Today, 
we will review how to submit your web portals using Scholar and how to write the reflection memo. You will have time to work on your project during the rest of the class. Remember that you have a one-week grace period for turning in your project if you need it.
You can use the class session to check the assessment criteria for the project, make any last-minute updates to your site, and write your project reflection.
Project Reflection
Your project reflection is a a short (about 1 page) memo that tells me the URL to your website and then explains the decisions you made as you created your website. I will read your reflection before I look at your website.
Follow these instructions to submit your work:
- Go to the Assignments tab on the left menu in Scholar.
- Choose “P2: Web Portal.”
- Scroll down to the text box below the headings Submission and Assignment Text. You will write your reflection memo in this box. (Alternately, you can write in a word processor and copy/paste your text into this box.)
- Add your memo headers (To, From, Subject, and Date). For your reflection memo, you’ll use the following:
- Address your memo to me (Traci) and from you (use your name).
- Add a subject line that indicates this is your reflection memo and which project it is for.
- Add the current date.
- Insert a horizontal divider line using the button indicated with the red arrow in the image below:
- Introduce your project and tell me the following information:
- What is the link to your site?
- What are your overall goals? What grade have you aimed for?
- How have you used the modes of communication? Tell me how many modes you used and where you used them.
- Tell me anything else you want me to know about your site, including information about the content, the layout and design, and any images or other media you included.
- Add a concluding section that sums everything up.
- Review the information in your memo.
- Agree to the Honor Code by clicking the checkbox at the bottom of the page in Scholar. You cannot finish submitting the project without clicking that checkbox (and it’s easy to miss).
- Submit your Project, and save a copy of the confirmation and submission ID. If something goes wrong in Scholar, you can contact 4HELP with that information.
- Celebrate! You’ve finished the second project!
Today’s Blog Post
You do not need to write an additional post for today. If you like, you can post your reflection memo for today however.
By today, you should have a minimum of seven blog posts (for 2/4, 2/6, 2/9, 2/11, 2/13, 2/16, and 2/18).
Homework
- For Monday, 2/23:
- We will go over the assignment for Project 3: Interrogate the Interface. Review the information in Chapter 1 of Writer/Designer on Understanding Media and Affordances (starting on page 14). You will need to understand the concept of affordances to complete your second project.
- For Wednesday, 2/25:
- Read Chapter 2 of Writer/Designer. We will analyze a text in class using the information from Chapters 1 and 2.
Today, we’ll go over a few more how-to’s and tips for your WordPress sites, and then you’ll have the rest of the class period to continue work on your web portals. Your Web Portals are due on Friday, 2/20. The grace period ends at 11:55 PM on Friday, 2/27.
Jazzing Up Your About Page
Last week, I shared some links to example about pages and tips on writing them. Since then, I have talked to some of you about adding links to additional pages to your About page, so I want to demonstrate what the might look like by looking at some additional pages on the English 3844 WordPress site.
In my example, I have added some pages with photos I have taken, but you could add more details on whatever interests you or whatever you have done. You might add photos, links to videos you have made, excerpts from articles you have written, and so forth. You could also focus on places you have been (like a study abroad trip, a family trip, or even a trip to the Cascades) or things that are important to you (like participation in Relay for Life, work you have done for your philanthropy, or your love of horses).
WordPress How-To’s
These links take you to step-by-step instructions:
Today’s Blog Post
Write a blog post with the headings (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It. Include whatever work you have done since your last post. By Friday, you should have seven blog posts (for 2/4, 2/6, 2/9, 2/11, 2/13, 2/16, and 2/18).
Homework
- For Friday, 2/20:
- You will work on your reflection memos, and submit your work (if you are ready). The grace period ends at 11:55 PM on Friday, 2/27.
- For Monday, 2/23:
- We will go over the assignment for Project 3: Interrogate the Interface. Review the information in Chapter 1 of Writer/Designer on Understanding Media and Affordances (starting on page 14). You will need to understand the concept of affordances to complete your second project.
- For Wednesday, 2/25:
- Read Chapter 2 of Writer/Designer. We will analyze a text in class using the information from Chapters 1 and 2.
Today is peer review day for the second project. By sharing the draft of your web portal, you will have the opportunity to get some feedback on your work before it is due.
Your Web Portals are due on Friday, 2/20. The grace period ends at 11:55 PM on Friday, 2/27.
Peer Review Activity
For today’s peer review, you will look at one another’s web portals and use an online form to guide your feedback. You will also provide each other verbal feedback. Please complete these steps:
- Pair up with someone else in class. You may have to work in threes if there is an odd number of people in class.
- Share your projects with one another, using whatever method is easiest. You can probably simply read one another’s screens.
- Provide feedback on the following:
- Check the title and tagline of the web portal. Let your partner know if it is unique, clear, and effective.
- If you notice any spelling errors, punctuation errors, or typos, point them out, but please focus more on the content rather than editing.
- Determine whether the website includes all the required elements:
- Blog posts to date (for 2/4, 2/6, 2/9, 2/11, and 2/13)
- An About page
- A Site Information page
- Placeholders for Interrogate an Interface, Remix a Story, Completion Report
- Point out the positive features and aspects of the site. Tell the author what should not be changed and why it is good.
- Make any suggestions you can to improve the site.
- Respond to any specific questions or issues that your classmate has about the web portal.
- Be sure you end your conversation with a bit of encouragement.
Today’s Blog Post
Today’s blog post is a little different since you will talk about what happened in your peer review conversation. Write a post that uses these two headings:
- What I Heard in Peer Review
- What I Need to Do
Your goal in this post is to summarize what you heard from your partner in class, and then to detail the things that you still need to do on your website before Friday. You can use a list for the second part of your post if you would like.
Homework
- For Wednesday, 2/18:
- You will have most of the class time to work, and I will answer questions about your sites. If we get a lot of snow, we will meet online, using WebEx. I will send out a message by 11:55 PM on Tuesday letting you know.
- For Friday, 2/20:
- You will work on your reflection memos, and submit your work (if you are ready). The grace period ends at 11:55 PM on Friday, 2/27.
- For Monday, 2/23:
- We will go over the assignment for Project 3: Interrogate the Interface. Review the information in Chapter 1 of Writer/Designer on Understanding Media and Affordances (starting on page 14). You will need to understand the concept of affordances to complete your second project.
I’m sick today, so you’ll complete your work online. The class will not meet in the classroom.
Class Megablog Set Up
The megablog for the course is set up. For today’s session, please confirm that your blog posts are showing up on the site:
- Go to the megablog at http://spring15blogs.tracigardner.com/.
- Find your name in the Authors sidebar (on the left).
- Click the link for your name and make sure that posts from your blog show up.
- If they don’t, email me with the URL to your blog. If I don’t hear from you, I will assume that all is well.
A couple of notes:
- The megablog is not the prettiest thing ever. It is just an aggregator that collects all the posts. The point is to be able to get to one another’s blogs easily. Think of it as a clearinghouse.
- There is a lag between the time you post a blog on your website and when it shows up on the megablog. Usually it shows up in about 60 minutes. If a recent post hasn’t shown up yet, give it time. If it’s been 24 hours, you can email me and I will check it manually.
Writing Content for Your About Page
The About Page for your WordPress site can include the image and explanatory statement that you wrote for Project 1 (your online identity statement). You can use that statement as it is or revise it. It’s up to you.
The About Page on your site should tell someone about you, the author of the site, and why you made the site. At its most basic, it identifies you as the author and says you made the site for the course. It’s similar to the author bio that you’d find on the back cover of a book.
Do protect your own privacy and only divulge information that you are comfortable with the entire class reading. If you are in the witness protection program, realize that you do not have to include a photo of yourself or use your real name.
Here are some random examples that show the kind of information you might include:
- About Traci (the about page for my teacherly website)
- About, from Tengrrl Cooks (the about page for a blog where I occasionally post recipes)
- About The Hudson Team (this page covers an entire team, where yours only needs to describe you, but it has example bios)
- HOLLY CROMER (I’m not in love with the layout of the about info, but the page is a nice, brief bio)
- ABOUT ERIN ANDERSON, THE SLEEPYTIME TEACHER (this one is longer than yours needs to be, but full of information)
I also also have some how-to links that might help you:
- “Meet the Team” Pages: Examples and Trends (Smashing Magazine)
- Are You Making These 7 Mistakes with Your About Page? (Copyblogger)
- How to Write Your About Me Page
Writing Content for Your Site Info Page
The Site Information Page tells someone about how you made your website. The information is similar to what you would find in a book’s colophon. You would explain about the theme that you used and who made it, the plugins you are using, and the image(s) that show up on every (or most) of the pages on your site. Here are some random examples that show the kind of information you might include:
- DAVE SABOL (this one is longer than I expect from you)
- Behind the Curtain (Colophon), from Pixelyzed (this page includes historical info that I don’t expect from you)
- Colophon, from The Design Office (this one is bare bones, but has all the necessary info)
- Kevin Shoffner
- Colophon, from The City of Birmingham Choir
- H&W Design Company
Today’s Blog Post and Quiz
Write a blog post with the headings (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It. Include whatever work you have done since your last post. Talk about any ideas you found in the examples for About and Site Information pages and what you might do on your site as a result of what you found in the examples.
Be sure that you complete the quiz for Chapter 1 by 11:55 PM tonight (Friday, February 13).
Homework
- For Monday, 2/16:
- Have your WordPress site ready to share in class with another student for peer feedback.
- I will provide some guiding questions for you to use as you respond to one another, but come to class prepared to ask for help or specific feedback as well. For instance, you might want to know whether your background image seems too busy, or you might ask for suggestions on how to add more details to your About page.
- For Wednesday, 2/18:
- You will have most of the class time to work, and I will answer questions about your sites.
- For Friday, 2/20:
- You will work on your reflection memos, and submit your work (if you are ready).
We’ll spend most of the class time working on the WordPress sites. I will come around and answer questions and check on everyone’s progress.
Walking Through Two Important Tools
You will probably use all of the following tools as you work on your site. If you get lost, there is a Help link in the upper right corner of each of these pages that should help:
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Go to Posts > All Posts, and choose the Quick Edit option to make changes to the title, categories, or status.
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Go to Posts > Categories to set up organizational tags for your blog posts. I suggest you set a general Category of some kind as well as a Category for each of the projects you will work on this term.
Writing Today’s Blog Post
Write a third blog post with the headings (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It. Include whatever work you have done since your last post.
Homework
- For Wednesday, 2/11:
- If you have not sent me the URL to your blog, please do so ASAP. I need all the links in order to set up the class megablog. If you’re not sure what the megablog is, you can look at the class megablog from Fall 2014.
- Bring your copy of Writer/Designer to class so you can refer to it during the activity.
- Read Chapter 1 of Writer/Designer so that you are familiar with the terms we’re using in class as we discuss multimodal projects. I will post a reading quiz for the chapter as well.
- For Friday, 2/13:
- You will have most of the class time to work, and I will answer questions about your sites.
- For Monday, 2/16:
- Have your WordPress site ready to share in class with another student for peer feedback.
Class for February 6 will work online, as I will be traveling to a conference. There will be no classroom meeting for Friday.
Working on Your Blog’s Appearance
In lieu of the class meeting, please watch the lynda.com videos on “Changing the Appearance of Your Site” (39m 36s).
- Apply what you have learned by choosing a theme for your WordPress site and customizing what you have on the site.
- Go to the Appearance tab on the left, and choose Themes. Be sure to choose the FREE link on the upper right. Please don’t spend money on a Theme.
- Begin looking at Widgets and Menus. We will talk about them more on Monday.
- By 5 PM on Saturday, write a second blog post with the headings (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It. You do NOT need to send me your link (unless you failed to do so on Wednesday).
Homework
- For Monday, 2/9:
- We will talk about the work you have done with Themes, and we will explore Themes, Widgets, and Menus in more detail.
- Be ready to work on customizing your site further in class. You will have most of the class time to work, and I will answer questions about your sites.
- For Wednesday, 2/4:
- Read Chapter 1 of Writer/Designer so that you are familiar with the terms we’re using in class as we discuss multimodal projects. I will post a reading quiz for the chapter as well.
Today we’re diving into WordPress and learning about some of the features built into the publishing tools. By the end of today’s session, you should have created a WordPress blog and written your first post.
If you are absent…
- Do not email me to ask if you missed anything important.
- Check the course website for the date you missed.
- Catch up by 5 PM the next calendar day.
EXAMPLE: If you miss class on Monday, make up any work by 5 PM on Tuesday.
Creating Your Blog
If you want to create a blog on a site other than WordPress.com, hop to it. You are free to work at your own pace. Otherwise, follow along as we complete these tasks:
- Remember that your blog will be public, so think of a URL and a name that you can share with the world.
- Choose one of the following options, depending upon whether you have used WordPress.com before:
- If you have used WordPress.com before, login, and choose a URL and name for your blog.
- If you are new to WordPress, fill in the form with a username, password, URL, and a name for your blog using the sign-up form WordPress.com.
- Choose .wordpress.com for the domain (the free option).
- Scroll down to the bottom and click Create Blog (the free option).
- Click the link to Change your blog description or permissions.
- Fill in the form to add your Blog Tagline, set your timezone, and make other changes; and then click Save Changes.
- In some cases, you may need to go to your email, find a confirmation message, and click the link in that message to finalize your blog’s setup.
Congratulations! You now have a blog. Let’s customize some of its settings:
- Go to the Users tab on the left and then choose My Profile to update your profile and login information. You can change the way that your name is listed with each post, for instance. You can also change your password on this page.
- Go through the Settings tab and update the information. In particular, be sure that you go to the Discussion setting and decide when you want the site to email you.
- Finally, write your first post. Go to the Posts tab on the left and then choose Add New.
- Write a summary and explanation of the decisions you made as you were working today. You will write this kind of post at the end of most class sessions from now on. It’s how you will document your on-going work and effort on the projects.
- Be sure to click on the Text tab if you want to code your own HTML.
- Organize your post with two headings: (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It.
- Talk briefly about the name and tagline you have chosen for your blog, any other decisions you made, and anything you are considering or hoping to do.
- Publish your post, and send me an email (tengrrl@vt.edu) with the URL to your first post. Please tell me which class you are in as well (10:10 or 11:15). I will use the link to set up a megablog that includes everyone’s updates. This is the only time you will need to email the link to your daily post.
Homework
- For Friday, 2/6:
- Class will not meet in the classroom, as I will be traveling to a conference.
- In lieu of the class meeting, please watch the lynda.com video on “Changing the Appearance of Your Site” (39m 36s).
- Apply what you have learned by choosing a theme for your WordPress site and customizing what you have on the site. Go to the Appearance tab on the left, and choose Themes. Be sure to choose the FREE link on the left. Please don’t spend money on a Theme.
- Write a second blog post with the headings (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It.
- For Monday, 2/9:
- We will talk about the work you have done with Themes, and we will explore Widgets and Menus in more detail.
- Be ready to work on customizing your site further in class.
- For Wednesday, 2/4:
- Read Chapter 1 of Writer/Designer so that you are familiar with the terms we’re using in class as we discuss multimodal projects. I will post a reading quiz for the chapter as well.
Today we begin work on Project 2, which means we’ll be talking about effective websites and setting some goals for the project.
Discussing What Makes a Website Good
To get started, let’s brainstorm about what makes a website “good” using Padlet:
Based on the information from the lynda.com videos you watched for homework and your own experience, post one or two things about how websites work. Place negatives on the left under “Fail” and positives on the right under “Awesome.”
After everyone posts on Padlet, we’ll establish some guidelines for the web portals that you will make, and apply the criteria to some example websites.
Going over the Web Portal Assignment
We will go over the assignment for the second project, Building a Web Portal and talk about the tools that are available for the assignment ( WordPress.com blog (recommended), a self-hosted blog, or a Blogs@VT site).
Homework
- For Wednesday, 2/4:
We will work on setting up the WordPress sites on Wednesday, so begin thinking about a name and the kind of design you would like for your site. It can tie directly to your online identity statement, but it doesn’t have to. - Begin taking photos you can use to illustrate your blog. You can use your online identity image for your About page, but you will need more images. Take some photos (or identify photos you have already taken) that will work with the name and design you are thinking of and upload them to some place like Flickr, Instagram, or Google Plus Photos so you can get to them in the classroom.
- Note that by the end of Wednesday’s session, you should have a blog set up and you should have written your first blog post.
- For Friday, 2/6:
- Class will not meet in the classroom, as I will be traveling to a conference.
- In lieu of the class meeting, please watch the lynda.com video on “Changing the Appearance of Your Site” (39m 36s).
- Apply what you have learned by choosing a theme for your WordPress site and customizing what you have on the site.
- Write a second blog post with the headings (1) What I Did, and (2) Why I Did It.
- For Monday, 2/9:
- We will talk about the work you have done with Themes, and we will explore Widgets and Menus in more detail.
- Be ready to work on customizing your site further in class.
