This blog is designed as a resource for CURR 501, Media Literacy, Popular Culture and Education at Rhode Island College, summer 2015. The course is driven by the essential question: How is new media and digital culture produced and consumed in ways that help us understand ourselves and each other in the context of the current educational landscape?

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Welcome to Media Literacy 2015!

Welcome to CURR 501: Media Literacy, Popular Culture and Education!  

Today in class, you will set up your own blog to use this week and next  for all of your written assignments, and to keep track of your thoughts about any of the issues we cover. You can also maintain this blog after this class is over for personal or professional purposes.
  

A blog is your very own, personal online journal. It is public, in that I and your classmates can read it and comment on it, but it is your space and you can control most everything about it. (If you want to make it private so that *only* members of this class can read it, click here for instructions, then talk to me about how to set it up for our class).  



In the context of this course, your blog has two purposes:  

1) Your blog will provide a space for you to keep all of your writing assignments over the course of our seven days together. You will not hand in any written assignments; rather you will post them on your blog. In this sense, your blog is merely your assignment notebook that you will use as you read and prepare for class each week. You will also be posting any additional thoughts you have: responses to class discussion, after thoughts, things you forgot to say in class, relevant experiences you have, etc. But importantly, your blog is a public space, and as you post (and comment on others'), you will gain a much richer understanding of everything we read and discuss in class. I want you to think of it as interactive and intertextual in that way. In this sense, your blog is much more than just a Microsoft Word document that happens to be online. It is a hypertextual space that allows you to link to images, webpages, video and other online tools and toys.

 2) Creating your own blog will also introduce you to the blogisphere if you don't know this place already. Why blog? I am trying to encourage you to practice the digital literacies we are learning about. Further, I think you will enjoy it, and I hope that you will discover creative educational uses for this online medium. You will see how easy it is to use blogger.com, and perhaps it will inspire you to be a blogger in other areas of your life.  

To start your own blog, you will go to: www.blogger.com
  
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.  This will allow you to create your own blog on a site called blogger.com.   





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 everytime. Please write them down on the top of your syllabus so you don't forget!  

As you fill in the info, you will be asked to give your blog a TITLE. This title will appear at the top of your blog. (Mine is called "Media Literacy 2015")  

Then, you need to choose an address: http://_______.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. Write it down so you don't forget it! (You can also find it later on in your Dashboard where all of your future blogs will be listed.)  

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... Once you have the account set up, you can start posting

A “posting” is an entry on your blog. (For clarification, you have one blog, but many postings). Give the post a title and then compose as you would any journal entry. When you are finished, hit the button at the bottom 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 Po
 Your first post should be a short introduction to you: who are you, how your summer is going so far, what do you do when you are not in class, etc. (Just a short paragraph — no big deal). You will post the rest of the entries as they are due (see syllabus for dates), or whenever you have something to say! 

When you are done creating your site and posting your first entry, please come back to this blog and post a comment at the end of my first posting (scroll down) that includes your name and blog address so that I can post it in the link list to the right. For the rest of your time this morning, I want you to return to your blog, put up a second post and play with your blog a bit...
 
Your Second Post
Do you think of yourself as a digital native? If not, what kind of “immigrant” are you? Include 5 links and a youtube video in your post. If you can't figure out how to do this, click on the links above, google it for other advice, or ask me and I can help.  

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 top of the screen for all kinds of options.
  • Poke around online and make a list of websites related to education, media literacy, social justice 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!
Good luck!!  

LB :)

19 comments:

  1. Alicia Heon
    http://aheon.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Dr. Bogad, here is my blog :)

    http://brittanydemelo.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Below is a link to my blog:
    http://classroommedialiteracy.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brianna Cardillo
    briannac01.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Here's my blog!
    http://pencilschalkdusthyperlinks.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  6. I did it!
    elsalondedalila.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Taylor Clarke
    tayallison.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Everyone has cute titles for their blogs!
    For now, mine is:
    chronicledreaming.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hello!
    Here's my blog:
    summermedialit2015.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. http://teacherstudentwriter.blogspot.com

    Happy reading, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey all,

    Here's my blog: MrsRichards215.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hello RIC curriculum course colleagues:

    http://medianotmyopia.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dr. Bogad - My friend took a class with you a while back and gave you rave reviews!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Laura! Hope the class works for you, too!

      Delete
  14. My blog address is cscungio2015.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  15. I am looking forward to learning how to add more technology to my lessons!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I have a lot to learn about blogging!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Here's my blog: katiedeemedialiteracy.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thank you for having the computer cart available this morning. I look forward to learning how to use the blog as well as other technology tools that will enable me to encourage my students to take risks in their own learning.

    ReplyDelete