Welcome to the YDEV Research and Evaluation (560/61) Blog!

Week 1

For this class, you will be writing in a weekly blog.

Here are some of the reasons why writing is a great learning tool:

• 
  Writing can help you understand content in new ways.
  
• Writing can help you connect different ideas, concepts, or texts.
• Writing is changeable -- you can rework and rewrite as your thinking evolves.
• Writing can make your thinking visible to others.  

For this class, you will set up your own writing blog to use for all of your weekly writing assignments and to keep track of your thoughts about any of the issues we cover.  (Feel free to use the blog you created for Victoria's class).

In requiring a writing blog, I am inviting you to engage in a common qualitative research practice.  Researchers often write memos (which are informal pieces of writing about a particular topic) to help them analyze data.  Your blog is a place for you to write down ideas, concepts, and learnings.  Each week, I'll post prompts to help you structure your thinking and writing.  (You will introduce yourself in your first blog post -- see the highlighted prompt below).

You can make your blog private so that it is not searchable on the web, and also you need to make sure that members of the class can read and comment on your blog.  If this blog structure does not work for you, let me know and we can adjust.

Your blog grade is pass/fail and is based upon the  number of entries you complete.  See the grading criteria in the syllabus for more information.

To start your own blog, you will go to:

www.blogger.com

SET UP AN ACCOUNT:

If you do not already have a Google account, you will need to create one.  If you do have a Google account, sign in in the box at the right.  
  

Click the button that says NEW BLOG (you will see this even if you have blogged before) and follow the instructions to get started.  Don't forget your Username and Password!! You will need them to login every time. Please write them down on the top of your syllabus so you don't forget!  

NAME YOUR BLOG:

As you fill in the info, you will be asked to name your blog. This title will appear at the top of your blog. (Mine is called "Dr. McKamey's FNED 346 blog, 2018 edition")

CHOOSE AN ADDRESS:

Every blog has its own URL, or web address.

_______.blogspot.com

This will be the web address associated with your site. you can call it anything you like. Be clever or simple (or both) -- it is up to you.

CHOOSE A TEMPLATE:

You will also need to choose a design template for your blog. Look through the options listed and see what appeals to you. You can change this later so don't worry too much about it initially... 

START POSTING:

Once you have the account set up, you can start posting. A “post” is an entry on your blog. (For clarification, you have one blog, but many posts). Give the post a title and then compose as you would any journal entry. When you are finished, hit the button that says Publish. It will not appear on your blog until you publish it. You can always go back and edit old posts and create new ones.

Your First Post:

Your first post should be a short introduction to you using PICTURES.  Post 2-5 pictures of yourself that tell us about who are you, what you did over the summer, what do you do when you are not in class, where you work, what kind of hobbies you are into, etc.  (If you don't have access to pictures today, then just write a narrative post instead!) Add some captions to each one.  

POST A COMMENT WITH YOUR ADDRESS:

When you are done creating your blog and posting your first entry in YOUR blog, please come back to this CLASS blog and post a comment at the end of this first post (scroll down) that includes your name and your blog address so that I can post it in the blog list to the right.

Some Tips and Helpful Hints:

• Once you are in your blog, look at the top right corner of the screen. If you click on the word DESIGN, you will be able to make design changes, create new posts, edit old posts, etc. (You can only do this if you are logged in to your blog.)
• Once you are in the DESIGN screen, you can do all kinds of things to make your blog a bit more interesting. Change your fonts and colors, edit a post, change your settings. See the tabs at the left side of the screen for all kinds of options.
• Poke around online and make a list of websites related to gender, social justice, feminism or anything else relevant and post them on your blog. You can add all kinds of things by ADDING A GADGET from your LAYOUT screen.
• Just do the best you can with this. If you get stuck, don't fret... I am happy to help you anytime as you work on getting this started. And remember: you can't break it. It is just a blog. Everything can be changed if need be!

To make your blog private (do this once you get a class email list):

 Sign into blogger.

In the top left, select your blog.

From the menu on the left, click settings.

Under "permissions," click reader access and select custom readers. 

Under "permissions," click invite more readers and put in the class email list.

Good luck!

Corinne

(p.s. many thanks to Lesley Bogad for the Blogger instructions).