Using Our Blogging System

Blogs at Saigon South
Check out our blogs at http://blog.ssis.edu.vn
Blogs at Saigon South

1 First Steps 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Blog Overview Logging In To Your Blog's Dashboard Creating A Blog Post Change Your Blogging Name Categories Adding a Graphic From Computer Adding a Graphic From URL Adding a Graphic From Media Library Adding an Audio File 5 7 9 12 13 15 19 21 24 27
1.10 Quickly Add A Youtube Video 2 Second Steps 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 How to Backup Your Blog Restoring From Backup Adding Multiple Photos - Photo Gallery Adding Powerpoint To Our Eportfolio Duplicating a Blogroll Create a Menu Embedding Youtube Using Shortcode Embedding Content - Youtube (custom sizes) Embedding Any Content
33 35 37 40 44 50 56 59 61 64 69 74
2.10 Creating Podcasts Audio Boo 2.11 Creating Podcasts Myna 2.12 Using Zotero To Add MLA References to your Blog 3 Teacher Tips 3.1 Tag Based RSS Feeds-Blog Based
81
3.2 3.3 3.4 4
Creating a Google Reader Feed Creating A Comment Feed Creating a Teacher Based Taxonomy
84 88 94
Other Steps 4.1 4.2 Blog to Epub Add a Custom Google Search To our Blog 102 109
First Steps
Blogs at Saigon South - 4
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Blog Overview
A look at the parts of a Wordpress blog.
We have a number of different themes available in our blogging system. Most themes have some common elements.
Blog Layout
There are a number of different blog themes you can pick for your blog as well. Some themes have one column others have two, three or even four columns.
Logging In To Your Blog's Dashboard

The following lesson deals with logging into a blog on the SSIS blogging system.
Enter your SSIS username and Password
Go to the main blog and enter your SSIS username and password. Then click on login. When you have completed the login you should see your login name.
Select Your Site
Go to My Sites and select your blog then select the dashboard.
Creating A Blog Post

How to create a blog post.
Creating a New Post
Our blogging system uses pages and posts. After you have logged in to your blog you will see the blog dashboard. On the left hand side you will see Posts menu. Click on Add New to get to the blog post page. When completed you will see the screen below.
Blog Menu
Similar to what you are used to in Moodle there are many familiar icons on the wordpress menu. Don't forget to use the spell check tool after you have finished your post.
Tag and Category
Add appropriate tags. These are basically keywords for each post/page you create and makes it easier for others to find your blog. Then pick the appropriate category. Categories are used to organize your blog into appropriate topics. When all is done click on publish.
Adding a Category
If you want to add a new category for the post you will see the Add New Category link below the category list. Clicking on this will open a box where you can type in the category name then click on the Add New Category button and your blog post will have the newly created category selected.
Change Your Blogging Name

How to change the name that blog posts are attributed to.
Users
Our SSIS wordpress system uses your regular network username as the default blogging name. If you want a more friendly sounding name than jlee14 then you can change this by logging in to the blogging system. Once you have logged in you will see your username in the top right hand corner. Place your cursor on your username and you will see the drop down menu above. Select Edit My Profile to go to the edit profile page.
Add A Nickname
In the nickname area add a nickname. Display name publicly should automatically change to the nickname you created. When done go to the bottom of the page and Update Profile.
Categories
Categories on our blogging system are used to organize blogs.
Main Blog Categories
Categories are used to organize blog content. In the SSIS blogging system categories are also used to place content on their appropriate grade level page. All blog posts will end up on the front page but selecting the certain categories make the post show up on specific pages. Selecting Elementary School will add content to the Elementary part of the blogging site adding the category Middle School will add content to the Middle School area and High School the High School area. Middle School students, as seen above, also have the names of their advisory teachers and grade level while Elementary students the name of their grade level.
Creating a Category
You can also create your own category. Remember categories are used to organize posts under a common theme while tags are used to describe a post. Log in to your blog and click on Post then click on Category.
Blogs at Saigon South - 13 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Create Category
Under Name add the category you would like to add to your blog. Wordpress will add your category slug but you can change it if you want to. If the category is a sub category then add the parent category. For example, you could have the category Math that has the parent category Subjects. When done click on Add New Category.
Adding a Graphic From Computer

Taking a photo with your digital camera or phone is a good way to add graphic content to your blog
Before You Upload

Remember that images taken using a digital camera can be quite large for a blog. You should resize the image prior to adding it to your blog. At SSIS this can be done using Iranview on the PC's and Iphoto in the Mac Lab. There are separate tutorials that show you how to resize images using these tools. Image size of 400 pixels if you want the graphic to be displayed by itself or 200-250 pixels if you want the graphic to have text wrapped around it. You can upload the following image types to a post or page on your SSIS blog by using the Add an Image icon found within your visual editor: .jpg/.jpeg .gif .png To only upload an image to your blogs Media Library (and not attach it to a specific post/page), use Media -> Add New in your dashboard.
Uploading Images
Go to Posts -> Add New or Pages -> Add New, or open an existing post in editing mode. Place your cursor where you would like the image to appear, and click on the (1) Add an Media icon found in the Upload/Insert area.
Choose Image
Click on the Select Files button and choose the image file from your computer. You can also drag and drop images to upload them
Add the Image
Once the uploading/crunching process has completed, you will be given the option to edit some settings before inserting the image into the post/page. Title - Text displayed as a tooltip (when a mouse is hovered over the image) Caption - Image caption displayed directly underneath the image (will also serve as the alternate text.) Description - Text displayed with the image in your dashboard and attachment pages on your blog. Link URL / Link Image to: The URL/web address to which the image will be linked. Click the File URL button to link the image to its original, full-size version. Click the Post URL button to have the image linked to its attachment page.
Alignment The position of the image within your post or page. Size The size of the image. Once done select insert into post. Text taken from Wordpress.com
Adding a Graphic From URL

You can also add files to wordpress from a url
Before You Add the Image
he following process describes inserting an image which already exists on another web site or domain. This method will not upload the document/file to your blogs Media Library. Because it is hosted elsewhere, if the file is removed from its location, the image will no longer work on your blog.
Uploading Images
Go to Posts -> Add New or Pages -> Add New, or open an existing post in editing mode. Place your cursor where you would like the image to appear, and click on the (1) Add an Media icon found in the Upload/Insert icon group directly above your editor.
Choose Image
Click on the From URL tab
Add the Media
Image URL - The url to the image. You can get this in in chrome by right clicking on the image and select Copy Image URL. In Firefox right click on image and use Copy Image Location. In Safari right click and select Copy Image Address. Notice you can also add audi, video or other files. Image Caption - Image caption displayed directly underneath the image. Alignment The position of the image within your post or page. Once done select insert into post. Text taken from Wordpress.com
Adding a Graphic From Media Library

Adding a photo you have already uploaded to your blog
Get the Image
Go to Posts -> Add New or Pages -> Add New, or open an existing post in editing mode. Place your cursor where you would like the image to appear, and click on the (1) Add an Image icon found in the Upload/Insert icon group directly above your editor.
Choose Image
Click on the Media Library tab.
Select the image
Locate the image you wish to insert and click on Show.
Edit Image information
You will be able to edit some of the images settings before inserting it into the post/page. Note that the fields will already be populated if you previously added the information when you uploaded your image to the media library. When done click on Insert into Post.
You can also edit the image
You can also edit the image from within wordpress. Clicking on the edit image button allows you to access some simple image editing tools. This includes cropping the image (1), Rotating counter-clockwise (2) and clockwise (3) and flipping horizontally (4) and vertically (5). Text taken from Wordpress.com
Adding an Audio File

Adding an Audio File to a Blog Post Using the Audio Player Plugin
Select The File
Click on the Add Media icon.
Select The File
Select add from computer then browse to find the file you are uploading. Once you select the file click on upload.
Click on Audio Player then select insert into post .
Save and View Post
Save your post then view it to see if is working properly.
Quickly Add A Youtube Video

Wordpress allows you to add media from certain sites in a one step. More on the different available sites on the codex.
Get the URL
Right click on the video and copy the video URL
Add the video URL to your blog post
Add the copied link to your blog post. This can be done in the visual editor. This has changed slightly on our blogs you need to delete the highlighted portion between the ?feature=player_detailpages to make the embed work. This gives you what Youtube calls the long link.
Another Way to The Long Link
You can also get to the long link by clicking on the share button then selecting options.
Copy Long Link
Select Long Link then copy the long link url and addit to your blog post as I have hown in step 2. (long link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2JI9DrQ8gs)
Check Post
Check your post to make sure everything is OK. If the video is to big for your theme then you should follow the steps in Embedding Using Shortcode or in Embedding Content Youtube Custom Sizes
Second Steps
How to Backup Your Blog

Steps needed to back up your your blog
Select Export
From the tools menu select Export.
Select the content
I am going to select all content. You can select posts or pages only as well. Wordpress will create an xml file that you will download.
Download Content
Selecting OK will save the file. The file aways contains the current backup date.
File Saved
File is saved to my download folder. The file name includes the name of the blog (1) and the date of the file backup (2).
Restoring From Backup

To move your blog to another Wordpress installation.
Why restore?
You may want to use these steps if you want to move your blog to your own wordpress installation or to a new school installation.
Get ready to import
From the tools menu select import.
Select appropriate import
Wordpress imports from a variety of blogging systems but the SSIS blogs are all wordpress based so select Wordpress.
Select your backup style
Click on browse then navigate to the xml file backup you would like to import. Click on the Upload File and Import
Decide on Author and Attachments
You then need to decide how you are going to handle author if you are backing up from your old blogs I would leave this as default. If you select Download and import the attachments the files will be downloaded from your old blog to your new blog. When the import is finished Wordpress will let you know and all files should be available to you. Note the backup does not restore any link lists you may have created so you will need to redo this by importing the links from your old blog to your new blog.
Adding Multiple Photos - Photo Gallery

Adding a Photo Gallery Part 1
Upload Your Photos
Create a new post or page then select Add media.
Drag Drop and and Upload Your Photos
Select all of the files you would like to upload then drag them into the file upload box. Once the files have all been uploaded you can click on Save all Changes.
Setup The Gallery
You order your images a variety of different ways (1) and you can specify the order by entering the order in the boxes provided (2). Images can be linked to the full size image (3) or to a a page containing the image (4). When you are happy with your setup you can click on Insert Gallery.
Gallery Post
In your edited post the Gallery will look as it does above.
Gallery Post Completed
This is the Gallery within your blog.
Adding Powerpoint To Our Eportfolio

How to embed a powerpoint presentation into your blog. PowerPoint There are a number of ways you can embed your Powerpoint presentations into your blog post. This way uses tools that are part of the Eportal system. After you have mastered this why not try it a different way. Get a slideshare account and upload your presentation to slideshare then embed the slideshare into your blog. Get a sliderocket account and upload your presentation to sliderocket then embed the presentation into your blog. School Google Apps Upload your Powerpoint presentation to your school Google Apps account. This will then be converted into a Google Presentation. From the Share menu get the embed code for the presentation. In your blog page make sure you are in HTML mode. Paste the code into your blog post. Publish the post.
Upload Your Presentation
Open your Google Docs and click on upload
Add Your Document
Find your powerpoint file and drag and drop it to the area shown above. Click in the box to the left of "Convert documents, presentations, spread sheets, and drawings to the corresponding Google Doc formats". We have had some trouble with pptx files so you might want to save your powerpoint in an earlier format.
Privacy
Remember this will be embedded in your blog. As your blog is public to the world you should change your privacy settings. So I have chosen Public on the web.
Publish
From the share menu click on publish/embed then publish the document.
Get The Embed Code
Select the size of the presentation you wish to embed in your blog. I have found the large size to big for most themes. You may need to experiment with your theme to find the best size. Copy the code in the box and go to the dashboard of your blog and create a new post.
Add the Presentation to Your Blog
Go to your blog and create a new post add a title and a brief description of what the presentation is about. Click on the html tab and paste your content into the blog post. Add the appropriate tags and categories then publish your blog.
Duplicating a Blogroll
If you have a blogroll (list of links) setup for your class you can duplicate this on other blogs
Create the Blogroll on a Blog
Create the template set of links on a blog. This can be the teacher blog or a student blog. Add the link categories and the links you want all of your students to have. In this example the link categories are students and teachers.
Add Link Categories
On the student blogs have them create their link categories. In my example students and teachers. From the side menu click on (1) Links then (2) link categories. For a teacher this might be the name of one of your classes Spanish Block B. After they enter the name they can click on the Add Link Category button to add the category. I have added a student and teacher category.
Get the Links
From the side menu click on (1) Tools then (2) import and click on Blogroll. Wordpress can import links in an OPML format.
Get the URL
Have the students add the url to the blog then click that contains th links you want to import then click on Import OPML File. In my example I used http://blog.ssis.edu.vn/temp/wp-links-opml.php. Temp would be changed to the name of the path to the blog containing the links. Choose the link category you want all of the links to be assigned to. You can change this later.
Edit Link
Hover over the link so you can edit it.
Change Link Category
Select the link category you would like the student to be listed in.
Widget!!!
Not all themes default to a blogoll on the sidebar. For some you will need to add the Links widget. To do this go to the side menu click on Appearance then Widgets and drag the Links widget to the sidebar location.
Even Better Widget!!!
The advanced blogroll widget allows you to create multiple blogrolls that can be selected by category.
Create a Menu
How to create a menu system in Wordpress
Select Menu
Click on Appearance and select Menus.
Name Your Menu
Give your menu a name then click on Create Menu. Your custom menu can be up of Custom Links (1), pages you have created (2), 0r blog categories (3)
A Few Things
You can add pages automatically to the menu system (1) and some themes allow you to add more than one menu(2).
Activate Your Menu
Select your menu from the drop-down menu then click on Save. You can create more than one menu but in this theme supports only one main menu. There is a widget that allows you to use a sidebar menu so that might be a reason why you create more than one menu. Then start adding content, I am going to create links to some of the Portal tools at SSIS.
Add Custom Links
Add the URL to the link then add a label for your menu item. I have started by creating two custom links and am about to click on Add to Menu which would add the third item.
Check it Out
As you can see, the menu bar has our three links. This will quickly fill up so it might be better to create a drop down menu under the title of SSIS Links.
Create a Drop Down Menu
I had created the drop down menu title before. The title SSIS Links does not need to link to any site. I just added the UR of the blog I was working on as you can not make the link without an URL in this box (1) added the label (2) and selected Add to Menu.
Drag and Drop Links into Place
To get a drop down menu drag and drop each menu item underneath your title, in my case SSIS Links. Make sure you do not go to far to the right as I did with SSIS Youtube or then you will create a sub menu as shown below.
Check our Menu Out
Here we have a drop down menu with a second level under SSIS Blogs. I am going to go back and change this so all menu items are underneath SSIS Links and then add a home link.
Finish it Off
I added the Home link then moved it to the top so it would appear on the left side. You can now add pages or categories and organize them as you want on your menu.
Embedding Youtube Using Shortcode

Embedding video into your blog with custom sizes using shortcode
An Overview
Some themes have narrower main sections sometimes the video does not fit in the blog as the default embed width may be greater than the width of your blog. You may need to create a custom sized video. You can also use shortcode to embed video.
Get the Embed Code
Right click and Copy video URL
Add Embed Code

This will work with most blog themes. Make sure all of this is on it's own line. Start with [embed] paste the video url from step 1 end with [/embed] [embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Z2JI9DrQ8gs[/embed]
Add the Embed Code
If you want a different size you can set the height and width. Start with [embed add a width and a height (some options are shown in the next step) or do not add width and height and use default values add the ]. Paste the video url that you copied in step 1. End with [/embed]
Sizes
Here are some sizes you can use. Usually the youtube at 425 and 480 will work with most of our blog themes.
Publish post
When you are finished remember to view your post to see if everything is OK.
Embedding Content - Youtube (custom sizes)

Embedding video into your blog with custom sizes.
An Overview
Some themes have narrower main sections sometimes the video does not fit in the blog as the default embed width may be greater than the width of your blog. You may need to create a custom sized video.
Find The Video Embed Code
Click on embed
Select an appropriate size
Select the appropriate size for your blog. Usually the youtube at 425 and 480 will work with most of our blog themes. If it is still too big you may need to come back to this page and try custom sizes until you find a size that fits.
Create a blog post
Add the text you need for the blog post then, while in HTML mode, paste the embed code into your blog post.
Publish post
When you are finished remember to view your post to see if everything is OK.
Embedding Any Content

How do you embed any content into a blog?
Find the embed code
In this example I will embed a dipity timeline. So we need to locate the embed code.
Get the code
If you have the option to pick your size use a size that is smaller than 500. In this case I am going to use the small size. With this embed you can also pick the color being used so you can match the color with your blog theme. Click in the embed code area and copy the code.
Embed the code
Add some introductory text and make sure you have the html tag selected. Paste the embed code into the document.
Check your post
Publish your post then check it to make sure you are happy!
Creating Podcasts Audio Boo

A simple tool, Audioboo, that can be used to embed podcasts into your blog.
Login to the account
Login to our audioboo account then click on my profile.
Get Ready to Record
Start by clicking on the New Recording/File Upload. This will open the Create a Boo window. Click on Got your mic ready.
Add Your Audio
Click on start recording
Pause
Click on the Blue pause recording area.
Save Recording
Click on Happy Add Title
Title
Add an appropriate title and use tags to describe your file eg. ssis, spanish, etc.
Add Extras
You can add an image and geotag the audio file. I added Saigon South International School to the search box to add the map location.
Get the Code
Click on the embed icon and copy the embed code then off to your blog.
Add Embed Code
Create a new blog post and switch to HTML by clicking on the HTML tab. Past the code into the blog post area. Add the appropriate blog categories and tags then publish your post.
Creating Podcasts Myna

Another way to add a podcast to your blog is to use Myna
Login To Your School Google Account
Login to your school Google Account. WHen you have logged in select more then Aviary.
In Aviary
To create a podcast select Mix a Podcast.
Add An Introduction
Introduce your self and the topic you will be covering. To to this click on the record button on the right hand side. This will bring the Audio Recorder up and you will need to click on the red record button to begin recording.
Add the file to Track 1
When you are done click on the red record once again and then import the file into your project. The file will be saved to the right hand side where you can drag it onto track 1.
Edit If Needed
You can trim the file by selecting either trim start or trim end and dragging either left or right.
Add the body of your podcast then the conclusion.
Use the same steps to create a body segment and conclusion and add them both to track 1.
Add an Introduction
Add a introductory Jingle. I have chosen Groovy Dude from the Quantum Tracks. I moved my voice introduction to the right and added a fade out to track by showing track automations then click on the yellow gain line to add an automation point. Added a second point then dragged the point down to lower the gain. This makes track 2 fade out so you can hear my Voice.
Add background music
I found a song on Sound cloud and added it to track three for background music. Again I used automations to make sure the song was not louder than my voice
Save and Create a Mixdown
When you save a mixdown you will be given the embed code to embed the podcast into your blog. Copy the code.
Add Embed Code
Create a new blog post and switch to HTML by clicking on the HTML tab. Past the code into the blog post area. Add the appropriate blog categories and tags then publish your post.
Using Zotero To Add MLA References to your Blog

Zotero is a great tool to help you manage your research. You can easily set Zotero up to add references to your blog post. Although you can use Zotero with other browsers, as this is in Beta, we will be looking at Zotero and Firefox.
Remember
Remember Zotero automatically recognizes certain web sites and will show you a different icon when on those sites. Popular newspaper sites will show newspaper icon like you can see above.
Amazon
Some websites, like Amazon, will be shown as well.
Use Zotero Menu
For others you will need to toggle Zotero on by clicking on the Zotero icon on the status bar and use the Zotero menubar icon "Create new item from current page"
Starting Out
In my example I will be adding references relating to EarthWeek. I have created a Collection (1) and these are the items in the collection (2) that I will be adding to my blog. There are two different ways this can be done.
Create Bibliography A
Highlight the items in your collection then right click to bring up the contextual menu and select Create Bibliography from Selected Items.
Choose Format
Choose the format you would like to use, in our school that would be MLA, then copy the information to your clipboard.
Add information
All that is left now is to paste to add the information you have to your blog.
Create Bibliography B
The second way of adding information to your blog is with click and drag. Once this is setup you will be able to to do this automatically in the future. Select preferences from the action menu.
Setup
From the Export menu select the default format you would like to use. You can setup different blogs to use different bibliographic styles.
Add Information
Once this is done you can drag and drop the references to your Blog.
Done
Your finished!
Site-Secific Settings
If you create a site specific setting the default settings will not be used and the settings you selected, Harvard in my case, will be in place.
Teacher Tips
Tag Based RSS Feeds-Blog Based

Use RSS feeds to simplify things (Using Your Blog)
RSS Feeds
There are many different ways of using RSS feeds. This way useful if you have never used RSS feeds before and are not currently using a RSS reader. We will be looking at other ways of doing the same thing using other tools later. I have embedded an older Common Craft video below on RSS feeds if you want an overview of RSS feeds.
When students create a new blog post you will need to get them to add a tag to their blog post.
Have Students Tag Their Work
Have students use a unique tag for their post. If your class is in block E and in grade 7 you might try your last name then 7e eg. mckinnon7e. Of course, if there are teachers with the same last name you may need to modify this slightly. Because our blogging system aggregates all of the
students blog post to the main blog we can use this tag to aggregate all of our content through RSS feeds via the main blog. This means you do not need to do this for each student in your class.
Management Tip
RSS feeds are case sensitive. So Mckinnon7e, mckinnon7E, McKinnon7e are all different. People will make mistakes when entering the tag. On your blog create a Tag Page. Have the students keep the tag page post open in one tab and their blog post open in another. They can then copy and paste the tag so you have fewer mistakes.
RSS & Our Blogs
Our blogs contain a plugin that allows you to send RSS based content to pages, posts, or sidebars. To use the plugin you need to use shortcodes. All shortcodes start with(1) [ and end with (5) ] you do not have to be in HTML mode to use these codes. RSSImport (2) is the shortcode for this plugin (3) display allows you to select the number of posts you want to show, this will show the 5 latest posts. (4) Feedurl is where you add the URL to the RSS feed. Don't forget to enclose the feed url with quotes. The next example, is how it would look if you used a category based RSS feed. So in your blog to display information Don't forget to add the [at the beginning and ] at the end: from a tag you would use RSSImport display="50" feedurl="http://blog.ssis.edu.vn/blog/tag/your_tag/feed/" from a category you would use RSSImport display="5" feedurl="http://blog.ssis.edu.vn/blog/your_category/grade8/feed"
Other Feeds
I have covered tags and category based RSS feeds in this document. You can get the feed for the whole blog, the feed for one author or even a feed based on a search of the blog. Above I have created a blog based search rss feed for the letters aow () used by Robert and Danielle in their Humanities class. Author based Feed - Looking for posts by Ruby a student in grade eight. http://blog.ssis.edu.vn/blog/author/wchen16/feed/ (need to use their system username) Search based feed - Looking for the terms aow http://blog.ssis.edu.vn/?s=aow&feed=rss2 (replace aow with the term you are searching for)
Creating a Google Reader Feed

This will work only at SSIS as I have slightly modified a file so I can use the blogroll data to create an OPML file that can be imported into Greader. Every blog can contain blogrolls separated not categories. If you have class sets of blogroll these instructions will show you how to create a google reader feed from your blogroll.
Choose The Blog

Select the blog that contains the organized blogroll links. A teacher might have organized their blogroll by classes eg. Science Block A, Science Block B etc. I am using a student that has organized her blog with many different link categories.
Use the feed PHP file
Once you have chosen the blog add /wp-links-feeds.php to the end of the url and go to that link. You will see a file similar to the one above.
Save the File
Right click to save the page and give the file a name but don't forget to add the .OPML extension.
Go To Reader
Go To Settings
Go to reader options and select settings
Select import
Select the import tab. in the OPML box browse to find the file you just created in the previous step. Select then upload the file.
Examine the Feeds
After the feeds have all been created you can click Back to Reader and you will see RSS feeds all organized by folders.
Creating A Comment Feed

Steps needed to add student comments to your RSS reader. This involves using a slightly modified file and will only work within the SSIS system. It is my hope to pre create a series of Reader bundles for teachers wanting to track student comments
Pick the blog
I am creating the comment feed for a Humanities class so am using the blogroll of a student from that class.
Using the file I modified
I modified a version of the wp-links-opml.php that comes with Wordpress and allows you to import blog rolls from one blog to another. I called the file wp-links-comments.php. So to create the OPML file I start by using the url of the blog and adding wp-links-comments.php. In this example http:/blog.ssis.edu.vn/102420/wp-links-comments.php as shown above.
Download and Change the Filename
Once you have the file in your browser window you need to save the file with an OPML extension.
Go to your Reader Settings
Go to your Google Reader and select settings.
Go to the Import Tab
Click on the Import/Export Tab and browse to find the Humanities.opml file that was just created. Then open the file and click on upload.
Upload the OPML file
After you upload the OPML file you should see new subscriptions in Google Reader. Notice that the Link Roll headings found on the blog are also the subscription folders found in Greader.
View Comments
As you can see the comments are visible in Google Reader and you can also see the comments received by individual student as well as who made the comment.
Creating a Teacher Based Taxonomy

Taxonomy is one of those words that most people never hear or use. Basically, a taxonomy is a way to group things together. Category The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts together by sorting them into various categories. These categories can then be seen on the site by using '/category/name' types of URLs. Categories tend to be pre-defined and broad ranging. Tag The 'post_tag' taxonomy is similar to categories, but more freeform. Tags can be made up on the fly, by simply typing them in. They can be seen on the site in the '/tag/name' types of URLs. Posts tend to have numerous tags, and they are generally displayed near posts or in the form of tag clouds. Link Category The 'link_category' lets you categorize your links. These tend to be used only internally, for organizational reasons, and are not usually exposed on the site itself. They are handy for defining groups of links to be displayed in sidebars and the like. From the Wordpress Codex.
Decide On Taxonomy
You will need to decide how you want your students work to be organized. Categories, tags and menus can be created then added to the student blog. For my example I have created two different sites. The one above, a template blog, contains all of the tags, categories, links and menus that I would like to have in the student site.
Student Blog Example
Although this is an empty blog this would work the same with student blogs. Currently it has 1 category, no tags, no links and no menus.
Get the categories, tags and menus
Start with the template blog and from the side menu click on (1) Tools then (2) Export and download the xml file.
Get Ready For Import
On the student blog from the side menu click on Tools then Import Then select Wordpress..
Find and Upload
Have the student navigate to the exported template blog xml file, choose the xml file, then click on upload file and import.
Find and Upload
Have the student navigate to the exported template blog xml file, choose the xml file, then click on upload file and import.
Completed - part 1
When this is done you will have all of the categories, tags and menu items. In the case of tags remember that as you have not used any yet they will not be visible in most used tags when creating a post. However, you begin typing the first few letters the tag will appear. Categories and
menus are also all available.
Add links
The steps above do not add the link roll information. When you import the links I am not able to import them and also import the link categories. So have the students create their link categories. From the side menu click on (1) Links then (2) link categories. After they enter the name they can click on the Add Link Category button to add the category. I have added a student and teacher category.
Get the Links
From the side menu click on (1) Tools then (2) import and click on Blogroll. Wordpress can import links in an OPML format.
Get the URL
In addition to importing ann OPML file wordpress can also import the blogroll of another blog So have the students add the url to the template blog then click on Import OPML fFile. In my example i used http://blog.ssis.edu.vn/temp/wp-links-opml.php. Temp would be changed to the name of the path to the blog containing the links. As all links are imported into one category I select students for the link category since they are the largest group.
Edit Teachers
I have imported all of the links to the Link Category Students. I just need to edit the Link category for teachers. To do this go to the side menu click on Links then All Links. Hover over a teachers name and click on edit.
Change Link Category
Deselect Students and select Teachers. Then click on Update Link.
Widget!
Not all themes default to a blogoll on the sidebar. For some you will need to add the blogroll widget. To do this go to the side menu click on Appearance then Widgets and drag the blogroll widget to the sidebar location.
Other Steps
Blog to Epub
Creating an Epub Document from a Wordpress Blog
Create a New Project
Start by clicking on New Project then fill in the required fields.
Manage the Parts
If you have other projects clicking on My Projects will take you to a list of all projects where you can then select Manage Parts to add the information to your book.
New Parts
Anthologize allows you to filter by Tags, Categories, Date Range and Post Type. I am going to add a electives part and a student (Hoy). I will end up creating two new parts then filtering by category to add the appropriate blog posts to my book.
Add New Parts
Click on New Part and add the name of the new part, in this case one of our students. Each part becomes a chapter in your book.
Save the Part
Clicking on Save Changes brings you back to the Manage Area where you can see the different parts I have added.
Filter the Information
Filter the selections by categories then select all blog posts in the Elective 8 category.
Add Posts to Part
Now I am going to click and drag the posts so they are underneath the appropriate part.
Add the Rest of Your Content
Then you keep adding the information so that all of the parts of your book have content.
Export Your Content
If you are in the manage parts area when you have added everything you can click on the Export button at the bottom of the page. You can also select Export from the Anthologize sidebar menu. Select the project you want to export and you will be taken to the Export Project screen where you can add the appropriate information.
Select the Document Type
Add the title a dedication, acknowledgement and the export format.

Export Your Document
A the next step you have some Epub preferences to select. I left all of these values at their default values then waited for the creation of the document. I downloaded it then added the document to our Ipad using calibre.
RSS Feeds
You can also add information via an rss feed. Click on import content add the rss feed then click on go.
Add Blog Posts
Anthologize will give you a list of all of the blog posts you can import into your project.
Add a Custom Google Search To our Blog

You might want to create a focussed search on your blog. Using a Google Custom Search is one way to do this.
Google Custom Search
Go to the Google Custom Search page http://www.google.com/cse/
Set Up the Search Engine
In my example I will be creating a custom search for Minecraft a game I will be using in the second semester. 1. Add a name for your search engine. 2. Add a description of what your search engine does. 3. Add the url's of the sites you want the engine to search. Once you are done click on next to try the engine out.
Choose a Style
Select a style then try some searches to make sure the engine is doing what you want it to do.
Click on Next to Finish
Click on next to finish and create your search engine. Although you could copy the code and add it to a Wordpress page I would like to add it to my side bar. So select Change the look and feel.
Change the Look and Feel
I have changed the layout from Full width to compact so I can add it to a Wordpress sidebar using a Text widget. Once you have selected compact click Save & Get Code. Copy the resulting code to your computer memory and move to your Wordpress blog.
Add a Text Widget
In the dashboard of your Wordpress blog select Appearance (1) then select Widgets (2). Drag a Text widget into the primary widget area (3) and paste the google custom search code into the text widget.
Text Widget With Code
This is what the text widget with code looks like.
Add A Description (If you want)
I left the google search title empty but added another text widget with a brief description and a line (<hr></hr>) to separate the two text widgets
View on the blog
Here you can see the custom search on the Wordpress Blog with a search for lesson plans and a few search results.

Using Our Blogging System

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Using Our Blogging System

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Blogs at Saigon South

Check out our blogs at http://blog.ssis.edu.vn

Blogs at Saigon South

3.2 3.3 3.4 4

Blogs at Saigon South - 4

Blogs at Saigon South - 5

Blogs at Saigon South - 6

Logging In To Your Blog's Dashboard

Enter your SSIS username and Password

Blogs at Saigon South - 7

Select Your Site

Go to My Sites and select your blog then select the dashboard.

Blogs at Saigon South - 8

Creating A Blog Post

Creating a New Post

Blogs at Saigon South - 9

Tag and Category

Blogs at Saigon South - 10

Blogs at Saigon South - 11

Change Your Blogging Name

Blogs at Saigon South - 12

Main Blog Categories

Blogs at Saigon South - 14

Adding a Graphic From Computer

Before You Upload

Blogs at Saigon South - 15

Blogs at Saigon South - 16

Add the Image

Blogs at Saigon South - 17

Blogs at Saigon South - 18

Adding a Graphic From URL

Before You Add the Image

Blogs at Saigon South - 19

Click on the From URL tab

Add the Media

Blogs at Saigon South - 20

Adding a Graphic From Media Library

Get the Image

Click on the Media Library tab.

Blogs at Saigon South - 21

Select the image

Locate the image you wish to insert and click on Show.

Edit Image information

Blogs at Saigon South - 22

You can also edit the image

Blogs at Saigon South - 23

Adding an Audio File

Select The File

Click on the Add Media icon.

Blogs at Saigon South - 24

Select The File

Blogs at Saigon South - 25

Click on Audio Player then select insert into post .

Save and View Post

Save your post then view it to see if is working properly.

Blogs at Saigon South - 26

Quickly Add A Youtube Video

Get the URL

Right click on the video and copy the video URL

Blogs at Saigon South - 27

Add the video URL to your blog post

Blogs at Saigon South - 28

Another Way to The Long Link

Blogs at Saigon South - 29