The more that you read, the more things you will know

The more that you learn, the more places you will go.

~Dr. Seuss

While there’s a wonderful world of websites out there for you to use both to create – as you have been doing during this tutorial – and to get information. Unfortunately, though, since anyone can publish a website, not all sites are good quality. They may have incorrect or biased information. So, you need to be careful about what sites you select when you are looking for information.

Activity 1: Visit this webpage with “Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages” from the Cornell University Library for some questions to think about before you decide to use a site for information. Talk to your librarian about how you can learn more about evaluating websites that you want to consider using for research and information-gathering. Your librarian can also help you with lots of tips on how to find information, too.

Activity 2: When you added images to your blog, you gave credit by creating a link back to the page where you found the image. When you write research reports, you will need to create “Works Cited” list and write a complete citation for each book, website, database, image, and other source you use. There are some excellent citation makers, including Noodletools and Easybib. Try them both. Locate how to make a citation for the MLA format. Write the URL for this site on your planner or other homework helper. USE IT when you have to create a “works cited” list.

Activity 3: Now, write a blog posting about what you have learned about website evaluation and bibliographic citations

If you haven’t already, it’s time to start visiting your classmates’ blogs and leaving supportive comments. First, though, remember that having good manners online is at least as important as in person. Why? Online, anything you write can spread far and wide before you know it, and it is so easy to misinterpret someone’s intentions when you don’t see their expressions or gestures or hear their tone of voice.

Activity 1: Watch this video about cyberbullying, and think about what precautions you can take to make sure you are always kind and supportive, not hurtful, in everything you write, in comments and everywhere else online.

Activity 2: Now, start visiting your classmates’ blogs and contributing comments. Good comments generally include a compliment, suggestion, and/or question. And, don’t forget to use your best writing skills. Remember that everything you write online contributes to your digital footprint.

Activity 1: Now that you have a blog, you are a publisher. Before you begin searching for and adding images and other items to your blog, you need to learn a little about copyright, public domain, fair use, and Creative Commons, so you make sure that you are only publishing material you are legally entitled to. Watch this fun video to learn about what copyright, public domain, and fair use are. You will notice in it lots of copyrighted images you recognize that are used in a fair use way. (If the previous link is blocked, use this link. You will see a short commercial before the video starts.)

Activity 2: In recent years, a new option has become available to make finding and publishing other people’s material – and sharing what you create yourself – easier: It is called Creative Commons. Watch this video to learn about Creative Commons.

Activity 3: Find Photos & Images

Flickr is a website used primarily for storing and sharing photos. You can use this site to find pictures on any topic. It includes photos taken by individuals as well as from important museums and archives like the Library of Congress. If you open an account, you can also use this site to upload pictures you’ve taken and then you can share them with your family your friends or the whole world.

Flickr includes many Creative Commons images, as well as many that are copyrighted. If you want to publish an image you find at Flickr on your blog, be sure to search for images with Creative Commons licenses. Hint: To find images with Creative Commons licenses, go to the Advanced Search screen, enter a keyword to search, then check.

Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content“ and click Search.

Or, you will probably find it much easier to use the Flickrcc site, which searches just Creative Commons-licensed images on the Flickr site for you.

Topic 3: Avatars

What’s an avatar? An avatar is a pictorial representation of you. It can look somewhat like you, but in comic form, or it might be a picture of something you like. In the computer world, you can use an avatar to create an online personality while still protecting your privacy.

Activity 1: Try one or more of these sites to create your own avatar:

manga.com

buildyourwildself

dream avatar

pixton comic avatars

abi Portrait Avatar Maker

Piccassohead

Otaku Avatar Maker

DoppelMe

Follow the directions on the site to create an avatar, then save the image. On a Mac, you can very easily save an image by holding down the Command, Shift, and 4 keys all at once, then dragging from one corner to the opposite diagonal corner of the image you want to capture. It will now appear as a .png image file on your desktop. On a PC, you can right click, then “Save As” your image from the dream avatar site, but won’t work for the others that don’t create the avatar as a separate image. This blog posting from Edublogger blog about avatars has some tips on how to save and edit your avatar on a PC. Once you have your avatar saved, add it to your blog sidebar. With Edublogs blogs, you do that by uploading it as your blog avatar, then adding an avatar widget to your sidebar. Also add your avatar as your user avatar so that it appears in your comments. The Edublogger blog post can help you with that task also. With Blogger blogs, you add a picture gadget to your sidebar and upload your avatar file to it. Then, also upload your avatar to your profile under My Account.

Activity 3: Create your blog by following the directions on the page titled “Setting Up Your Blog.”   Now you need to register your blog. This means that after you create your blog, you will fill out an online form to give me your email address, blog name, and blog address. I will not share your name with anyone else, but will need it for keeping track of your progress. After you have received notice that I have received your information and approved your blog, then you can begin with all the fun! I will create a “blogroll” – a list of all the blogs for students who are taking this class with you. These are the students you will work with and cheer along the way – that’s the 2.0 way!! Check their blogs regularly and comment on them. Ask them questions about how to do stuff if you’re confused or answer questions for those who might need your help. Cheer them on – have fun! Critique well!

Activity 4: Now that you’ve read the “Blogging Guidelines” on the Valencia High Blog, answer the following questions.  This will be your first blog posting.  In your posting, include answers to these questions:

1. Being a good digital citizen means…

2. What are some topics you can blog about?

3. What do you need to be careful to keep private and not include in your blog?

Activity 2: To see whether you have a “digital footprint” established already, try going to Google and searching for your name. You may be surprised by what you find. Your digital footprint will stay with you your entire life, so you want whatever people may find about you online to be positive.

After you set up your blog (in Topic 2), you will write a posting about your thoughts about digital citizenship.

Activity 3: Read the Blogging Guidelines for Students from the link at the top of this page.