Welcome to your YDEV Senior Year!

 Welcome to this YDEV blogging adventure!

This blog will be an anchor for YDEV 352/353 this semester.  Between now and the second week of September, you will set up your own blog to use this semester for all of your writing assignments, and to keep track of your thoughts about any of the issues we cover. 

A blog is your very own, personal online journal. It is public, in that we 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, we can show you how to do so).

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 assignments over the course of our semester together. You will not hand in written assignments to me each week; 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.

2) Creating your own blog will also introduce you to the blogisphere if you don't know this place already. I hope that you will discover creative uses for this online medium. You will see how easy it is to use blogger.com, and perhaps it will inspire you to bring blogs into your own youth work context  someday.

To start your own blog, you will go to:

www.blogger.com

Need a video to walk you through this?  CLICK HERE  but also follow my directions below.

SIGN IN/CREATE YOUR BLOG:

You all have Google accounts because you need them to access your Plans of Study.  Log in at the box on the right!  Or click the button that says CREATE YOUR BLOG (you will see this even if you have blogged before) and follow the instructions to get started.  

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 "YDEV Cohort 8")

CHOOSE AN ADDRESS:

Every blog has its own URL, or web 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. But write it down so you can send it to me!

CHOOSE A TEMPLATE:

You will also need to choose a design template for your blog. I highly recommend SIMPLE or PICTURE WINDOW because they are much easier to read. You can change this later so don't worry too much about it initially... you will be able to customize colors and fonts and layout later on.

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... in pictures!  See Lesley (created in google slides and then took a screen shot), Rachael (created in a collage maker website,) and Victoria for a few different approaches to this task. Write some captions of notes around your images to help explain more about who you are and what matters to you.

POST A COMMENT WITH YOUR ADDRESS:

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 the first post (scroll down) that includes your blog address so that we can post it in the blog list to the right.

TO DESIGN, VIEW and EDIT YOUR BLOG:

Once you have everything set up and have even published your first post, you should see this menu of option at the left of your screen.

• THEME allows you to change the colors and design of your blog.  Play around.  You can't break it.  Again, I recommend staying with SIMPLE or PICTURE WINDOW but feel free to change the theme!
• LAYOUT allows you to play with the gadget that live on the sides of your blog.  Add a link list of your favorite music and media.  Add a photo of yourself.  Add a text box with your favorite quote or song lyric.
• VIEW BLOG allows you to see what we see when we see your screen.  
• Once you are viewing your blog, look at the top right corner of the screen. If you click on the word DESIGN, it will take you back to the theme and layout option you see to the left.  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.)
• 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 :)