Digital Journalism Online School Journal goes Live!

Named for the classroom where we meet, Morse18.com is an Online journal created by the students in my digital journalism course. My students researched a variety of technology tools and chose Wordpress. We purchased server space on Blue Host and installed the Magazine Basic template. Thanks to Jeff Utecht for inspiring us with his Magazine Basic site.

Please take a moment to check out this site. My students will be thrilled to see some hits on their stats page. If you are interested in learning more about the course, here is a link to my syllabus. I taught this course last spring, but have changed it completely for this year, the syllabus is a work in progress. I welcome your feedback on both the website and the course.

10 Tips for Beginning Bloggers

My brother has recently started blogging and asked me for some tips. I thought I would share them here. I started blogging in 2006 and it has been some of the best professional development for me that I have ever done. Blogging forces me to think, reflect and write about my experiences. Blogging helps me retain my learning and connects me to others who help and support me in my endeavors. If you don't yet have a blog, I recommend giving it a try. You don't have to blog every day or every week. Just establish a place Online to share your thoughts. If you give it a chance, I think you will find it a rewarding experience.

Here are few tips to get you started.

1. Writing: You don't have to write long posts, just a few paragraphs work best. People don't want to read much more than that. You don't have to be perfect, just get your thoughts out there and press publish. Don't obsess too much about your word choice and grammar. It is your ideas that matter. Include an image and break up your thoughts. Lists work really well, so do bullets.

2. Platforms: Choose a blogging platform that works for you. If you are more technically inclined, you will probably want to use Wordpress and host your own blog. You can also use something like Wordpress.com which will host a wordpress blog for you. If you are less technical, Blogger works really well. Plus, since blogger is owned by Google it does help get you higher up in Google search results. Many teachers also use Edublogs which is run by Sue Waters who is a great support to educational bloggers.

3. Authority: Claim your blog on Technorati. I'm not sure how much your Technorati authority matters anymore, but many people search for blogs to read on Technorati. You want yours to be there to find.

4. Statistics: Keep track of your readership. I use StatCounter to track visits to my blog. There are many other options including Google Analytics which will tell you who has visited, where they came from and where they live. It is really fun to track your stats when you first start blogging. It is nice to know that there are some people out there actually reading what you have to say.

5. Blogrolls: Include a blogroll. When you link to other bloggers they appreciate it and will check back to see what you have written and are likely to include a link back to you on their blogs. It also helps your readers find other bloggers to read on the same subject.

6. Searching: Subscribe to a Google blog search of your name, the name of your blog and the URL of your blog. You want to know when other people refer to you and/or your blog so you can see what they have to say about you, respond with a blog post or at least leave a comment thanking them for the reference. Add your blog to Google blog search if it isn't there already.

7. Twitter: Get a Twitter account and Tweet when you have a new blog post. Twitter is the source for most of my blog traffic. But make sure that isn't all you do on Twitter. You also should tweet other people's blog posts and other links of interest. Check out this post if you are new to Twitter.

8. Subscriptions: Provide a way for your readers to subscribe to your blog via email. I use Feedburner for this. There are many readers who want to get updated when you post a new blog, but who don't use a feed reader. Giving them an email option expands your regular readership.

9. Contact: Include a way for your readers to contact you. I use Retaggr for this. Not only does Retaggr provide a contact form, it also provides links to other places you can find me on the web and includes some information about who I am.

10. SEO: Tag or label your posts. Including a tag helps your readers find posts on the topics they are interested in. It also helps with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) which pushes your blog to the top of search engine results.

Bonus: Include numbers in your post titles. O.K. I have no idea why this works, but my most popular posts all have numbers in the title. Hopefully it will work with this one ;-) Go figure...

Do you have a blog? Do you have a suggestion for new bloggers or for me? I would love to hear them. Please post a comment and share with us. Are you a new blogger? Share a link to your blog so we can check it out!

image source: Blogging Research Wordle from Kristina B's photostream on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/barnett/2836828090/

Reflections on my Learning Journey

In July, I had the amazing opportunity to meet face to face with many of my Online colleagues while attending the Building Learning Communities Conference in Boston. I had met some people at the Educon 2.0 conference in January. It was great to see them again. And, there were many people who I met face to face for the first time. For me, networking and socializing were among the highlights of the conference. I had so many inspiring conversations about teaching and learning and about technology.

I attended the BLC conference for the first time in 2006. At that time, I knew one other person at the conference. I moved from session to session mostly on my own and didn't attend any of the social events. In just two years so much has changed for me. This year at BLC I felt I belonged. I knew many of the presenters, presented a session (with Lisa Thumann), and even helped organize an unconference. Looking back, I am amazed by my Web 2.0 journey. I have learned and done so much I have to pinch myself - it is hard to believe the progress I have made. It feels wonderful.

Since July of 2006, I started this blog, presented at several technology conferences, published two articles, and even my own book. I feel that BLC06 was the catalyst for all of these accomplishments, primarily because it lead to this blog. Writing here has given me the confidence to reach for my dreams.

If you haven't started blogging yet I really think you should. You have to start somewhere, so why not start right now! Go to http://www.blogger.com or http://www.edublogs.org and write your first post, then leave a comment with the Web address so we can all see it.

If you are already blogging, let us know if you agree. Should everyone blog? When did you start? Has blogging changed your teaching and/or your learning? Please share your thoughts. I look forward to learning from all of you.