Recently I worked with a group of parents and educators in a parent involvement project and as the months went by I discovered that I had overestimated how many adults are able to use computers and are struggling to keep up with the younger generation. Yes, there is a certain few that makes a living using technology or there may be an interested teacher or parent who used technology as a past time activity. For the most part computers are monopolized by children, teenagers and anyone under the age of 25. Parents can’t get on the computer until their children give them the “all done” command. And when they do are afraid to ask for help.

Working on the project, this missing skill set was something I had not anticipated. It become quickly apparent that online tools and real time resources were required, if parents and teachers are to develop the skills necessary to communicate online .

The starting point is simply the willingness to learn something new. Create your own Blog website for beginners is written for any one wanting to set up to their own blog using Blogger.

The following is an explanation of the setup of a blog and how to use the features provided.

What is a Blog?

Blog is a short form for the term weblog. A weblog is an online journal used to record news and opinions. A Blog allows syndication of articles in the same fashion as a newspaper. It looks like a web site but the information is organized in a series of chronological articles.

How do I use the Blog ?

This website is a blog and a quick review will show a series of articles/posts and podcast/audiocasts about a variety of subjects. You are able to search posts for information that may interest you.

How do I find a Post?

The “articles” - in blog language - ”posts” are filed by date and by topic category. The navigation bar will link you to posted articles in subject areas. Parent Involvement for example, will have a number (1,2 etc.) beside the link. The number refers to the number of articles in the Parent Involvement category. If you want to read articles posted about Parent Involvement clicking on this link will display all related articles.

How do I find a Podcast?

Podcasts are simply audio articles/posts and you use the same navigation for podcasts as you would for any other post. You will find the link to podcasts in the navigation bar. A podcast or a post may be filed in multiple categories. You can search for articles and podcasts about surveys by using the survey category.

How do I listen to a podcast?

The term podcast is derived from the Apple iPod but you do not need an iPd to listen to the my Podcasts. Standard media players such as Windows Media Player,Real Player and Quicktime are sufficient to broadcast the podcasts. If you do have an iPod, the podcasts can be downloaded to it using iTunes. The video casts in this blog may use a Flash player as well.

Why subscribe to a Blog?

Subscribing to a blog will allow you to be updated on new information without having to check back regularly. The rss feed logo is used to link to the rss feed for this blog.

What is an rss feed?

FeedRSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS feeds are a way to easily distribute a list of headlines, update notices, and content on the web. The use of RSS feeds reduce the tedious exercise of checking back daily to a web site for new information.

How do I use an rss feed?

A news reader or aggregator subscribes to a rss feed and collect the news and information from this blog and delivers it to you. There are many different news readers/aggregators available. Bloglines is a free, private web based news reader. Interent Explorer 7 and Firefox have integrated news readers in their web browser.

How do I subscribe to this Blog?

Once you have decided which news reader you will use - you can subscribe to this blog using the rss feed . It is the link - the URL of the feed that you need to insert into the news reader in order to connect the news reader to this blog. Click Entries RSS at the bottom right corner of the blog to display the link.

Common Craft, uses plain english to explain the concept of blogging.