An introduction to blogging

This course should take about an hour.

Requirements & Prerequisites

  • Internet connected Computer
  • Basic Use of PC
  • Basic Use of Browser
  • Knowledge of basic internet navigation

On this page… (hide)

  1. 1. What is a Weblog
    1. 1.1 Links
  2. 2. Educational Uses
    1. 2.1 Educational Professional to Educational Professional
    2. 2.2 Teacher to Pupil
    3. 2.3 School to parent
    4. 2.4 Pupil produced
  3. 3. Weblog features in detail
    1. 3.1 Entries or Articles
    2. 3.2 Comments
    3. 3.3 Recent Posts, Recent comments
    4. 3.4 Archives, Recent, Tag-Clouds
    5. 3.5 Links, blogrolls, friends
    6. 3.6 RSS Feeds
  4. 4. And Finally
  5. 5. Related Opportunities

1.  What is a Weblog

10 minutes

From wikipedia -

‘’A blog (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting) and are part of a wider network of social media. Micro-blogging is another type of blogging which consists of blogs with very short posts.’‘



  • A blog is an easily up-datable page or set of pages on the web.
  • It can be updated without any knowledge of html through a web based interface.
  • No software is needed other than a web browser.
  • The pages consist in the main of a series of articles, the most recent at the top.
  • Previous articles are archived and can be searched.
  • In addition the articles are available as a RSS feed.


1.1  Links

So a blog can be seen as an easy way to publish online, in a series format, think about what you might do with a blog and then look at the examples.

2.  Educational Uses

20 minutes

Have a look at these blogs to get an idea of what can be done with blogging. Most blogs have links to others and it is worth spending some time following links and ideas that interest you.

2.1  Educational Professional to Educational Professional

Blogging by teachers and others to fellow professionals for discussion of educational issues. Examples:

  • Ewan McIntosh Scots Meta blogger, National Adviser: Learning and Technology Futures,

Learning and Teaching Scotland.

Many of the posts on these blogs will be followed by discussion by readers in the comment section, be sure to read some of these and add in you 2 pence worth if you like. (remember whatever you write will be in public view).

2.2  Teacher to Pupil

Teacher blog activities and information to pupils, homework etc.

2.3  School to parent

Think about how you might use blogs to your pupils, would it be appropriate, what are the advantages and disadvantages.

2.4  Pupil produced

Again think how you could use a blog or blogs in your classroom. Advantages, problems?

You can find Scottish blogs of all sorts at: ScotEduBlogs This CPD opportunity can be extended over many hours by reading blogs from across Scotland. toy may find it useful to view a few regularly for a period of time.

3.  Weblog features in detail

20 minutes Although weblogs can be as different as any web pages they usually share some features.

read some of the blogs listed above, look out for the following features

3.1  Entries or Articles

The main part of the blog;
 Blogs consist of a series of articles usually displayed in reverse chronological order, the most recent at the top. This is usually the main content of the blog. The entries may be organised into categories with the facility of opening only entries in a particular category.

3.2  Comments

Reading blogs can be more like a conversation than a lecture. Readers can usually comment on articles in a blog. You can read the comments of others and join in. Bloggers often comment back.

3.3  Recent Posts, Recent comments

Blogs often have lists of recent posts and comments on a sidebar, linked to individual copies of the entry with the comments.

3.4  Archives, Recent, Tag-Clouds

Blogs usually offer various ways to view the entries. Archives usually consist of entries organised into monthly or weekly pages. Tag-clouds are lists of tag (or key) words displayed so that more frequently used words are bigger, clicking on a word in a tag cloud will lead to a list of posts containing that word.

3.5  Links, blogrolls, friends

Most blogs offer a various links to similar blogs, sites or just friends. Many use online services such as furl or del.icio.us / to collect links as they browse the web automatically adding them to these lists. One of the most important features of weblogs is that they are updated frequently. Readers may wish to check and read blogs regularly, perhaps by storing the urls in your browser’s favourites.

3.6  RSS Feeds

When reading weblogs you will see a lot of graphics like these: These link to RSS (Rich site summery or Really Simple Syndication) feeds. RSS feeds are XML files that contain much of the same information as the entries on the weblog in a special format that makes the information on them easy to share. One weblog can display the RSS feed from another and more. RSS feeds also let you view blogs in a different way.

4.  And Finally

10 minutes

For spending some time on the above blogs you should have a good idea of the range of ways blogs can be used in Teaching and Learning. Think about how you could use them, as a reader or a writer for CPD, as a teach to pupils or by pupils in your class.

You can find some related CPD material on this wiki: CpdMaterials.Blogging

5.  Related Opportunities