2 – WordPress 101

Austin Mason
Fri, 09 Jan 2015 04:13:23 +0000
Assignments, Week 1: Intro, blogging, CMS, edublogs, WordPress

Congratulations! You have just set up your own blog and can now share your interests and knowledge with the world.

We barely scratched the surface of what you can do with this platform in class, so make use of the extensive support documentation on the web to figure out how to find your way around (see Resources below).

Assignment

Your task for next time is to post two blog posts: one to the class site reporting your results from the SketchUp assignment, and the other to your own blog introducing yourself and telling the world why you are taking this course.

1. Log in to the Hacking the Humanities class blog and make a new post sharing the 2D image of your house that you exported from SketchUp and telling us about your process. How easy/hard was it?, what elements particularly bogged you down?, what compromises did you have to make?

Make sure to also share a tip for other novice SketchUp users about the tool that you found most useful, or a technique that you wish you had figured out sooner. Part of the digital maker philosophy is sharing the knowledge you gained, so make sure to pass it on.

2. Switch to your own blog and write a new post introducing yourself and telling the world why you are taking this class and what you hope to gain from it. Remember that blog writing is a different beast that lies somewhere between formal academic writing and casual social media or email style. Try for a tone that is scholarly and informed but neither too stiff nor too sloppy. It can be a tough balance to strike, but think of your intended audience and try to find a voice that works for you.

Remember to add meaningful tags to all your posts.

If that was a piece of cake and you want to play around with the platform some more, here are some other things to try:

1. Create an About Page, not post, that gives details about your blog and its purpose.

2. Change the front page of your site to be a static home page

3. Create a custom menu to organize the content on your site

There’s lots more to explore, if you have the time and inclination…

Resources

Carleton’s WordPress installation is run through edublogs, so the most relevant information can be found on their Help and Support docs. This platform is intended largely for primary and secondary teachers and students to use, so you may find it most helpful to go directly to the User Guide. You can also check out the WordPress.com training series, although you won’t necessarily be able to access all the features through edublogs.