Refreshing your blog and the blogger toolkit

It might be time to give your learning diary blog a new look, particularly if you have not visited it since completing the learning 2.0 course. If you used Blogger, as most people did, you can find many ready-made templates that will give your blog a new look. You can go sophisticated, sedate, colorful, or wild.

Before you begin please complete our quick self assessment check list. We will ask you to complete the self assessment again at the end so we can measure our progress as a group.

When you complete each week, write a blog post that discusses your experience—good, bad, or other—on that tool. You can offer your opinions on how you might use it in your library. You don’t need to write a lot about each tool, but be thoughtful and reflective.

In the original course, the pit crew at the State Library of New South Wales tried to read and comment on all of the blogs.  We know that feedback is important - you told us this in your evaluation of the first course. We strongly encourage you to read others blogs and comment on them. Interacting with others via their blogs is a way to strengthen this learning community and meet others like you.

Here is an interesting SlideShare presentation to remind you of why people blog is it called The 25 Basic Styles of Blogging ... And When To Use Each

The 25 Basic Styles of Blogging ... And When To Use Each One

View more documents from Rohit Bhargava.

If you are new to this course, you can learn how to set up a blog by following the instructions in week 2 of the New South Wales public library learning 2.0 course.

Explore
1. Find a new look for your blog. Once you have logged on to Blogger, click the Layout tab. From here you can choose a new template and/or change the fonts and colors of your old or new template.
 2. Take a look at Page Elements. Blogger has added new Gadgets (called widgets on other sites) since we started the first course.
 3. Update the information on your profile. From the Dashboard click Edit Profile and edit, or add to the information. You don’t have to reveal all there is to know about you.
 4. Consider your display name (Under Identity on Edit Profile page). Best practices indicate that in a learning community such as this one, knowing who the participants are contributes to the cohesiveness and collegiality of the community. You don’t have to put in your entire real name you can still remain anonymous.

Now you are ready to start posting.

Whenever you complete a week, write a post commenting on your experience with the tools you learned about and used. Read and comment on each others blogs, too.  Everyone likes feedback.

Each of your posts should provide insights into what you’ve discovered and learned. Share what worked for you, what didn’t, what you’ve shared with your colleagues, any surprises, frustrations, and eureka moments. We will offer some blog prompts to get you thinking, but don’t feel limited by those.

Prompts for your first blog post for this course
1. How much have you blogged since you finished the original course?
2. What do you like about blogging?
3. Have you found other blogs to read?
4. Do you comment on others' blogs?

Adventure  (optional)
You can really change the look of your blog using third party sites that have developed Blogger templates. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of these from the silly to the sophisticated. Some sites might require free registration to download the templates:

    * http://mashable.com/2008/05/17/70-plus-new-and-beautiful-blogger-templates/
    * http://www.bloggingtips.com/2008/07/14/the-top-10-blogger-template-resource-sites/
    * Pyzam templates
    * http://blogger-templates-directory.blogspot.com/

Be sure to blog about your experience rejuvenating your blog.

Ellen and Mylee