QuickSteps: Setting Up Your Individual Blog for Your Digital Portfolio in Blogger s NEW Interface (2012)

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1 QuickSteps: Setting Up Your Individual Blog for Your Digital Portfolio in Blogger s NEW Interface (2012) These directions were updated December, Blogger is constantly updating so the screen shots you see displayed here may be slightly different. Blogger has also instituted a new policy that prevents large numbers of accounts being set up from the same or similar IPs which may interfere with our ability to set up your accounts in class. Therefore, you may need to set up your account at home or at a later time! BEFORE YOU START: Today you will be setting up an account that displays your online name as the author of the message posts. Think carefully about what display name you will choose as this should be a professional name! To protect your identity, do not provide your full name this can only be used in online environments that are protected and secure, such as in the BLN or ISAAK/SAKAI. Often, we use the following: first name and first initial of your last name (i.e., johns) first initial and last name or a portion of your last name (i.e., jfredericks; jf) miss/mr plus your last name (i.e., missfrederick; mrfrederic; drfrederick) NOTE: Do not use periods (.). Periods are NEVER included between your first and last names. Periods are NEVER written after Miss! You will lose points if you write Miss.Figg or Candace.Figg. These are grammatically incorrect! Here are some appropriate examples (please note that some of these include capital letters it is easier to type all lower case letters, so consider your audience before using capital letters in your handle): jsmith for John Smith njones for Nancy Jones cfigg for Candace Figg MrSmith or mrsmith for John DrFigg or drfigg for Candace Smith Figg MrJohn or mrjohn for John Smith MissJones or missjones for Nancy Jones if she is single (PLEASE never use a period after the word Miss this is grammatically incorrect and looks extremely unprofessional/uneducated! Only Mrs. has the period following the abbreviation Miss is NOT an abbreviation!) MrsJones or mrsjones for Nancy Jones if she is married ProfFigg or proffigg for Candace Figg If you are uncomfortable using your real name online, decide upon a handle or display name that you could use over and over again to represent yourself just make it professional sounding!! I often use handy4class. Here are some other examples: The Clever Sheep ( Pipedreams ( 2020Science ( Grade1 (

2 NOTE: Whatever you do, do NOT use your Brock ID (two letters two numbers, two letters) for this purpose! Your Brock ID has data connected to it that needs to remain secure and private, so do not use this outside of the technologies managed by Brock (such as ISAAK or my.brocku.ca portal). Check out the list of Ontario educators who tweet at and see what other handles you can discover!! Now that you have decided upon an appropriate display name that you will need for STEP 1, you are ready to start! 1. Start the Setup Process. Go to and click on the red button to SIGN UP. (If you already have a Google account, such as a Gmail account or Google Groups, then sign in.) PLEASE NOTE: The next time you want to log into your edublog, you will return to and type in the username and password you are about to create in the boxes shown below! It is important that you WRITE DOWN your username and password so you can access your blog again!! 2. Create Your GOOGLE Account.

3 IMPORTANT! You do not want to use your full name as a display! You also do NOT want to use your Brock ID for this username. Think about this carefully be professional but discrete! VERY IMPORTANT! Write this password down EXACTLY as you input it and keep it in a safe spot such as a VERY Important Information Record Sheet that lists usernames and passwords! Use any that you prefer! Don t forget to check here! You may wish to uncheck this one! When you are satisfied with the information on the page, click NEXT STEP.

4 You are taken to the CREATE A PROFILE page where you can add a photo. Click NEXT STEP when you are ready to proceed. This will complete the process and you can click the blue BACK TO BLOGGER button where you will be asked to confirm your account, change your display name (good idea to do this!!), and make other changes to your profile. Click CONTINUE TO BLOGGER when you have finished these changes. 2. Create a new blog. In the dashboard, click on the NEW BLOG button. The following box pops up! Make the following choices. Choose a blog name and type it in! Type that same information in for your URL be prepared! Someone may have already taken your name!! You may see an error message that reads: Scroll to view the templates. Remember you can change them later! So select one for now! Then, click CREATE A BLOG! This means you will need to choose a different URL your title will remain the same!

5 3. Begin Posting! You are taken back to the dashboard where you can click on Start posting or the EDIT icon to make changes. To provide some privacy for your blog and your readers, you will make some changes to the settings for your blog. 4. Applying Settings to Your Blog in the NEW interface. If you open up into the Dashboard of the new interface, you will select the following to locate your settings for your blog. Then select the SETTINGS link:

6 Before creating your first Welcome post, there are specific settings that need to be changed. You will locate the SETTINGS tools in the left hand menu. You will be changing LANGUAGE & FORMATTING/ LANGUAGE AND FORMATTING: Click on LANGUAGE AND FORMATTING and change the time zone to Eastern Time Toronto:

7 Be sure to click SAVE before leaving the page. 6. Setting Up YOUR PROFILE. Part of establishing your Digital Footprint is to let people know who you are, and give them some insight into your personality and character. The Profile is an important first step; however, it is important that images and information provided in the profile are as accurate and professional as possible. The Profile builder is accessed through the DASHBOARD. The DASHBOARD is the screen that opens when you log into your Blogger account at Blogger.com. This is where you can control your Display Name, create and manage your blogs, and read about updates from Blogger. In the new interface, you can edit your profile by clicking on the drop down menu to the right of your address in the upper right corner: The drop down menu reveals the following screen: Select BLOGGER PROFILE. Then click again on the orange button information on your profile. to update the image and For our purposes, you will upload a professional photo using the Photograph tool. You do not need to complete any other items on this page. A head shot (picture showing only your head from shoulders up) is the best for this purpose. You should be dressed in professional clothing (i.e., shirt and tie, jacket NOT your cheerleading outfit, soccer gear, or swimsuit!) Again, if you are uncomfortable using a real picture of your image decide

8 upon a professional-appearing avatar to represent you. You can build your own avatar using these online tools: (You have to use your Google account to log in so you would need to do Step 3 first and return to create your avatar, but this tool does export your avatar to Twitter, Facebook, and other places). Other Avatar creation tools listed at NOTE: Make sure that you do leave the default Privacy setting at: share my profile. Click SAVE PROFILE before leaving the page to save your changes.