Nov
10
Taking the blogging plunge
November 10, 2008 | Tagged blogging | 4 Comments
Hi, my name is Cindy and I am a second year TLITE student who has become a “blog junkie”. I love blogging and have two blog sites.
I started out blogging when I took a Knowschools on-line class on personal learning environments (PLE’s). BJ, the instructor, was encouraging. The first blog post I wrote was the scariest thing I’ve ever done. I wrote something that anyone in the entire world could read and that was terrifying! I wasn’t exactly hooked on blogging – too scary! What if I sounded like an idiot?! Who was to know I would become a junkie!
I read other people’s blogs and from them I learned how to pick a template based on multiple factors that would appeal to me and my potential readers, I learned about RSS feeds/readers and how to install Feedburner. I added a cluster map which I love because it shows me where some of the people who have visited my blog came from. I’ve also learned the importance of an “About” page, not post, and how to write one. I struggled with a “voice”, a direction for my blog, and I found it by accident when I read my fav blogger’s about page. I am still learning how to improve my writing for an on-line audience. I tend to use humour and hope it comes across that way on-line. I am now experimenting with what journalists call a deck in hopes of snagging visitors to read my posts.
Learning to do all this tech stuff has been FRUSTRATING beyond belief at times. It took me at least three days to figure out how to add links for a blog roll into the sidebar! I waited three months to find out how to add Feedburner. It is so easy; it’s embarrassing to admit I did not know how to do this!
The craziest thing about blogging – the part that is addicting – is the comments from others and seeing who has been visiting my blog. For me, the challenge of constantly improving my blog, my writing and learning nifty little tricks like adding names/words that will be picked up by Google search engines has been even more addicting. The toughest thing is to write in a manner that encourages comments. I strive constantly to make my blog like the best of those whose blogs I read. I now have 2 readers through Feedburner; my fav blog has 1248 readers! Do I have a ways to go!
Note from the editor: You can check out Cindy’s blog at http://blogjunkie.edublogs.org/. Her second site, is linked to her blogjunkie site.
Comments
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Cindy, I’m so impressed with your blogs. Thanks for sharing a bit here about your learning journey with this.
Thank you. I really hope we have other TLITE students submit guest posts. I would love to see/read blogs from others in the program.
Hi Cindy,
Glad to see you’re so into this and thanks for being the first to step up to the plate :0) I have a communication/homework blog for the parents and students at my school…my TLITE blog is my learning journal and it’s far more sparse since I can never seem to find the time to get to it with work and life carrying me away all the time. Here is a link to my TLITE blog:
http://michelem86.livejournal.com/
Although it’s not public, my school blog is:
http://miller35.wordpress.com/
Hedy,your blog was just what I so needed to read. It was like reading me! I thought I was the only one whose teaching assignment and TLITE were not meshing. I also have student work that is not completed. I teach 1 45 minute prep class/wk making time lines just horrible. I had very similar problems with finding a focus and was looking at same things as you: web 2.0 technology and gaming. Have you checked out Quest Atlantis? That is what I really wanted to do. I tried to leave a comment on your site, but my LiveJournal account is private so I didn’t know how to comment. I’m soooo glad you commented here and shared your blog. I will go back and check out your school blog tomorrow.:)