Ten Minutes of Connecting: Day 23 – Yes, It’s Time to Start Your Own Blog!

Much of the work we have done so far in getting connected has been about where to find information on the web, and how to share the valuable information with others.

Shared by Dafyd Jones under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non-Commercial – Share-Alike License.

But what if nobody created any of the resources you are sharing?

Your presence online is valuable because others are creating and sharing with you.  You are a valuable part of your own PLN.  Creating and sharing back with your colleagues is an important part of the process, and a valuable aspect of your own professional learning.

Today we start supporting you in the process of creating your own blog.

Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution – Non-Commercial – Share-Alike License by Dekuwa.

You can’t create a blog in ten minutes, so we have broken the process down into a series of easy steps.  Our goal is to have your blog live online before the end of this 30-day series.

Are you ready?

First, what do we mean by the word “blog”? We need to have a shared understanding of what a blog is.

Edublogs, one of many possible platforms for your blog, has created this instructional video that will give you the basics of what a blog is in under four minutes!

The next step in setting up your own blog is making a decision about what platform you will use to host your blog.  Many educators use one platform for student blogs and a different platform for their personal blog.  How should you decide?

Edublogs recently did a survey of bloggers, asking about their platform of choice.  Reading their comments might help you with your decision.

Of course, asking your PLN on Twitter what platform they use and why is an awesome use of your Professional Learning Network to support you in your work.

If your friends are already blogging, ask them what they use and why.

Once you have made your decision, it’s easy to sign up for a free blog.

(OSSEMOOC is currently using a WordPress.com site, and as we work through the components of blogs this week, we will be using examples from our own WordPress.com site.  If you are really new to Web 2.0 tools, you may want to start with a WordPress.com blog and follow our tutorials.  Once you understand the fundamentals, you can switch to any hosting site of your choice.)

If you are already a blogger, what tips can you offer new bloggers?

Resources:

Personal Blogging – a fantastic step-by-step guide by Edublog’s Sue Waters.