RILS - WordPress

WordPress 101 – Blogging for Beginners

DeAnna Martin

Brief Overview: This Relevant and Innovate Learning Scenario introduces learners to the web2.0 tool of WordPress.  Students will be able to set up an account, make a blog post and comment on other student’s posts.

1. Target Audience- Small group of staff members at Bridgewater Academy, a Charter school in Myrtle Beach, SC.

2. Materials–

·      PC or MAC, 1 per student

·      Broadband Internet Connection

·      Valid Email Account

• Digital Photo

3. Objectives– At the end of this scenario the learner will be able to:

·      recall the website, WordPress, and enter their username and password to obtain access to their personal blogging site.

·      design their own blog including themes, pictures, posts and comments.

·      create posts for their own blog and comments on others blogs.

·      discuss through comments with other bloggers on topics of interest.

·      deliver relevant and meaningful content to an eclectic audience

4. Procedure–

Prior to the implementation of this scenario, the instructor should set up a username and password at www.WordPress.com. The instructor should also navigate through the site and become familiar with the administrator panel for their site.

·      Introduce WordPress to Students

First, ask students to log on to www.wordpress.com.  Explain to them that this is web software that you can use to create a website or a blog.  The purpose of this RILS is to set up a blog. Each student will need to create an account to begin.  Once they each have an account, the setup can begin.

The instructor needs to compile a list of the blogs sites so that the students can access classmate’s blogs in order to follow them and leave comments.  They can send out a Google doc asking for the info and sharing it or have each student email the link and them just compile a mass email and send it out to the students.

·      Walk students through a short tour of the site, highlighting the most important dashboard features, such as:

1.           Settings

2.           Posts

3.           Appearance

4.           Tools

Once comfortable with the dashboard page the students are ready to start customizing.  Starting under the Appearance tab they will find a link to themes.  This will give them a chance to choose a theme that best fits the site and/or their personality.  Remind the students about picture size and relevance before they begin the scenario.

·      Tasks to Complete

After the students have an overview of the tools and their theme picked out, they may begin the tasks as follows.  First they must create a new post for their Bio/Introduction post.  They must add a graphic/picture to this post.  Here is an opportunity for students to talk about themselves and their interests.  A good idea for a picture would be of themselves or of them and their family.  It could also be them doing something they love, like a favorite hobby.

The second task is creating another post on any topic they choose.  This post must also have a graphic/picture. 

The third task is slightly involved, because it is multiple posts wrapped up into one task.  The student must comment at least once on one of each of their classmate’s blogs.  If there are 9 students in the class, each student will have at least 8 comment posts.

The fourth task is to comment on the instructors post about the scenario.  This post should ask questions like:

·      What was your favorite part of this task?

·      What was your least favorite part?

·      What areas did you struggle with?

·      What areas were easiest for you?

5. Emerging Technology – WordPress

http://www.wordpress.com

WordPress is a web2.0 tool that is used to create websites and/or blogs.

6. Social Participation/Social Learning– WordPress is built around social participation.  Users will post and comment on other posts as part of their learning and collaboration.  They will also be adding photos and getting to know each other outside of the work/school environment.  They will be creating an introduction/bio post first and may choose the topic of their second post on their own.  The students must comment on at least one of the posts for each of their classmates.

7. Making Connections–

This scenario provides several exposures for making connections:

   Connection with Previous Knowledge

1.    WordPress’ blog posting tools are very similar to any type of word processing tool we are familiar with, such as Microsoft Word.  Learners will relate their previous knowledge of these types of programs while also learning the new options and functions that WordPress offers.

2.    Connection to Self

This blog is about the learner, who is also creating the content, written and media driven (pictures).

3. Connection to a Local or Global Audience

The learner’s blog will be viewable by anyone in the world.  By using tags to classify their posts, it will be easier for people all over to connect about specific ideas, posts or categories. The learner may also seek out other blogs outside of our class and make their own network with bloggers of their interest(s)/category(s).

8.            Create/Produce – The end product will be an actual blog that they have created for themselves and can continue to use in the future.

9. Assessment – The final product will be evaluated using the following rubric:

	Excellent 15	Good 10	Satisfactory 5	Needs Improvement 0
Posts	User has made two posts on their own blog following the guidelines: 1.     intro/bio 2.     topic of their choice	User has only made one post to their blog	X	No Posts were made to blog.
Comments	User made at least 1 comment on at least 1 post by each classmate.	User made at least 1 comment to more than half of their classmates	User made at least one comment to a classmates post	User made no comments to classmates posts
Image(s)	Image is sized appropriately for the blog and is relevant in someway to the post	Image is either not the correct size or not relevant to the post	Image is too big or too small in the post.  Image is not relevant to the post	No Image was used.
Overall Look	Theme is relevant and appealing.	X	X	Theme was not changed from default and is distracting.

10.          Reflection -

Student Reflection

Students will reflect on their experience through a comment on my blog post about reflection.  They will reflect on what they liked, disliked, thought was easy and hard.

     Teacher Reflection

The teacher will be able to reflect upon this learning scenario via the comments feedback from the students, assessment of their final products, and observation of their levels of engagement throughout.