Essential Skills
How to make a blog post with an image
1. In your blog dashboard, click the "New Post" button in the top right. It is an orange circle with while plus in it.
3. Select the insert image icon. Most of the time you'll want to Upload from computer
4. Select Choose Files, navigate to your locally stored image, select it and hit open. Then OK. Select the image you added and then click Select.
5. Your image should appear with your text. Click on the image itself to change the image size and position if you would like to.
6. Before you select Publish, make sure to add a label to your posting. This should be either the class name or the class number.
7. Select Publish when you are finished.
How to use the label gadget
Blogs need to be organized so that instructors and visitors can find your posts easily by course. To do this, you need to use the label gadget.
1. After creating your blog, go to the ‘Layout’ menu.
2. If the Labels gadget isn't already on one of your sections, choose to ‘Add a Gadget’ to one of the sections. If the Labels gadget is already on your layout, skip to #5.
3. A new window pops up. Scroll down the list of basic gadgets until you find the ‘Label’ one. Click the + to add it to your blog.
4. Configure your labels and save
5. When you make a post, be sure to label your post for the appropriate class.
6. After you’ve made a few posts your label section will look similar to this.
Blog Best Practices
It is important to be able to communicate what you did, why you did, and what information are you displaying with your map. There is no need to write a five paragraph essay with your blog posts, but they should follow any special instructions given in the assignment for the post and summarize what you are learning in class that week and explain your map. Being able to explain what you did is important so your instructors know you’ve understood what they are teaching and it gives you practice so that when you get a job in the GIS field, you are able to explain your work to your supervisor. Here are some examples of blog posts that we like:
In the title of this post, the student included the class, which Module/Week, and the title of the lab. In the post, the student began with a short introduction, moved into some of what they learned that week, and finished with what they did in class. A very good post! The student also included a label to the class it was for.
Again, this student included the class, week/module, and lab title in the title of the post. The student began with a brief introduction, told us why they were doing it, what they did, and what the end result is/what the map shows. Once again, the included a label for the correct class!
FAQs
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