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12 Hathaway Road ▪ Marblehead, MA USA ▪ 01945 ▪ 781 631 4333
Educator’s Guide to November Learning Communities (Version 2.0.2)
1 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
www.novemberlearning.com
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................4 1. HOW DO I REGISTER?.........................................................................................................5 2. HOW DO I LOGIN / LOGOUT OF MY SITE? ........................................................................6 3. WHAT IS COMMUNITY ADMINISTRATION? .......................................................................7 4. HOW DO I CHANGE MY GLOBAL SETTINGS? ..................................................................8 5. HOW DO I CREATE OR EDIT A POST? ............................................................................10 6. HOW DO I CREATE A CATEGORY? .................................................................................12 7. HOW DO I PUT A NEW POST IN A CATEGORY?.............................................................13 8. HOW DO I POST A COMMENT? ........................................................................................14 9. HOW DO I TURN OFF COMMENTS FOR A SPECIFIC POST OR ARTICLE? ..................15 10. HOW DO I CREATE AN ARTICLE?..................................................................................16 11. HOW DO I USE THE ADVANCED TEXT EDITOR?..........................................................18 12. HOW DO I MODERATE COMMENTS FOR ALL OF MY POSTS?...................................20 13. HOW DO I MODERATE COMMENTS FOR SPECIFIC POSTS?......................................22 14. HOW DO I APPROVE COMMENTS MADE TO MY SITE?...............................................23 15. HOW DO I FILTER COMMENTS FOR SPECIFIC POSTS OR ARTICLES? ....................24 16. HOW DO I DELETE COMMENTS MADE TO MY SITE? ..................................................25 17. HOW DO I ADD OR EDIT A LINK?...................................................................................26 18. HOW DO I CHANGE THE TITLE OR DESCRIPTION?.....................................................28 19. HOW DO I CHANGE THE THEME?..................................................................................29 20. WHAT IS MY GALLERY? .................................................................................................30 2 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
www.novemberlearning.com
21. INSERTING PHOTOS FROM YOUR GALLERY INTO A POST OR ARTICLE? ..............31 22. HOW DO I CREATE AN ALBUM? ....................................................................................33 23. HOW DO I PUT A PHOTO INTO AN ALBUM? .................................................................34 24. HOW DO I ADD AN IMAGE FROM ANOTHER WEBSITE TO MY POST? ......................35 25. HOW DO I ADD A FILE TO A POST?...............................................................................37 26. HOW DO I POST AN AUDIO FILE / PODCAST? .............................................................38 27. HOW DO I ADD FEEDS? ..................................................................................................39 28. HOW DO I CHANGE MY PASSWORD? ...........................................................................42 29. HOW DO I CHANGE MY EMAIL ADDRESS.....................................................................43 30. HOW DO I TURN OFF/ON CONTACT? ............................................................................44 31. HOW DO I TURN OFF/ON CONTRIBUTE? ......................................................................45 32. HOW DO I ADD ADDITIONAL AUTHORS?......................................................................46 33. HOW DO I USE ABOUT?..................................................................................................47 34. HOW DO I CREATE A NEW COMMUNITY? ....................................................................48 35. BUGS AND WORKAROUNDS..........................................................................................49
3 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
www.novemberlearning.com
Introduction November Learning (NL) Communities provide teachers and students with the opportunity to communicate and collaborate in new and exciting ways. A community is an interactive web page where individuals can post entries, articles, links, and pictures, and ask others to join into conversations. For educators, they are a way to expand the boundaries of learning. Teachers can post entries for students, parents, and for professional development purposes. Students can engage with others in their community or around the world. Work can be published to an authentic audience. NL Communities are easily adaptive into most curriculum areas. They are relatively simple to use, can be accessed by anyone, anywhere with an Internet connection, and content can be published online in a matter of minutes. Educators around the country are using software of this nature in a multitude of areas: 1. Information/Communication Tools: Teachers can post student writing, artwork, as well as information about homework and upcoming events. Parents can have access to events and projects in your classroom. 2. Online Filing Cabinets: Students and teachers can use them as a place to store assignments, links, plans, and handouts. 3. Collaborative Tools: Students can extend conversations outside of the classroom, and collaborate with invited guests from around the world and from within the community. 4. Literature Circles: Book clubs can involve students and parents, or students from other communities. 5. Online Discussions: A communities site can work as a discussion area for students and staff in every discipline: Science to reflect on labs, Social Studies for current events, English for prewriting on central themes of novels, etc. 6. Professional Development: Teachers can use them as portfolios or as an archived discussion of their practice, both formal and informal. 7. Writing tools: Students can have interactive electronic journals or post completed works to an authentic audience. The purpose of this Educator's Guide is to get you started. We will show you how to create your community, customize it, plus highlight how you might use it as a communication and collaboration tool in your classroom. There are many advanced features with that this document may not address. Here you will find "the basics" plus helpful Teacher Tips for getting you on your way. If you need further clarification, contact us at November Learning. Email [email protected]
4 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
www.novemberlearning.com
1. How do I register? To register for November Learning Communities go to www.nlcommunities.com (With each registration, you will be able to create up to four different sites.) Step #1 - In the top right click Register.
Step #2 – Read the Terms and Conditions. Scroll to the bottom and click Accept.
Step #3 - Fill in the necessary information. You will be provided with a Security Key by a NL Administrator. Click Create User. Step #4 – Create a Folder Name. This folder name will become the new web address of your site. It’s recommended to keep this short. You will not be able to change this once it is created. Step #5 - Enter a Title. This title will appear as the top banner across your site and can be changed at any time. The Description works as a subtitle and is optional. Step #6 – Select a group for your site. Click the drop down box to select the group (school, district or conference) to which you belong.
Click Next Step. Step #7 - You will be asked to choose a Theme. Click Select this Theme underneath the one you wish to work with. Your communities site is now complete. All of the work you will do on your site, creating new posts, logging in etc, will be from this page. Please make a note of the web address! Save it in your Favorites so that you can access it easily. This is the web address you will give students to access your site.
5 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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2. How do I login / logout of my site? There are two ways to login to your community: From the main www.nlcommunties.com homepage From the homepage of your actual site (Recommended) Option #1 Go to www.nlcommunities.com. In the Login box enter your user name and password. Click Login.
You will still be on the homepage. Note your user name will appear in the top right. Click it.
From this page you may edit your Profile. On the right of this page you will see a record of any of the communities you have created. Click on the linked title to go to your site.
When you have finished working on your site, it's important to click Logout. This prevents anyone else from changing or deleting your work. Option #2 To Login and Logout from your communities site, go to the site you have created. Look for the Login link in the top right.
A dialogue box will appear. Enter your user and password information. Click Login.
6 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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3. What is Community Administration? Once logged in to your community, in the navigation menu you will find the heading Community Administration. The options listed under this heading control all the functions and features of the site. Please note you will only be able to view Community Administration if you are logged in.
There are nine main headings found here: Manage Posts - Publish, edit, delete entries and create categories for posts. (See p. 10) Moderate Comments - Approve, Disapprove or Delete comments made to your site from other individuals. (See p. 20) Manage Categories – Create Categories to help organize Posts and Articles (See p. 12) Manage Articles - Publish, edit, delete articles and create categories for articles. (See p. 16) Add Links – Create links to other websites (See p. 26) Add Feeds – Create RSS feeds from other sites (See p. 39) Change Theme – Change the look and feel of your site (See p.29) Advanced Settings – Change the title and other global settings of your site (See p. 8) My Gallery – Upload pictures, podcasts and screenshots to your site. (See p. 30)
7 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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4. How do I change my global settings? By default, when you first created your site, the global settings were set for you. To change or view these at any time, login and click Advanced Settings.
Click Advanced Post Settings on the side menu.
No matter what your global settings are – you can override them at any time with any individual post.
8 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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Allow Anonymous Users to Comment – This gives all visitors the opportunity to post a comment to anything published on your site even if they do not leave their name. Allow Replies/Comments - This allows visitors to post a comment to anything published on your site. Comment Moderation – Select in the dropdown box whether you want to review comments first before they are published. (Recommended) Email Feedback Notifications – If a comment is made, you have the option of having it sent to your email address. (You will not be able to approve or delete comments through your email system. The purpose is to alert you there is a comment awaiting approval.) Comment Day Limits - This allows you to set time limits as to the number of days you will allow others to post comments on your site. Enable TrackBacks / Pingbacks - This allow others to know when you have posted a link on one of your posts. Publish to my site’s homepage – All posts will automatically appear in the body of your homepage. Publish to the main site’s Most Recent Posts list – All posts will automatically appear on the main Community site. Syndicate Excerpt - If someone creates a feed to your site, they will be able to view your entire post rather than just an excerpt.
With any changes you make to this page, click Save.
To get back to the homepage of your site, click your title.
9 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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5. How do I create or edit a post? Once your community site is created, you can immediately start to post (publish) entries. These entries appear in the middle of your homepage and are more or less the body of your site. Each post appears chronologically and displays the day and time posted. Most recent entries will always appear first. Once you submit a post, it is easy to edit or delete. You can make as many as you like. At the end of each month they will automatically archive. This means that if you have a lot of posts, students will not have to scroll down to find last month's entries—they will be conveniently filed in a side menu. Your calendar on the side menu will also display a linked highlight on each day a post has been created. To create a post, you must first login. Once logged in click Manage Posts under Community Administration.
Click New Post on the right of your screen.
A text box editor will open. The text box editor works similar to creating a word document. You are provided with the same functionality, such as bold, underline, etc.
Write a title for your entry and enter text in the body of the message. When complete, scroll to the bottom and click Submit.
PLEASE NOTE! There are various options that will appear on the top menu of this page. These options are discussed in the various chapters that follow. From the main Manage Posts page you may Delete or Edit. 10 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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To get back to the homepage of your site, click your title.
Teacher Tips: Consider creating posts for Discussion topics for students – once you post a question, students can post comments (it's possible to moderate comments) and respond to your comments and other students’ comments. Discussion topics for the community – anyone in the world can participate in your site discussions. You may consider teaming up with another teacher in another city or solicit members of your community to join in, ie. ask an expert. Post announcements, homework and upcoming events – your site can be an ongoing dialogue/bulletin board for you, students and parents. Publish student work – you may publish student writing to showcase or for peer review. Consider teaming with members of the global community to help your students edit or assess their work.
11 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
www.novemberlearning.com
6. How do I create a Category? Categories help organize your posts. They appear in the side menu of the homepage and provide headings under which a variety of posts can be stored. Categories help readers navigate through your posts a little easier. For example, you may choose to have a category for discussions, one for student work, one for this month's assignments, one for daily homework, etc. Once you create a category, each new post added can either appear only within the category, or on the main body of your homepage or both. You can make those selections in Advanced Settings. Login and click Manage Categories.
Click Create New Category on the right.
Enter a Name. A Description is optional.
Click Save.
Once your category is saved you will given the option to Edit, Delete or Create a new one. On the side menu of your homepage a new Category will appear. This category will always be visible and now you will be able to publish new posts or articles under it.
Teacher Tips: Consider these categories for teachers Discussion topics and themes
Daily announcements
Daily Notes
Homework
Literature circles/Book clubs
Published student work
12 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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7. How do I put a new post in a Category? Once you start creating Categories, each time you create a new post, you have opportunity to place it within a category of your choice. For example, if you create a category called Discussions, each new entry you write dealing with a discussion topic can be posted to your Discussions Category. (You may also place posts you've already created into a category.) You also have the option of posting a new entry to the body or main page of your site, or posting it solely in your category. Login and click Manage Posts.
Create a New Post or Edit one you have already created. Once your text editor box is open, you will notice that all of the Categories you have created will be listed. Click in the box of the Category within which you would like your post to appear.
Once you click in the box, your new post will automatically appear on the main body of your site homepage AND in the selected category. If you do not want your post to appear in the body of your homepage but in the category only, look to the top tab Advanced Options.
Click No beside Post to my homepage. Once you have made your selections, click Submit.
Teacher Tips: Once you get used to creating and organizing your posts into categories, your site will be easy for others to navigate. Let students know where to find materials and keep categories specific. For example, if you create a Homework category, and update it daily, parents and students can access it 24 hours a day.
13 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
www.novemberlearning.com
8. How do I post a comment? Once you have made an entry on your site it's possible for you and others to post a comment. Comments may be posted to sites only when authors have selected Yes to Allow Comments. To post a comment, first find the entry to which you would like to respond. Click on the title. A dialogue box will appear and you can enter your thoughts.
Type a comment in the Comments box and enter the code that displays. This code is designed to protect your site from SPAM. Click the Submit button. You will be able to see your comment.
Note: If the author of the site is Moderating Comments, your comment will not appear until it has been Approved. The person who leaves the comment will receive this notice.
14 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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9. How do I turn off comments for a specific post or article? The global setting to Allow Comments for all of your posts is discussed on page 8. However, there may be times when you do not want to others to post comments on a particular entry or you may wish to moderate comments first before they appear. For example, if you are posting an announcement to your class, there may be no need for students to comment. Turn off comments for individual Posts Login and click Manage Posts.
If you are creating a new post, click New Post. Or if you are working with a post you have previously written, select Edit from alongside the title.
Once you have filled in a title and body of your post in the text box editor, look to the tab above, Advanced Options.
Look for the heading Allow Comments. Click No.
Click Submit. Turn off comments for individual Articles (For more information about Articles, see the next chapter.) Login and click Manage Articles. If you are creating a new one, click New Article. Or if you are working with one you have previously written, select Edit from alongside the title. Once you have filled in a title and the body of your post in the text box editor, look to the tab above, Advanced Options.
Look for the heading Allow Comments. Click No. Click Submit.
15 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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10. How do I create an article? Articles are another way for you to post materials to your site. They do not appear on the homepage, only on the side menu, under a separate heading. Articles are different from posts in that: They remain static and will not archive They do not appear on the main page of your community They are not available for syndication (RSS) feed (for more about RSS see p. 39) Consider posting articles for things such as notes, handouts, course outlines, assignments or assessment materials – things you might want visitors to your site to see all the time. You may or may not want your articles to be interactive. You have the option to not Allow Comments for them at any time. Please note: Since Articles will not automatically appear on the main page of your site, you MUST first create a Category within which your Article will appear. To create a Category, see p. 12 To create an article, login and go to Manage Articles.
Click New Article to the right.
Choose a title and select the Category within which you would like your article to appear. Use the text box editor and click Submit when you are done.
Once you click Submit you will return to the Articles page. From here you may Edit or Delete an article just as you would an ordinary post.
Teacher Tips: 16 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
www.novemberlearning.com
Articles are a good way for you to post items that you want students and parents to find easily. Consider: Course outlines School schedule / timetable Rubrics Calendar of events Assessment and grade criteria Code of Ethics Term assignments Post items that you do not want to archive and are available throughout the school year for all to view.
17 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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11. How do I use the Advanced Text Editor? Most of the text editing tools contained within the text editor mimic those found in any word processing software, but as you are creating posts and articles, you might notice that there are a few tools in the text editor’s toolbar that you do not recognize. We will take a moment to look at those here. The ones we will look at are circled in red.
The Insert/edit image tool is used for adding an image to a blog post or article. The image you are adding using this method would be one that is on another website somewhere else. We will discuss this tool in detail later in this document. (See p. 35)
The Content Selector tool is also for adding an image to a blog post or article. The difference is that in this case, the image you are inserting is contained within your blog Gallery. We will discuss this tool in detail later in this document. (See p. 31)
We all probably know what smileys are. The Insert smiley tool is used for inserting various smileys (also known as emoticons) into your blog post or article. While they are cute, if overused, many find them annoying. So use sparingly to emphasize a point, and enjoy. To insert a smiley, click on the smiley face in the text editor’s toolbar. You will be shown many options to choose from. Select the smiley you want to insert. Once selected, it will automatically appear within your blog post or article. However, the smiley will appear as symbols and not as the smiley itself. Don’t worry; once you submit the blog post or article, you will see the smiley in all of its glory.
The Insert custom character icon is a tool used for placing a specialized character within your blog post or article. These custom characters range from Greek letters to special letters used in foreign languages to copyright symbols. To insert one of these special characters, click on the Insert custom character icon in the text editor’s toolbar. You will be shown a wide range of characters to choose from. Select the appropriate character, and it will automatically appear within your blog post or article.
The spellchecker tool is a fabulous and much anticipated addition to this text editor. The spell checker is used for… well, it’s a spell checker. 18 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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Let’s say you have typed the following as a blog post.
Obviously, you can see that I misspelled Lerning. Let’s run the spellchecker and see what happens. Click on Toggle spellchecker. You will now see that the misspelled word is underlined.
If I now click on the misspelled word, I will see several options that I can use to correct the misspelling.
By clicking on one of the choices listed, you will immediately correct the misspelled word.
19 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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12. How do I moderate comments for all of my posts? Each post or article you create on your site can either be automatically interactive or not depending upon your wishes. You also have the option of Moderating all comments made to your entries (both Posts and Articles). The default setting for your community is to moderate all comments. Moderating comments means you have control over who posts to your site. You have the capability to pre-read any feedback that is posted. This means that if you assign students a discussion topic, you will be able to read what they write first, before it is published on your site. Each time there is a comment made to your site you will be notified through email. To change the default setting for Moderate Comments, login and go to Advanced Settings.
Click Advanced Post Settings
Click the dropdown box alongside Comment Moderation.
If you click… Comments are published immediately: Anyone may make a comment to one of your posts and it will publish on your site automatically. Only anonymous comments require approval: Anyone may make a comment, but if they do not leave their name, the comment will not be published until you approve it.
20 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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All comments require approval: No comments will be published until you approve them. (This is your default setting) Once you make your selection, click Save.
Teacher Tips: If you are using your communities site within a classroom setting, we encourage you to Moderate Comments. This allows you to monitor student feedback and keep a record of who is posting comments. In the next several chapters we will discuss how to moderate comments.
21 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
www.novemberlearning.com
13. How do I moderate comments for specific posts? Even if you choose to Moderate Comments for your entire site, you still have the option of overriding the function for any individual post or article. To Moderate Comments for an individual post, login and click Manage Posts.
Either select an entry you've already made or create a new one. Once your text editor box is open, go to Advanced Options in the top menu.
Look for Comment Moderation. Make your selection from the dropdown box. Click Submit. The override function works exactly the same for Articles.
22 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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14. How do I approve comments made to my site? If you have set your site to Moderate Comments, you are automatically in control of who posts and what appears on your site. If anyone posts a comment on your site, it's up to you to decide whether you will Approve, Edit or Delete the comment. You will be alerted that there is a comment waiting for you via email. To approve comments, login and click Moderate Comments.
Any comments that have been made to your site will appear here.
To approve a comment, click in the box to the left. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select from the dropdown box.
If you select Approve Selected the comment will publish on your site. If you select Disapprove, it will not publish on your site but still remain in your records. If you Delete, you will be asked to confirm. Click Go to complete the process. A green check box will appear alongside any comments that have been approved.
23 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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15. How do I filter comments for specific posts or articles? When Moderating Comments, if you wish to see only comments posted to specific posts or articles, you can filter your list of comments accordingly. Login and click Moderate Comments.
Any comments that have been made to your site will appear here. Click the dropdown box to the right of All Posts. Each post or article that you have created will appear. Select one and click Apply Filter. This will generate a list of all comments posted to that specific post.
24 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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16. How do I delete comments made to my site? If you wish to delete a comment after it has already been published, you may do so through Moderate Comments (p. 20) or you can do it right on your site. Login to your homepage. All comments that are published to your site will appear underneath the title to which they relate. For example, below there is 1 comment posted.
Click Comments to review. If you wish to remove it, click the phrase [Remove this Comment]
You will be asked to confirm. Click OK and the comment will be deleted.
Teacher Tips: If you are not moderating comments, it's a good idea to periodically check your site. You will want to make sure there are no inappropriate comments on your site.
25 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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17. How do I add or edit a link? You may add web links to the top menu of your homepage.
Consider posting your favorite sites or links you commonly refer to in your posts. Once you add a link to your homepage it will stay there until you remove it. Login and click Add Links.
On the Add Links page you will be asked to first create a Category for your links. By creating a Category you are making a heading for each link you will be adding. All of your links will be organized under the categories you create. Click Create a new Category.
Give your category a Name and click Save. (Description is optional.)
All of the Link Categories will appear in the dropdown box. Select the Category under which you would like the link to appear and click Create New Link.
26 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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Enter the Link information in the fields provided and click Save.
The links page will allow you to make as many links and categories of links as you like. If you need to edit or delete any of the links you have created, go back to your Add Links page. Alongside each entry you make you have the option to edit or delete.
Teacher Tips: You now have the opportunity of making your site a “one stop shop” for student research. Post links to: •
Search engines that are appropriate for your students.
•
Subject-specific databases in your curriculum areas.
•
Global project databases where your students can find projects of interest.
•
Promote information literacy and have a selection of online validating tools.
•
Search through the November Learning list of sites. (Go to http://www.novemberlearning.com / Resources / Alan's Favorite Sites). Select through the 55 sites available.
This is the opportunity for you to have a huge influence in guiding your students to use the Internet safely and effectively.
27 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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18. How do I change the Title or Description? Login and click Advanced Settings.
The current Title will be the one you created when you registered. Feel free to select a new name and type it into the field provided.
To change your Description type in the field provided. Click Save when your changes are complete.
28 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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19. How do I change the Theme? Theme refers to the color and design of your site. To change it, login and click Change Theme.
Click the arrow to the right of the dropdown box. A list of themes will appear.
Select the one you wish and click Save.
29 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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20. What is My Gallery? Your site comes with the ability to create your own gallery to house pictures, screenshots and any graphics you might want to add to your site. You may upload materials from your computer into your gallery and insert them into posts or articles. To create a gallery and upload a picture from your computer onto your community site, login and click My Gallery.
Click Add Picture
Click Add to the right of the first field.
Enter a specific title for your photo and click Browse to access files on your computer.
Once you find the picture that you would like to upload to your gallery, double click it. The file name should appear in the Browse field. Click Upload. You will be taken back to the text box editor. If you would like to add any text regarding the photo, write it in – otherwise, click Save. The picture should appear in your current gallery. To return from My Gallery back to your community, click your name in the top right of the page. This will take you to your Profile page where there will be a link to your site.
30 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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21. Inserting photos from your gallery into a post or article? Once you have uploaded pictures into your gallery, you can add them to the main body of a post or article. Once logged in, click Manage Posts.
Click New Post in the right of your screen.
With the text box editor open, give your post a title and add any text you would like. To insert a photo, look for this icon in your toolbar (encircled)
Once you click the icon, you will access your gallery. Click on the + sign to the left of Galleries.
Click on the file name (your user name) and your pictures will appear. Double click on the photo that you would like to post.
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The photo should appear in your text box editor. If you would like to change the size of the photo, click on the bottom right box of the photo until arrows appear. Move the arrows to either make the photo smaller or larger.
Click Submit.
32 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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22. How do I create an Album? To help organize your Gallery, consider putting your pictures into Albums. Login and click My Gallery.
Go to Manage Gallery.
Click Albums.
Click Create New Album
Give your album a name and click Save.
33 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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23. How do I put a photo into an Album? Login and click My Gallery.
Go to Manage Gallery.
Click Images.
Click Edit alongside the photo you would like to put in an album.
When the text box editor opens, click Options in the top menu.
At the bottom of this page the Albums you have created will appear. Check any box you wish and click Save.
34 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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24. How do I add an image from another website to my post? Another option that you can use to insert an image into a blog post or article is to link to an image posted on a website somewhere else. When you use this method, you are simply mirroring an image posted somewhere else. You are not storing this image in your gallery. There are two things to note about using this method. •
Since this picture is hosted somewhere else, if that other site decides to remove the picture, the picture will also be removed from yours. After all, you can’t mirror an image that’s not there.
•
Since you are using someone else’s image, there are copyright implications. You should ask permission of the image owner to use his/her image. Also, you could use an image that you might have stored on Flickr or some other image hosting service or an image that someone has designated as usable on a site like www.creativecommons.org.
First, let’s find an image. Let’s say I go to creativecommons.org and search for a picture of a dog. As a result of my search, I found an image I want to use. If I right click on the image, I will get a menu like the one below.
I will select Copy Link Location. You won’t see anything really happen here, but what you have just done is made a copy of where that picture is stored. Now, we need to go back to our blog to insert the image. Within the text editor, select Insert/edit image.
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You will see a pop up box like the one below. Paste the URL that you copied in the last step into the first blank, and give your image a description. The rest of the blanks are optional but might be useful. You can align it within your post and give it specific dimensions.
Click Insert, and the picture will be placed into your blog post or article.
Click Submit, and your posting, including the picture, will be displayed on your blog. If you wish to edit the image later, follow the instructions for editing a blog post. (See p. 10) When you are back in the text editor, click on your picture; then click the Insert/edit image button. Make the changes that you wish to make. Click Submit, and your updated post will be published.
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25. How do I add a file to a post? There may be times when you want to add a file to one of your posts. It may be a Word document, a PowerPoint presentation or an audio file that you want your students to be able to access. You can add files to any post or article. Once logged in, click Manage Posts.
Click New Post in the right of your screen.
With the text box editor open, give your post a title and add text. To insert a file, look for Attach File in the top menu.
Click Add/Update. Click Browse to find the file you would like to attach. Click Save.
The File will be attached. Click Submit.
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26. How do I post an Audio File / Podcast? If you are joining the world of podcasters you will likely want to post your audio file to your blog so that others are free to access it. Although you can post any type of audio file, if you want others to be able to download it to an iPod or MP3 player, your audio file should be saved in MP3 format. This format is also necessary if you want others to be able to subscribe to it as an RSS feed (see next chapter for info about RSS.) Once logged in, click Manage Posts.
Click New Post in the right of your screen.
With the text box editor open, give your post a title and add text. To insert a file, look for Attach File in the top menu.
Click Add/Update. Click Browse to find the file you would like to attach. Click Save.
The Audio file will be attached. Click Submit.
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27. How do I add Feeds? You may have noticed that many websites have an orange button or a link with the letters RSS or XML. RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication and is usually referred to as feed. Harnessing the power of RSS means that you can subscribe to feed from other sites – be it weblogs, websites, photo galleries, podcasts, etc. Subscribing to feeds is a powerful way to collect and manage information. Instead of physically going out to find information from various other sites, for example, the New York Times headlines, you can subscribe to a feed and content from the New York Times is delivered directly to you and appears on the side menu. Educators might consider subscribing to feed from their favorite blog authors, newspapers, educational journals in a particular subject area, etc. How to find the RSS Feed Before you subscribe, you need to do a bit of legwork – namely, find the site from which you would like feed to come. For example, let’s say you wanted to subscribe to feed from the New York Times. Their web address is www.nytimes.com. The New York Times has established specific RSS code for each of its newspaper sections. We need to find that code before adding it to your site. If you scroll to the bottom of the homepage from the NY Times, you will see this link:
If you click the link, you will then be taken to a page that has a long list of all the sections of the newspaper that are available for RSS feeds.
If you click the any of these orange boxes, you will be taken to a page filled with RSS code. (See below). For example if you click the Education orange box, the page will look like this:
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We are not interested in what is written in the body of this page – we only need to know the information in the web address. Once this page with code is open, look to your location bar. We need this web address to subscribe. Highlight the address and select COPY.
Once you have this particular web address you are ready. Please note: The page from which you copy the web address must be filled with code and the web address should end with .xml How to add feeds Login and click Add Feeds.
You will be asked to create a category. Type in a title and click Create a New Category.
Type in a Name (Description is optional.) Click Save.
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You will be asked to enter a title and a URL. The URL that you enter should be one that you copied from another site. For example, here is the New York Times Education Section RSS web address that we copied after visiting the actual New York Times website. (See the introduction of this chapter for details). Click Save.
Once you save you will return to the Add Feeds page, where you can add a new feed, create a new feed category, edit or delete. If you go to the homepage of your site, the feed should appear on the side menu of your community site. Click the category name to view. You can subscribe to as many feeds and categories with feeds as you like. Just remember that if you find another site or another blog you like – always look for an orange box, the letters RSS or the letters XML somewhere on the page. If you can click anyone of those options and go to a page that has RSS code, all you need to do is copy and paste that particular web address into your Feeds and you will be sent any new information from that site from here on in.
Teacher Tips: Harnessing the power of RSS feeds can be a powerful method of research for both you and your students. Here are some ideas: •
If students are researching a particular unit of study, you can subscribe to RSS feeds from likely online journals or publications particular to that subject.
•
Teachers can subscribe to their favorite bloggers – or tap into resources from other teacher blogs
•
Daily headlines from around the world can appear on your site
•
If your students have their own community/blog sites, you can subscribe to them
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28. How do I change my password? Login and click on your name in the top right corner of the page. This will take you to the Profile page.
Look for Password in the top tab menu.
Click Change Password
Enter your Current Password and then a new one. You must enter your new password twice.
When complete, click Change Password. A message will appear telling you that your new password will be emailed to you.
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29. How do I change my email address Login and click Advanced Settings.
Select Author Contact Info
Enter your new email address.
Click Save.
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30. How do I turn off/on Contact? Once your site is created, others will be able to send you an email by clicking Contact on your homepage.
Email will be sent to the address you gave when your site was created. (To change this email address, see the previous chapter). To disable this option, login and click Advanced Settings.
Select Author Contact Info
Look for Enable Contact and click in the box to deselect.
Click Save.
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31. How do I turn off/on Contribute? Students can contribute to your community in two ways: They can respond to one of your posts by writing a Comment. Comments will appear in smaller typeface underneath the post to which they refer. The other option is for students to send you a Contribution from the homepage of your site. This easy-to-use form will send materials straight to your email account. Once the Contribution is in your email inbox, you will be able to preview it prior to posting it on your site.
Please Note: You will have to create a new post, then cut and paste the Contribution from your email account into your site. The Contribution is not in your administrative system until you, the community author put it there. The rationale for using the Contribution system is to give students, who do not have email accounts, the opportunity to submit their work. To disable this option, login and click Advanced Settings.
Select Author Contact Info
Look for Enable Contributions and click in the box to deselect.
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32. How do I add Additional Authors? If you would like another author to have administrative privileges to your community you may add them (or remove) at any time. Please note: •
Only those who are already registered on the community software system may become an Additional Author
•
Once added, Additional Authors have complete access to all of your administrative functions on the community
•
Additional Authors will login with their own password. You do not need to give them yours.
To add an author, login and click Advanced Settings.
Select Author Contact Info
Under Additional Authors type in the user names of those you would like to be able to access your site. Separate each name with a semicolon (;).
Click Save.
Teacher Tip: Consider adding an Additional Author if you are team teaching or running a community with other colleagues. Only give this privilege to those whom you can absolutely trust.
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33. How do I use About? On the top of your homepage is the About link. The About section gives you the opportunity to provide readers with background information about yourself, class, students or the purpose of your site.
If you would like to enter information in this section, login and click Advanced Settings.
Select About My Community
A text box editor will appear. Write a title and any information that you wish. To turn off the function, click No beside Enable About.
Click Save.
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34. How do I create a new community? Each registration on the system entitles the user to create up to four separate communities – each with completely web addresses (URLs), titles, etc. Login and click your name in the top right.
On the right menu, click Create New Community.
Go through the same steps as you did when you first registered on this site. You will not need a Security Key. Once your new site is complete, it will appear on your Profile page along with your original. You will use the same login information to access it.
Teacher Tips: There are a variety of ways you could use more than one community site. Some teachers will naturally want to use them for each individual class they teach. You may want to consider this carefully. If you teach two completely different subject areas you will likely want to create one community for each. However, if you teach one subject area to several classes, we recommend having one community for both classes. You can then organize each class with Categories. If you are posting the same assignments and materials – it will cut down on your administrative time considerably.
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35. Bugs and Workarounds a. Users have reported a consistent error that occurs when using the FireFox browser. When adding a link or a feed, or when adding a category to the links or feeds section, the user will receive the following error immediately upon adding the item.
Disregard this message and return to your blog. You will see that these items have been created. b. Feeds come in several different types. For example, if you look at your NL Communities blog, you will see two feed options. By clicking on each of these options you would see two different feed addresses.
http://nlcommunities.com/communities/youblogname/rss.aspx http://nlcommunities.com/communities/youblogname/atom.aspx Not all feeds work with this software and many sites don’t make it easy to copy and paste the actual RSS URL. If you add a feed that doesn’t work with the software, you will be told that you do not have a valid feed whenever you try to view your feed on your blog. Unfortunately, there is no sure fire way of knowing whether or not a feed will work on your blog. The trial and error method would be to add the feed and go into the feed area of your blog. If you get an error message and are told that you have subscribed to an invalid feed, try to use another feed offering from the site you are attempting to obtain a feed from.
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Educator’s Guide to November Learning Communities (Version 2.0.2)
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INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................4 1. HOW DO I REGISTER?.........................................................................................................5 2. HOW DO I LOGIN / LOGOUT OF MY SITE? ........................................................................6 3. WHAT IS COMMUNITY ADMINISTRATION? .......................................................................7 4. HOW DO I CHANGE MY GLOBAL SETTINGS? ..................................................................8 5. HOW DO I CREATE OR EDIT A POST? ............................................................................10 6. HOW DO I CREATE A CATEGORY? .................................................................................12 7. HOW DO I PUT A NEW POST IN A CATEGORY?.............................................................13 8. HOW DO I POST A COMMENT? ........................................................................................14 9. HOW DO I TURN OFF COMMENTS FOR A SPECIFIC POST OR ARTICLE? ..................15 10. HOW DO I CREATE AN ARTICLE?..................................................................................16 11. HOW DO I USE THE ADVANCED TEXT EDITOR?..........................................................18 12. HOW DO I MODERATE COMMENTS FOR ALL OF MY POSTS?...................................20 13. HOW DO I MODERATE COMMENTS FOR SPECIFIC POSTS?......................................22 14. HOW DO I APPROVE COMMENTS MADE TO MY SITE?...............................................23 15. HOW DO I FILTER COMMENTS FOR SPECIFIC POSTS OR ARTICLES? ....................24 16. HOW DO I DELETE COMMENTS MADE TO MY SITE? ..................................................25 17. HOW DO I ADD OR EDIT A LINK?...................................................................................26 18. HOW DO I CHANGE THE TITLE OR DESCRIPTION?.....................................................28 19. HOW DO I CHANGE THE THEME?..................................................................................29 20. WHAT IS MY GALLERY? .................................................................................................30 2 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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21. INSERTING PHOTOS FROM YOUR GALLERY INTO A POST OR ARTICLE? ..............31 22. HOW DO I CREATE AN ALBUM? ....................................................................................33 23. HOW DO I PUT A PHOTO INTO AN ALBUM? .................................................................34 24. HOW DO I ADD AN IMAGE FROM ANOTHER WEBSITE TO MY POST? ......................35 25. HOW DO I ADD A FILE TO A POST?...............................................................................37 26. HOW DO I POST AN AUDIO FILE / PODCAST? .............................................................38 27. HOW DO I ADD FEEDS? ..................................................................................................39 28. HOW DO I CHANGE MY PASSWORD? ...........................................................................42 29. HOW DO I CHANGE MY EMAIL ADDRESS.....................................................................43 30. HOW DO I TURN OFF/ON CONTACT? ............................................................................44 31. HOW DO I TURN OFF/ON CONTRIBUTE? ......................................................................45 32. HOW DO I ADD ADDITIONAL AUTHORS?......................................................................46 33. HOW DO I USE ABOUT?..................................................................................................47 34. HOW DO I CREATE A NEW COMMUNITY? ....................................................................48 35. BUGS AND WORKAROUNDS..........................................................................................49
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Introduction November Learning (NL) Communities provide teachers and students with the opportunity to communicate and collaborate in new and exciting ways. A community is an interactive web page where individuals can post entries, articles, links, and pictures, and ask others to join into conversations. For educators, they are a way to expand the boundaries of learning. Teachers can post entries for students, parents, and for professional development purposes. Students can engage with others in their community or around the world. Work can be published to an authentic audience. NL Communities are easily adaptive into most curriculum areas. They are relatively simple to use, can be accessed by anyone, anywhere with an Internet connection, and content can be published online in a matter of minutes. Educators around the country are using software of this nature in a multitude of areas: 1. Information/Communication Tools: Teachers can post student writing, artwork, as well as information about homework and upcoming events. Parents can have access to events and projects in your classroom. 2. Online Filing Cabinets: Students and teachers can use them as a place to store assignments, links, plans, and handouts. 3. Collaborative Tools: Students can extend conversations outside of the classroom, and collaborate with invited guests from around the world and from within the community. 4. Literature Circles: Book clubs can involve students and parents, or students from other communities. 5. Online Discussions: A communities site can work as a discussion area for students and staff in every discipline: Science to reflect on labs, Social Studies for current events, English for prewriting on central themes of novels, etc. 6. Professional Development: Teachers can use them as portfolios or as an archived discussion of their practice, both formal and informal. 7. Writing tools: Students can have interactive electronic journals or post completed works to an authentic audience. The purpose of this Educator's Guide is to get you started. We will show you how to create your community, customize it, plus highlight how you might use it as a communication and collaboration tool in your classroom. There are many advanced features with that this document may not address. Here you will find "the basics" plus helpful Teacher Tips for getting you on your way. If you need further clarification, contact us at November Learning. Email [email protected]
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1. How do I register? To register for November Learning Communities go to www.nlcommunities.com (With each registration, you will be able to create up to four different sites.) Step #1 - In the top right click Register.
Step #2 – Read the Terms and Conditions. Scroll to the bottom and click Accept.
Step #3 - Fill in the necessary information. You will be provided with a Security Key by a NL Administrator. Click Create User. Step #4 – Create a Folder Name. This folder name will become the new web address of your site. It’s recommended to keep this short. You will not be able to change this once it is created. Step #5 - Enter a Title. This title will appear as the top banner across your site and can be changed at any time. The Description works as a subtitle and is optional. Step #6 – Select a group for your site. Click the drop down box to select the group (school, district or conference) to which you belong.
Click Next Step. Step #7 - You will be asked to choose a Theme. Click Select this Theme underneath the one you wish to work with. Your communities site is now complete. All of the work you will do on your site, creating new posts, logging in etc, will be from this page. Please make a note of the web address! Save it in your Favorites so that you can access it easily. This is the web address you will give students to access your site.
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2. How do I login / logout of my site? There are two ways to login to your community: From the main www.nlcommunties.com homepage From the homepage of your actual site (Recommended) Option #1 Go to www.nlcommunities.com. In the Login box enter your user name and password. Click Login.
You will still be on the homepage. Note your user name will appear in the top right. Click it.
From this page you may edit your Profile. On the right of this page you will see a record of any of the communities you have created. Click on the linked title to go to your site.
When you have finished working on your site, it's important to click Logout. This prevents anyone else from changing or deleting your work. Option #2 To Login and Logout from your communities site, go to the site you have created. Look for the Login link in the top right.
A dialogue box will appear. Enter your user and password information. Click Login.
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3. What is Community Administration? Once logged in to your community, in the navigation menu you will find the heading Community Administration. The options listed under this heading control all the functions and features of the site. Please note you will only be able to view Community Administration if you are logged in.
There are nine main headings found here: Manage Posts - Publish, edit, delete entries and create categories for posts. (See p. 10) Moderate Comments - Approve, Disapprove or Delete comments made to your site from other individuals. (See p. 20) Manage Categories – Create Categories to help organize Posts and Articles (See p. 12) Manage Articles - Publish, edit, delete articles and create categories for articles. (See p. 16) Add Links – Create links to other websites (See p. 26) Add Feeds – Create RSS feeds from other sites (See p. 39) Change Theme – Change the look and feel of your site (See p.29) Advanced Settings – Change the title and other global settings of your site (See p. 8) My Gallery – Upload pictures, podcasts and screenshots to your site. (See p. 30)
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4. How do I change my global settings? By default, when you first created your site, the global settings were set for you. To change or view these at any time, login and click Advanced Settings.
Click Advanced Post Settings on the side menu.
No matter what your global settings are – you can override them at any time with any individual post.
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Allow Anonymous Users to Comment – This gives all visitors the opportunity to post a comment to anything published on your site even if they do not leave their name. Allow Replies/Comments - This allows visitors to post a comment to anything published on your site. Comment Moderation – Select in the dropdown box whether you want to review comments first before they are published. (Recommended) Email Feedback Notifications – If a comment is made, you have the option of having it sent to your email address. (You will not be able to approve or delete comments through your email system. The purpose is to alert you there is a comment awaiting approval.) Comment Day Limits - This allows you to set time limits as to the number of days you will allow others to post comments on your site. Enable TrackBacks / Pingbacks - This allow others to know when you have posted a link on one of your posts. Publish to my site’s homepage – All posts will automatically appear in the body of your homepage. Publish to the main site’s Most Recent Posts list – All posts will automatically appear on the main Community site. Syndicate Excerpt - If someone creates a feed to your site, they will be able to view your entire post rather than just an excerpt.
With any changes you make to this page, click Save.
To get back to the homepage of your site, click your title.
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5. How do I create or edit a post? Once your community site is created, you can immediately start to post (publish) entries. These entries appear in the middle of your homepage and are more or less the body of your site. Each post appears chronologically and displays the day and time posted. Most recent entries will always appear first. Once you submit a post, it is easy to edit or delete. You can make as many as you like. At the end of each month they will automatically archive. This means that if you have a lot of posts, students will not have to scroll down to find last month's entries—they will be conveniently filed in a side menu. Your calendar on the side menu will also display a linked highlight on each day a post has been created. To create a post, you must first login. Once logged in click Manage Posts under Community Administration.
Click New Post on the right of your screen.
A text box editor will open. The text box editor works similar to creating a word document. You are provided with the same functionality, such as bold, underline, etc.
Write a title for your entry and enter text in the body of the message. When complete, scroll to the bottom and click Submit.
PLEASE NOTE! There are various options that will appear on the top menu of this page. These options are discussed in the various chapters that follow. From the main Manage Posts page you may Delete or Edit. 10 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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To get back to the homepage of your site, click your title.
Teacher Tips: Consider creating posts for Discussion topics for students – once you post a question, students can post comments (it's possible to moderate comments) and respond to your comments and other students’ comments. Discussion topics for the community – anyone in the world can participate in your site discussions. You may consider teaming up with another teacher in another city or solicit members of your community to join in, ie. ask an expert. Post announcements, homework and upcoming events – your site can be an ongoing dialogue/bulletin board for you, students and parents. Publish student work – you may publish student writing to showcase or for peer review. Consider teaming with members of the global community to help your students edit or assess their work.
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6. How do I create a Category? Categories help organize your posts. They appear in the side menu of the homepage and provide headings under which a variety of posts can be stored. Categories help readers navigate through your posts a little easier. For example, you may choose to have a category for discussions, one for student work, one for this month's assignments, one for daily homework, etc. Once you create a category, each new post added can either appear only within the category, or on the main body of your homepage or both. You can make those selections in Advanced Settings. Login and click Manage Categories.
Click Create New Category on the right.
Enter a Name. A Description is optional.
Click Save.
Once your category is saved you will given the option to Edit, Delete or Create a new one. On the side menu of your homepage a new Category will appear. This category will always be visible and now you will be able to publish new posts or articles under it.
Teacher Tips: Consider these categories for teachers Discussion topics and themes
Daily announcements
Daily Notes
Homework
Literature circles/Book clubs
Published student work
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7. How do I put a new post in a Category? Once you start creating Categories, each time you create a new post, you have opportunity to place it within a category of your choice. For example, if you create a category called Discussions, each new entry you write dealing with a discussion topic can be posted to your Discussions Category. (You may also place posts you've already created into a category.) You also have the option of posting a new entry to the body or main page of your site, or posting it solely in your category. Login and click Manage Posts.
Create a New Post or Edit one you have already created. Once your text editor box is open, you will notice that all of the Categories you have created will be listed. Click in the box of the Category within which you would like your post to appear.
Once you click in the box, your new post will automatically appear on the main body of your site homepage AND in the selected category. If you do not want your post to appear in the body of your homepage but in the category only, look to the top tab Advanced Options.
Click No beside Post to my homepage. Once you have made your selections, click Submit.
Teacher Tips: Once you get used to creating and organizing your posts into categories, your site will be easy for others to navigate. Let students know where to find materials and keep categories specific. For example, if you create a Homework category, and update it daily, parents and students can access it 24 hours a day.
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8. How do I post a comment? Once you have made an entry on your site it's possible for you and others to post a comment. Comments may be posted to sites only when authors have selected Yes to Allow Comments. To post a comment, first find the entry to which you would like to respond. Click on the title. A dialogue box will appear and you can enter your thoughts.
Type a comment in the Comments box and enter the code that displays. This code is designed to protect your site from SPAM. Click the Submit button. You will be able to see your comment.
Note: If the author of the site is Moderating Comments, your comment will not appear until it has been Approved. The person who leaves the comment will receive this notice.
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9. How do I turn off comments for a specific post or article? The global setting to Allow Comments for all of your posts is discussed on page 8. However, there may be times when you do not want to others to post comments on a particular entry or you may wish to moderate comments first before they appear. For example, if you are posting an announcement to your class, there may be no need for students to comment. Turn off comments for individual Posts Login and click Manage Posts.
If you are creating a new post, click New Post. Or if you are working with a post you have previously written, select Edit from alongside the title.
Once you have filled in a title and body of your post in the text box editor, look to the tab above, Advanced Options.
Look for the heading Allow Comments. Click No.
Click Submit. Turn off comments for individual Articles (For more information about Articles, see the next chapter.) Login and click Manage Articles. If you are creating a new one, click New Article. Or if you are working with one you have previously written, select Edit from alongside the title. Once you have filled in a title and the body of your post in the text box editor, look to the tab above, Advanced Options.
Look for the heading Allow Comments. Click No. Click Submit.
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10. How do I create an article? Articles are another way for you to post materials to your site. They do not appear on the homepage, only on the side menu, under a separate heading. Articles are different from posts in that: They remain static and will not archive They do not appear on the main page of your community They are not available for syndication (RSS) feed (for more about RSS see p. 39) Consider posting articles for things such as notes, handouts, course outlines, assignments or assessment materials – things you might want visitors to your site to see all the time. You may or may not want your articles to be interactive. You have the option to not Allow Comments for them at any time. Please note: Since Articles will not automatically appear on the main page of your site, you MUST first create a Category within which your Article will appear. To create a Category, see p. 12 To create an article, login and go to Manage Articles.
Click New Article to the right.
Choose a title and select the Category within which you would like your article to appear. Use the text box editor and click Submit when you are done.
Once you click Submit you will return to the Articles page. From here you may Edit or Delete an article just as you would an ordinary post.
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Articles are a good way for you to post items that you want students and parents to find easily. Consider: Course outlines School schedule / timetable Rubrics Calendar of events Assessment and grade criteria Code of Ethics Term assignments Post items that you do not want to archive and are available throughout the school year for all to view.
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11. How do I use the Advanced Text Editor? Most of the text editing tools contained within the text editor mimic those found in any word processing software, but as you are creating posts and articles, you might notice that there are a few tools in the text editor’s toolbar that you do not recognize. We will take a moment to look at those here. The ones we will look at are circled in red.
The Insert/edit image tool is used for adding an image to a blog post or article. The image you are adding using this method would be one that is on another website somewhere else. We will discuss this tool in detail later in this document. (See p. 35)
The Content Selector tool is also for adding an image to a blog post or article. The difference is that in this case, the image you are inserting is contained within your blog Gallery. We will discuss this tool in detail later in this document. (See p. 31)
We all probably know what smileys are. The Insert smiley tool is used for inserting various smileys (also known as emoticons) into your blog post or article. While they are cute, if overused, many find them annoying. So use sparingly to emphasize a point, and enjoy. To insert a smiley, click on the smiley face in the text editor’s toolbar. You will be shown many options to choose from. Select the smiley you want to insert. Once selected, it will automatically appear within your blog post or article. However, the smiley will appear as symbols and not as the smiley itself. Don’t worry; once you submit the blog post or article, you will see the smiley in all of its glory.
The Insert custom character icon is a tool used for placing a specialized character within your blog post or article. These custom characters range from Greek letters to special letters used in foreign languages to copyright symbols. To insert one of these special characters, click on the Insert custom character icon in the text editor’s toolbar. You will be shown a wide range of characters to choose from. Select the appropriate character, and it will automatically appear within your blog post or article.
The spellchecker tool is a fabulous and much anticipated addition to this text editor. The spell checker is used for… well, it’s a spell checker. 18 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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Let’s say you have typed the following as a blog post.
Obviously, you can see that I misspelled Lerning. Let’s run the spellchecker and see what happens. Click on Toggle spellchecker. You will now see that the misspelled word is underlined.
If I now click on the misspelled word, I will see several options that I can use to correct the misspelling.
By clicking on one of the choices listed, you will immediately correct the misspelled word.
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12. How do I moderate comments for all of my posts? Each post or article you create on your site can either be automatically interactive or not depending upon your wishes. You also have the option of Moderating all comments made to your entries (both Posts and Articles). The default setting for your community is to moderate all comments. Moderating comments means you have control over who posts to your site. You have the capability to pre-read any feedback that is posted. This means that if you assign students a discussion topic, you will be able to read what they write first, before it is published on your site. Each time there is a comment made to your site you will be notified through email. To change the default setting for Moderate Comments, login and go to Advanced Settings.
Click Advanced Post Settings
Click the dropdown box alongside Comment Moderation.
If you click… Comments are published immediately: Anyone may make a comment to one of your posts and it will publish on your site automatically. Only anonymous comments require approval: Anyone may make a comment, but if they do not leave their name, the comment will not be published until you approve it.
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All comments require approval: No comments will be published until you approve them. (This is your default setting) Once you make your selection, click Save.
Teacher Tips: If you are using your communities site within a classroom setting, we encourage you to Moderate Comments. This allows you to monitor student feedback and keep a record of who is posting comments. In the next several chapters we will discuss how to moderate comments.
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13. How do I moderate comments for specific posts? Even if you choose to Moderate Comments for your entire site, you still have the option of overriding the function for any individual post or article. To Moderate Comments for an individual post, login and click Manage Posts.
Either select an entry you've already made or create a new one. Once your text editor box is open, go to Advanced Options in the top menu.
Look for Comment Moderation. Make your selection from the dropdown box. Click Submit. The override function works exactly the same for Articles.
22 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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14. How do I approve comments made to my site? If you have set your site to Moderate Comments, you are automatically in control of who posts and what appears on your site. If anyone posts a comment on your site, it's up to you to decide whether you will Approve, Edit or Delete the comment. You will be alerted that there is a comment waiting for you via email. To approve comments, login and click Moderate Comments.
Any comments that have been made to your site will appear here.
To approve a comment, click in the box to the left. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select from the dropdown box.
If you select Approve Selected the comment will publish on your site. If you select Disapprove, it will not publish on your site but still remain in your records. If you Delete, you will be asked to confirm. Click Go to complete the process. A green check box will appear alongside any comments that have been approved.
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15. How do I filter comments for specific posts or articles? When Moderating Comments, if you wish to see only comments posted to specific posts or articles, you can filter your list of comments accordingly. Login and click Moderate Comments.
Any comments that have been made to your site will appear here. Click the dropdown box to the right of All Posts. Each post or article that you have created will appear. Select one and click Apply Filter. This will generate a list of all comments posted to that specific post.
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16. How do I delete comments made to my site? If you wish to delete a comment after it has already been published, you may do so through Moderate Comments (p. 20) or you can do it right on your site. Login to your homepage. All comments that are published to your site will appear underneath the title to which they relate. For example, below there is 1 comment posted.
Click Comments to review. If you wish to remove it, click the phrase [Remove this Comment]
You will be asked to confirm. Click OK and the comment will be deleted.
Teacher Tips: If you are not moderating comments, it's a good idea to periodically check your site. You will want to make sure there are no inappropriate comments on your site.
25 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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17. How do I add or edit a link? You may add web links to the top menu of your homepage.
Consider posting your favorite sites or links you commonly refer to in your posts. Once you add a link to your homepage it will stay there until you remove it. Login and click Add Links.
On the Add Links page you will be asked to first create a Category for your links. By creating a Category you are making a heading for each link you will be adding. All of your links will be organized under the categories you create. Click Create a new Category.
Give your category a Name and click Save. (Description is optional.)
All of the Link Categories will appear in the dropdown box. Select the Category under which you would like the link to appear and click Create New Link.
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Enter the Link information in the fields provided and click Save.
The links page will allow you to make as many links and categories of links as you like. If you need to edit or delete any of the links you have created, go back to your Add Links page. Alongside each entry you make you have the option to edit or delete.
Teacher Tips: You now have the opportunity of making your site a “one stop shop” for student research. Post links to: •
Search engines that are appropriate for your students.
•
Subject-specific databases in your curriculum areas.
•
Global project databases where your students can find projects of interest.
•
Promote information literacy and have a selection of online validating tools.
•
Search through the November Learning list of sites. (Go to http://www.novemberlearning.com / Resources / Alan's Favorite Sites). Select through the 55 sites available.
This is the opportunity for you to have a huge influence in guiding your students to use the Internet safely and effectively.
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18. How do I change the Title or Description? Login and click Advanced Settings.
The current Title will be the one you created when you registered. Feel free to select a new name and type it into the field provided.
To change your Description type in the field provided. Click Save when your changes are complete.
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19. How do I change the Theme? Theme refers to the color and design of your site. To change it, login and click Change Theme.
Click the arrow to the right of the dropdown box. A list of themes will appear.
Select the one you wish and click Save.
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20. What is My Gallery? Your site comes with the ability to create your own gallery to house pictures, screenshots and any graphics you might want to add to your site. You may upload materials from your computer into your gallery and insert them into posts or articles. To create a gallery and upload a picture from your computer onto your community site, login and click My Gallery.
Click Add Picture
Click Add to the right of the first field.
Enter a specific title for your photo and click Browse to access files on your computer.
Once you find the picture that you would like to upload to your gallery, double click it. The file name should appear in the Browse field. Click Upload. You will be taken back to the text box editor. If you would like to add any text regarding the photo, write it in – otherwise, click Save. The picture should appear in your current gallery. To return from My Gallery back to your community, click your name in the top right of the page. This will take you to your Profile page where there will be a link to your site.
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21. Inserting photos from your gallery into a post or article? Once you have uploaded pictures into your gallery, you can add them to the main body of a post or article. Once logged in, click Manage Posts.
Click New Post in the right of your screen.
With the text box editor open, give your post a title and add any text you would like. To insert a photo, look for this icon in your toolbar (encircled)
Once you click the icon, you will access your gallery. Click on the + sign to the left of Galleries.
Click on the file name (your user name) and your pictures will appear. Double click on the photo that you would like to post.
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The photo should appear in your text box editor. If you would like to change the size of the photo, click on the bottom right box of the photo until arrows appear. Move the arrows to either make the photo smaller or larger.
Click Submit.
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22. How do I create an Album? To help organize your Gallery, consider putting your pictures into Albums. Login and click My Gallery.
Go to Manage Gallery.
Click Albums.
Click Create New Album
Give your album a name and click Save.
33 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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23. How do I put a photo into an Album? Login and click My Gallery.
Go to Manage Gallery.
Click Images.
Click Edit alongside the photo you would like to put in an album.
When the text box editor opens, click Options in the top menu.
At the bottom of this page the Albums you have created will appear. Check any box you wish and click Save.
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24. How do I add an image from another website to my post? Another option that you can use to insert an image into a blog post or article is to link to an image posted on a website somewhere else. When you use this method, you are simply mirroring an image posted somewhere else. You are not storing this image in your gallery. There are two things to note about using this method. •
Since this picture is hosted somewhere else, if that other site decides to remove the picture, the picture will also be removed from yours. After all, you can’t mirror an image that’s not there.
•
Since you are using someone else’s image, there are copyright implications. You should ask permission of the image owner to use his/her image. Also, you could use an image that you might have stored on Flickr or some other image hosting service or an image that someone has designated as usable on a site like www.creativecommons.org.
First, let’s find an image. Let’s say I go to creativecommons.org and search for a picture of a dog. As a result of my search, I found an image I want to use. If I right click on the image, I will get a menu like the one below.
I will select Copy Link Location. You won’t see anything really happen here, but what you have just done is made a copy of where that picture is stored. Now, we need to go back to our blog to insert the image. Within the text editor, select Insert/edit image.
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You will see a pop up box like the one below. Paste the URL that you copied in the last step into the first blank, and give your image a description. The rest of the blanks are optional but might be useful. You can align it within your post and give it specific dimensions.
Click Insert, and the picture will be placed into your blog post or article.
Click Submit, and your posting, including the picture, will be displayed on your blog. If you wish to edit the image later, follow the instructions for editing a blog post. (See p. 10) When you are back in the text editor, click on your picture; then click the Insert/edit image button. Make the changes that you wish to make. Click Submit, and your updated post will be published.
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25. How do I add a file to a post? There may be times when you want to add a file to one of your posts. It may be a Word document, a PowerPoint presentation or an audio file that you want your students to be able to access. You can add files to any post or article. Once logged in, click Manage Posts.
Click New Post in the right of your screen.
With the text box editor open, give your post a title and add text. To insert a file, look for Attach File in the top menu.
Click Add/Update. Click Browse to find the file you would like to attach. Click Save.
The File will be attached. Click Submit.
37 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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26. How do I post an Audio File / Podcast? If you are joining the world of podcasters you will likely want to post your audio file to your blog so that others are free to access it. Although you can post any type of audio file, if you want others to be able to download it to an iPod or MP3 player, your audio file should be saved in MP3 format. This format is also necessary if you want others to be able to subscribe to it as an RSS feed (see next chapter for info about RSS.) Once logged in, click Manage Posts.
Click New Post in the right of your screen.
With the text box editor open, give your post a title and add text. To insert a file, look for Attach File in the top menu.
Click Add/Update. Click Browse to find the file you would like to attach. Click Save.
The Audio file will be attached. Click Submit.
38 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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27. How do I add Feeds? You may have noticed that many websites have an orange button or a link with the letters RSS or XML. RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication and is usually referred to as feed. Harnessing the power of RSS means that you can subscribe to feed from other sites – be it weblogs, websites, photo galleries, podcasts, etc. Subscribing to feeds is a powerful way to collect and manage information. Instead of physically going out to find information from various other sites, for example, the New York Times headlines, you can subscribe to a feed and content from the New York Times is delivered directly to you and appears on the side menu. Educators might consider subscribing to feed from their favorite blog authors, newspapers, educational journals in a particular subject area, etc. How to find the RSS Feed Before you subscribe, you need to do a bit of legwork – namely, find the site from which you would like feed to come. For example, let’s say you wanted to subscribe to feed from the New York Times. Their web address is www.nytimes.com. The New York Times has established specific RSS code for each of its newspaper sections. We need to find that code before adding it to your site. If you scroll to the bottom of the homepage from the NY Times, you will see this link:
If you click the link, you will then be taken to a page that has a long list of all the sections of the newspaper that are available for RSS feeds.
If you click the any of these orange boxes, you will be taken to a page filled with RSS code. (See below). For example if you click the Education orange box, the page will look like this:
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We are not interested in what is written in the body of this page – we only need to know the information in the web address. Once this page with code is open, look to your location bar. We need this web address to subscribe. Highlight the address and select COPY.
Once you have this particular web address you are ready. Please note: The page from which you copy the web address must be filled with code and the web address should end with .xml How to add feeds Login and click Add Feeds.
You will be asked to create a category. Type in a title and click Create a New Category.
Type in a Name (Description is optional.) Click Save.
Click Create New Feed. 40 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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You will be asked to enter a title and a URL. The URL that you enter should be one that you copied from another site. For example, here is the New York Times Education Section RSS web address that we copied after visiting the actual New York Times website. (See the introduction of this chapter for details). Click Save.
Once you save you will return to the Add Feeds page, where you can add a new feed, create a new feed category, edit or delete. If you go to the homepage of your site, the feed should appear on the side menu of your community site. Click the category name to view. You can subscribe to as many feeds and categories with feeds as you like. Just remember that if you find another site or another blog you like – always look for an orange box, the letters RSS or the letters XML somewhere on the page. If you can click anyone of those options and go to a page that has RSS code, all you need to do is copy and paste that particular web address into your Feeds and you will be sent any new information from that site from here on in.
Teacher Tips: Harnessing the power of RSS feeds can be a powerful method of research for both you and your students. Here are some ideas: •
If students are researching a particular unit of study, you can subscribe to RSS feeds from likely online journals or publications particular to that subject.
•
Teachers can subscribe to their favorite bloggers – or tap into resources from other teacher blogs
•
Daily headlines from around the world can appear on your site
•
If your students have their own community/blog sites, you can subscribe to them
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28. How do I change my password? Login and click on your name in the top right corner of the page. This will take you to the Profile page.
Look for Password in the top tab menu.
Click Change Password
Enter your Current Password and then a new one. You must enter your new password twice.
When complete, click Change Password. A message will appear telling you that your new password will be emailed to you.
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29. How do I change my email address Login and click Advanced Settings.
Select Author Contact Info
Enter your new email address.
Click Save.
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30. How do I turn off/on Contact? Once your site is created, others will be able to send you an email by clicking Contact on your homepage.
Email will be sent to the address you gave when your site was created. (To change this email address, see the previous chapter). To disable this option, login and click Advanced Settings.
Select Author Contact Info
Look for Enable Contact and click in the box to deselect.
Click Save.
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31. How do I turn off/on Contribute? Students can contribute to your community in two ways: They can respond to one of your posts by writing a Comment. Comments will appear in smaller typeface underneath the post to which they refer. The other option is for students to send you a Contribution from the homepage of your site. This easy-to-use form will send materials straight to your email account. Once the Contribution is in your email inbox, you will be able to preview it prior to posting it on your site.
Please Note: You will have to create a new post, then cut and paste the Contribution from your email account into your site. The Contribution is not in your administrative system until you, the community author put it there. The rationale for using the Contribution system is to give students, who do not have email accounts, the opportunity to submit their work. To disable this option, login and click Advanced Settings.
Select Author Contact Info
Look for Enable Contributions and click in the box to deselect.
Click Save. 45 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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32. How do I add Additional Authors? If you would like another author to have administrative privileges to your community you may add them (or remove) at any time. Please note: •
Only those who are already registered on the community software system may become an Additional Author
•
Once added, Additional Authors have complete access to all of your administrative functions on the community
•
Additional Authors will login with their own password. You do not need to give them yours.
To add an author, login and click Advanced Settings.
Select Author Contact Info
Under Additional Authors type in the user names of those you would like to be able to access your site. Separate each name with a semicolon (;).
Click Save.
Teacher Tip: Consider adding an Additional Author if you are team teaching or running a community with other colleagues. Only give this privilege to those whom you can absolutely trust.
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33. How do I use About? On the top of your homepage is the About link. The About section gives you the opportunity to provide readers with background information about yourself, class, students or the purpose of your site.
If you would like to enter information in this section, login and click Advanced Settings.
Select About My Community
A text box editor will appear. Write a title and any information that you wish. To turn off the function, click No beside Enable About.
Click Save.
47 © November Learning, Inc. [2007]
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34. How do I create a new community? Each registration on the system entitles the user to create up to four separate communities – each with completely web addresses (URLs), titles, etc. Login and click your name in the top right.
On the right menu, click Create New Community.
Go through the same steps as you did when you first registered on this site. You will not need a Security Key. Once your new site is complete, it will appear on your Profile page along with your original. You will use the same login information to access it.
Teacher Tips: There are a variety of ways you could use more than one community site. Some teachers will naturally want to use them for each individual class they teach. You may want to consider this carefully. If you teach two completely different subject areas you will likely want to create one community for each. However, if you teach one subject area to several classes, we recommend having one community for both classes. You can then organize each class with Categories. If you are posting the same assignments and materials – it will cut down on your administrative time considerably.
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35. Bugs and Workarounds a. Users have reported a consistent error that occurs when using the FireFox browser. When adding a link or a feed, or when adding a category to the links or feeds section, the user will receive the following error immediately upon adding the item.
Disregard this message and return to your blog. You will see that these items have been created. b. Feeds come in several different types. For example, if you look at your NL Communities blog, you will see two feed options. By clicking on each of these options you would see two different feed addresses.
http://nlcommunities.com/communities/youblogname/rss.aspx http://nlcommunities.com/communities/youblogname/atom.aspx Not all feeds work with this software and many sites don’t make it easy to copy and paste the actual RSS URL. If you add a feed that doesn’t work with the software, you will be told that you do not have a valid feed whenever you try to view your feed on your blog. Unfortunately, there is no sure fire way of knowing whether or not a feed will work on your blog. The trial and error method would be to add the feed and go into the feed area of your blog. If you get an error message and are told that you have subscribed to an invalid feed, try to use another feed offering from the site you are attempting to obtain a feed from.
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