag Counter, click Save and then Close.

7.  You should now see your Flag Counters in your blog sidebar and the flags will start appearing after 24 hours.

Feedjit Live Traffic

Feedjit Live Traffic Feed displays visitors to your blog in real time and includes:

• Which city and country your visitors are in
• Which website they arrived from, if any
• Which page they visited on your website
• Which external link they clicked to leave your site, if any

Your traffic feed is updated as each visitor arrives on your site. This update occurs before it loads so each of your visitors can see their own location displayed.

Clicking on the Feedjit Live Traffic counter takes you to your Live traffic page which provides more detailed information including the countries associated with web visitors’ IP addresses, the web browser, computer operating system, and referring website.

See it in action on Technology in Our Classroom!

Here’s how to add a Feedjit Live Traffic Widget:

1.  Go to Feedjit Live Traffic Feed

2.  Click on Click here to Customize It! below Live Traffic Feed

3.  Choose your color scheme and width (ideal size for most sidebars is less than 170)

4.  Once finished customizing, copy the HTML embed code

5.  Go to Appearance > Widgets in your blog dashboard

6.  Click on the desired Sidebar to expand (so you can add the widgets)

7.  Add a text widget to the desired sidebar by dragging it from the Available Widgets into the Sidebar area on the right.

8.  The widget will automatically open — just add the HTML code from Live Traffic Feed, click Save and then Close.

9.  You should now see your Live Traffic Feed in your blog sidebar and visitor data will immediately start appearing.

Feedjit Live Traffic Map

Feedjit Live Traffic Map displays real-time visitor tracking by showing the geographic locations of the last 100 visitors to your blog.

If you move your mouse over any point on the map the city and country for that visitor will be displayed.

Clicking on the Feedjit Live Traffic Map takes you to your Live Traffic Map page which provides more detailed information.

See it in action on Technology in Our Classroom!

Here’s how to add a Feedjit Live Traffic Widget:

1.  Go to Feedjit Live Traffic Map

2.  Click on Click here to Customize It! below Live Traffic Map

3.  Choose your color scheme and width (ideal size for most sidebars is less than 170)

4.  Once finished customizing, copy the HTML embed code

5.  Go to Appearance > Widgets in your blog dashboard

6.  Click on the desired Sidebar to expand (so you can add the widgets)

7.  Add a text widget to the desired sidebar by dragging it from the Available Widgets into the Sidebar area on the right.

8.  The widget will automatically open — just add the HTML code from Live Traffic Map, click Save and then Close.

9.  You should now see your Live Traffic Map in your blog sidebar and visitor data will immediately start appearing.

FINAL THOUGHTS

These steps were created as part of the preparation for the Student Blogging Challenge — the next challenge starts in September, 2010.

You can read more about the Student blogging challenge here:

1. About the student challenge
2. Student Blogging Challenge FAQs

And here’s where you find the other steps for setting up your class blog:

• Step 1 – Set up your class blog
• Step 2 – Set Up Your Blogging Rules and Guidelines
• Step 3 – Teaching Commenting Skills and Etiquette – Guest post by Kathleen McGeady
• Step 4 – Help Parents Connect With Your Class Blog
• Step 5 – Add Students To Your Class Blog So They Can Write Posts
• Step 6 – Add A Visitor Tracking Widget To Your Blog Sidebar
• Step 7 – Setting Up Student blogs
• Step 8 – Add your student blogs to your blogroll
• Step 9 – Add Your Student Blogs To A Folder In Google Reader

Please a comment on this post:

1. If you have any problems or questions while setting up your class blog just — I’m always happy to help!
2. If you have advice for other educators on visitor tracking widgets — would love to hear stories of how you use them with your students!

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