Using this blog

  

What is a blog?

 A blog is a social media tool to share written and visual ideas with a community that can also engage in those ideas.

Why use a blog in Bot/Zoo 450?

A blog is a low-risk way to quickly share writing with multiple parties. Often our class writing is only viewed by the person responsible for assessment. In a blog, you are writing for a community. Ecological challenges require community engagement, and engagement begins with communication. The mission of this class blog is to learn and share with one another in an online class where we are physically quite distant. Blogs also enable swift use of multimedia (images, files, videos, links) that give us a space to be extra creative and dynamic. Blogging is increasingly used by professionals and academics to connect and share ideas. This is an informal space to practice your digital literacy.

Posting to this blog

Each student has been invited to be an author of the blog, which means you are able to view the entirety of the blog, write posts, and comment on each other's posts. To login, you must first create an account with Blogger (you may use your UW-Madison Google Account). Please create a user name that is easily recognizable. You can login to Blogger directly on their site or click the button at the bottom of the blog "Powered by Blogger" to access the blog's editing features. 

Always create a title for your blog, and use imagery! Your post thumbnail on the home page will display your title and your top image. Save often and publish using the icons at the upper right. You may edit your post after publishing. For the record, this blog is private and only accessible to those of us in Bot 450. You are very welcome to share your posts beyond this course if you choose. I will always ask permission before sharing your posts, as well.

Commenting

 To encourage discussions, you are required to also contribute comments on other students' posts. You must login to your Blogger account to post a comment. Comments are expected to be thoughtful and thought-engaging. "I really liked your post," while nice, does not inspire meaningful thinking. Below are some basic examples of meaningful comment prompts:

• Your post had some interesting points, such as ___________. I agree/disagree with the points you made because ___________.
• What you wrote about ____________ reminded me of what I wrote about ____________. These points are similar/different because ___________.
• Your post made me consider _____________ which I had not thought of because ______________.
• I was especially curious in your point about ______________ because ___________. Can you explain it more thoroughly, or do you have suggestions of where to find more information?