This was the first workshop that I planned. I was nervous. The practicum I had signed up for had become a far more challenging task than expected. I have taught in a private college for 6 years now and I find in the act of teaching I rarely become nervous anymore. It is a switch that goes off when I enter the room. It is not caring or compassion I believe I am a nurturing teacher, it is not authentic, I strive and succeed (I think) at being authentic. What is this switch? I am still not sure but it still came in handy facilitating this workshop.
I stood in front of the computer. The seats were full of teacher candidates. Teaching teachers I often feel like I am under a microscope and it is important to follow the best practices described in class.
I quickly went through the content of the lesson and then had the learners do the task.My computer was slower than theirs and I found myself waiting at the front a lot. The questions came from all around the lab and I was asked a number of questions some of which I knew the answers to. I think this workshop was one of the more daunting experience of my life. In my current job as a TESOL instructor, I have a good grasp of the course content however, I was only just learning WordPress when I first had to facilitate a workshop in it.
Learning can be scary. My grandfather taught my mother to swim by throwing her out of the canoe into the lake. The pedagagogy of the distressed?
Blog Examples
This is an example of a blog created with WordPress and used by UMA. This blog was almost completely set-up by students and it has been growing since September of this year.
Examples of e-Portfolios:
Example 1: This is an e-Portfolio created using I-web by a UBC elementary teacher candidate. Notice the how she links each standard to a relevant artifact
Example 2: This is an example of a teacher candidates e-Portfolio created using WordPress.
Example 3: This is an example of an e-Portfolio created for the higher education by Helen Barett (an e-Portfolio guru.) This e-Portfolio has been created using WordPress and it has a comprehensive amount of artifacts and information
Discussion Questions
What are some features of WordPress that teacher candidates will need to understand in order to develop their e-Portfolio?
What are some ways that teacher candidates might use WordPress aside from their e-Portfolios?
How will you facilitate contact and communication between members of your cohort?
e-Portfolio Process
WordPress Guide
1. Changing Your Profile
With this setting you can change your password, email, and link your blog to your website.
Dashboard>My Profile (in the upper left corner)
Make changes to required fields, click view site to see the changes
2. Set Privacy Settings
This will allow you to prevent people not registered with edublogs from viewing your site.
Dashboard>Options>Privacy
Select
I would like to block search engines, but allow normal visitors
Registration
Dashboard >Options >General >New User Default Role.
Select
Membership: Users must be registered and logged in to comment
3. Choose a new theme
Currently your blog is set to the WordPress default theme. Use the following path to change your theme.
Dashboard>Presentation>themes
This is the theme page. You can choose between different themes. Themes offer different number of columns and sidebars, different levels of customization and different widgets.
4. Customizing the Theme Header
Many of the themes are customizable and you can add images, change colours and add features.
Adding an Image to the Header (Works only with following themes: Ambiru, Anubus, Blix, Connections, Cutline, Fauna, Fjords 4, MistyLook Ocean, PressRow, Regulus, Seashore, Sumenep, Tarski).
Dashboard>Presentation>themes>Custom Image Header>Browse
Click browse and select an image from your computer, click save, click upload, select the area of the image you want to select, click crop header.
5. Creating a Post
Posts are one area where you can write and place content including: Word and PDF files, PowerPoint presentations, images and scanned artifacts. Posts are displayed in reverse chronological order.
Dashboard>Write>Post>Publish
Create a title for your post and create content using the visual editor or the code
6. Adding Images to Your Post or Page
There are a number of ways to add images and other media to your blogs.
Dashboard>Write>Write Post
To add an image from a web site
Select the area where you wish to insert the image and then click on the button with the image of a tree.
Enter the URL of the image and click insert.
To upload and add an image, video, audio track, or text file to your post
Scroll down to the area just below the visual editor.
Click Browse and select the desired media file from your computer.
Click open in the file box and then select click upload.
Title the upload and write a description. Select thumbnail, title (provides a link), or full sized image and click send to editor.
7. Hyperlinking Files in Your Post or Page
Dashboard>Write>Write Post
In the visual editor highlight the word that you would like to hyperlink and click on the symbol of the chain. Enter the desired URL.
In order to remove the hyperlink highlight the text with the hyperlink and click on the button showing a broken chain
8. Creating a Category for Your Post
Posts are organized in your site by categories and you can select one or more categories for each post. Using categories you can group your posts and make retrieving specific posts easier later.
9. Managing your Posts
After completing your post you can view, delete and edit it using the following path:
Dashboard>Manage>Pages
Click edit to make changes to the posts
10. Creating A Page
Pages are static sites to organization information and like posts they can include, texts, media and links.
Dashboard>Write>Write Page
After adding content to your page click save to save your page but not have upload it to the site, click publish to upload the page to the site
11. Ordering Pages
Dashboard>Write>Write Page
In the bottom right hand corner add a number to the box marked page order
12. Widgets
A widget is an object that you can add to your WordPress blog to increase its functions. Different themes have different widgets and they are added to the sidebars.
Path: Dashboard>Presentation>Widgets
Select the widget that you want and drag it and drop it into the one of the sidebar. Click on the widget to edit it.
13. RSS Feed Widgets
These widgets allow you to add multiple RSS feeds from any website or blog with an RSS feed.
Dashboard>Presentation>Widgets>RSS Feed Widgets>
Choose the number of RSS feeds you want to use for the blog.
The corresponding number of RSS feeds boxes will appear in available widgets.
Drag and drop the required RSS feed boxes into the sidebars.
Tasks
- Set-up your blog and add at least one categorized post and page. Think about how you might organize your E-portfolio using both options. Upload at least one “artifact” and add it to a page or a post and hyperlink the artifact to its original source.
- Add an RSS widget to your sidebars and find an RSS feed on Internet and subscribe. What uses might RSS feeds have in creating your E-portfolio. Experiment with the different widgets add and configure one in your sidebar.
- Add a number of links to the blog role and categorize them.
Comments by Lucas