I’m not the most dedicated Instagrammer (need to get out more) or the best photographer (wish I was) but like many other educators, I enjoy sharing my photos on Instagram.

Why?  It’s fun! Easy! I can quickly share photos taken on my iPhone when I’m out and about!  Or have fun editing photos and sharing from my camera on my iPad!  And in the process I’m learning more about photography, photo editing and other Instagram users.

Here’s my advice to help you get started or get more out of using Instagram.

Click on a link below to quickly go to the section you want to read:

1. What is Instagram?
2. Creating an Instagram account
3. Setting up your profile information
4. How to follow other instagram users
5. Overview of smartphone and tablet camera specs
6. Sharing photos saved on your device to Instagram
7. Introduction to Instagram filters, borders and effects
8. Overview of the Instagram filters
9. Working with borders
10. Working with lux
11. Using tilt shift
12. Sharing a photo taken from inside Instagram
13. Introduction to captions, hashtags and sharing
14. Using hashtags on Instagram
15. Sharing your photos to other services
16. Viewing photos posted on Instagram on your computer
17. Other Photo apps and Instagram

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What is Instagram?

Launched in 2010, Instagram is one of the fastest growing mobile media phenoms; with just over 15 million users at the start of 2012 it now has over 50 million users.

Instagram is a free photo sharing app for android and iOS devices that lets users take a photo, apply photo filters and share through a variety of social networking services including Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and on Instagram.

Instagram is sort of like Twitter – except instead of connecting with others using 140 characters or less, you’re sharing photos.

Instagram is popular because:

1. It makes sharing photos using mobile devices quick, easy and a lot of fun!
2. It provides a great place to learn more about each other and photography.
3. The Instagram interface is similar to other popular social networks and includes features to easily connect with others such as following users, like other users’ photos, commenting.

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Creating an Instagram Account

Signing up for an Instagram account is as simple as:

1. Download the Instagram app in the App store on your iPhone, iPod or iPad or in Google Play on your Android device.
2. Open up Instagram on your device.
3. Tap on the ‘Sign up‘ button to create your account. ( You must sign up for an account using the Instagram app on your device; it isn’t possible to sign up using the Instagram website.)
4. Now just add your email address, username, password, upload your profile picture and click Done.

Tips for creating your account:

• Remember first impressions count!  Choose your username and profile picture carefully.
• Choose a username that makes it easier for others to relate to you as a real person and conveys the right impression of who you are. e.g. Compare rwb3 with ronnieburt — which is easier?
• But don’t stress too much — your username and picture can be changed any time (Profile  > Edit Profile)
• While you can find friends to follow during the sign up process it is worth bypassing this step, by tapping on Next on the Find Friends screen, to complete your profile information and sharing a few photos before finding friends to add.  Some educators check this information to decide whether to follow you.

Here’s a quick overview of the main tabs inside Instagram to get you started:

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Now just complete your profile information as follows:

1. Tap on the Profile tab and then tap on ‘Edit Profile‘.
2. Add your First name, Last name, blog or website URL (if applicable) and your bio then click Submit.

Below is an example of profile information on a User’s public profile page:

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Following Other Instagram Users

A key aspect of using Instagram is connecting with other users.  So once you’ve shared a couple of photos it’s time to start following other users.

Finding people to follow is as simple as:

1. Tap on the Profile tab.
2. Now tap on ‘Find Friends‘ and use any of the options to find users you want to follow.

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Sharing Photos on Instagram

To share photos on Instagram you can either:

1. Take a new photo from inside Instagram.
2. Choose from a photos saved on your device.

But before sharing photos it’s worth first discussing Smartphone and tablet cameras because the quality the photos you take depend on the device you’re using.

Smartphone and tablet camera specs

Cameras on mobile devices have improved considerably.  While the megapixels on these devices fall short of what’s available in today’s point-and-shoot digitial cameras, many of them are capable of producing good images.

Smartphones are now the camera of choice by many people; iPhone are the most popular device for uploading photos to Flickr and whole communities have formed for iphoneography (iPhone and iPad photography enthusiasts).

Why are Smartphone cameras popular?  It’s always with you!.  See something interesting and you can take a quick photo.  And better of all with photo apps you can quickly enhance and manipulate photos in ways you once dreamed of!

The camera specs for most of the latest smartphones are fairly similar; many are now 8 megapixels with HD video capture.

Below’s a comparison of iPhone cameras:

Whereas the cameras in tablets, such as iPads, and devices like iPod Touch’s aren’t as powerful and their photos aren’t as good as those by smartphones like the iPhone 4S.

However, another option is to use photos taken with your digital camera.  Importing photos from a digital camera using an iPad is as simple as inserting your memory card in the iPad Camera Connection kit and connecting it to your iPad.

Ultimately,  to some extent, it really depends on how you want to use the photos you take.  Higher resolution photos are ideal for printing whereas a lower resolution photo is fine if you just want to share online.

One of my favorite photos I’ve shared on Instagram was taken with my old iPhone 3; it’s quality isn’t as good as a photo taken on my iPhone 4S but it tells a story and captured a sense of that moment in time.

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Sharing photos saved on your device to Instagram

When saving photos on your device it is important to realise that Instagram photos are designed in the shape of the old polaroid picture so you need to keep in mind that your picture will be cropped as a square  i.e. avoid making the entire image you want to share fill your camera screen when saving photos to your device.

Sharing a photo saved on your device using instagam is simple:

1.  Just tap on the “Camera/Share” button.

2. Tap on the Image Icon

3.  Choose a photo from your photo library,

4.  Position the photo within the square crop box — you can use a pinching motion to zoom in and out of the photo.

5. Then tap Choose.

6.  Choose your effects (lux and tilt shift), filter, if you want to show/hide border and, if satisfied with your image, tap on the green check mark to continue to add caption, location and share.

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Introduction to Instagram Filters, borders and effects

The cool part of Instagram is you can apply filters, effects and borders inside Instagram before sharing the photo.

Here’s a quick overview of the different options and what they do:

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Filters

Filters are ready-made effects for your photos.  Using filters, you don’t have to make separate adjustments for color, saturation or other image characteristics to achieve a particular look because the filter does it for you.

Just choose a filter and your image is transformed into a different look and feel; they can soften imperfections, draw lights and colors in interesting ways.

Instagram comes with 17 filters you can use.  Which filter works best depends on the light, the content on your photo and what you’re trying to achieve.  The best option is to try each filter on your photo to see what creates the look you want.

Here’s an overview of the Instagram filters:

1. Normal: This is no filter; it’s what your photo looks like before a filter has been added.
2. Amaro: Adds a country or old west feel to your photo.
3. Rise:  Used when you want soft to warm light to leak and is great for landscape and nature shots.
4. Hudson: Creates subtle vignette like feel with cool blue tones.
5. X-Pro II: Brings out the warm, saturated tones with an emphasis on aquas and green.
6. Sierra: Warm and a little faded.  A bit like a less intense version of Valencia.
7. Lo-fi: Creates a dreamy, slightly blurry look with saturated yellows and greens.
8. Early Bird: Creates a faded, blurred colors, with emphasis on yellow and beige.
9. Sutro: Gives a sepia like feel with emphais on purples and browns.
10. Toaster: Adds high exposure to your photo with corner vignetting.
11. Brannan: Creates a low-key image with emphasis on greys and greens.
12. Inkwell:  Creates a black and white image for that old photo look.
13. Walden:  Gives your photo a washed out color with bluish overtones.
14. Hefe: Makes your photo fuzzy with an emphasis on yellow and golden tones.
15. Valencia: Creates true-to-life contrast with slightly grey and brown overtones.
16. Nashville: Creates sharp images with magneta to purple tints.
17. 1977: Gives your photo a 1970’s feel.
18. Kevin: Creates a super-saturated retro looking photo.

Here’s a sample image using each of the different filters:

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Borders

Most Instagram filters include the option to add a standard border to your photo.  Filters that don’t include a border option are: Normal, Amaro, Rise and Valencia.

After applying the filter to the photo you just tap on the square in the far upper left hand corner to toggle the border on and off.

Here’s a Lo-fi adjusted image with and without a border:

Here’s a Kelvin adjusted image with and without a border:

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Lux

Lux works by making your photos more vibrant and brings out the details in your photos that you might not have noticed.  It works by bringing brightness to dark images by filling dark areas with light.  It can also more depth depending on which filter you are using.

The lux icon is the Sun icon located on the bottom left hand side corner.  This feature is not available on all Android devices.

The best option is to toggle lux on and off with each filter to see if it improves the look of your image.

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Tilt Shift

Tilt-shift photography involves altering the depth of field for what you’ve captured allowing you to emphasise certain objects in the photo while blurring the surrounding around your chosen objects.

It is normally done using an actual tilt-shift lens on a camera and can be imitated using Photoshop, or using photo apps like Instagram.

To apply a tilt shift in Instagram you just need to:

1.  Select the drop icon (which represents tilt shift) from the top menu.

2.  Choose the linear (-) or radial (o) tilt shift.

Love it!?  Hate it!?

Doesn’t really matter what you think of the new Google Reader interface…..

What does matter is they’ve changed some of the Google Reader functionality educators like to use.

So here’s my essential guide for what educators now need to know about using Google Reader.

Click on the following links to learn more:

1. Intro to RSS and Google Reader
2. Setting up Google Reader and adding subscriptions
3. Managing Subscriptions using Folders
4. Reading posts inside Google Reader
5. Reading posts from Google Reader on an iPhone or an iPad
6. Creating a blogroll using Google Reader
7. Creating a public page using Google Reader
8. Sending an item from Google Reader to your blog

Intro to RSS and Google Reader

One of the smartest things you can do is learn how to use RSS well if you plan to work online with your students.

RSS isn’t dead, isn’t hard to learn and is an essential time saving tool for reading latest students’ work in one location quickly.

RSS is an acronym which stands for Really Simple Syndication.

In simple terms, RSS is a simple and effective way of keeping in touch when new information is added to a website without having to visit the website to check for new updates.

The most common RSS reader used is Google Reader.

How it works is you subscribe to your favorite website using the RSS feed in Google Reader.  Whenever new information is added to the website it is automatically sent to Google Reader where you can read it at your convenience.

For example, whenever your student or a favorite blogger or publishes a new posts on their blog, it is automatically sent to your Feed reader.   Or whenever a student updates on your wiki or posts in your Ning it is automatically sent to your Feed reader.

Please note :

• Blogs on all standard blogging platforms automatically include RSS feeds and don’t necessarily use words or an icon to indicate the presence of the RSS feed.
• For all Edublogs, the rss feed for posts is found by going to yourblog.edublogs.org/feed and the comment feed is located at yourblog.edublogs.org/comments/feed
• RSS readers like Google Reader automatically detect your RSS feed from your blog URL so there is no need to know the feed URL.

Setting up a Google Reader account and adding subscriptions

1.  Create a Gmail account (if you don’t have one)

2.  Go to Google Reader and sign in with your Google Account

3.  Add the blog to your Google Reader account by:

• Clicking on Subscribe
• Entering their blog URL
• Now click Add

You can also subscribe to all the comments published on student blogs by adding their student comment feed by:

• Clicking on Subscribe
• Entering their comment feed URL. For Edublogs blog you add comments/feed/ to the end of the blog URL. For example it should look like this http://theedublogger.com/comments/feed/
• Now click Add

You follow the exact same steps to subscribe to any other website that has an RSS feed.  However, you’d normally locate the RSS feed you want to add and then paste in the feed URL.

Managing Subscriptions using Folders

Folders in Google Reader are like folders on your computer.

You use them to manage the different types of blogs and websites you read.  Folders let you easily prioritise your reading and locate subscriptions.

For example, to manage student blogs you can set up different folders for student blogs from each class or a folder for Student Posts and another folder for Student Comments.

Setting up a folder in Google Reader is a simple as:

1.  Hover your mouse over the blog title to display the drop down arrow.

2.  Click on the drop down arrow to display the subscription options.

3.  Select New Folder.

4.  Name your new folder and click OK.

Adding subscriptions to your folder is as simple as:

1.  Left mouse click on a blog title.

2.  Drag the blog into the folder.

3.  Then release your mouse to place it in the folder.

Alternatively, you can bulk add subscriptions to a folder using your subscription page:

1.  Go to Options and select Reader Settings.

2.  Click on the Subscriptions tab.

3.  Select the subscriptions you want to add to a folder.

4.  Click on drop down arrow next to More Actions and select the Folder you want to add the subscriptions to.

Reading posts inside Google Reader

Latest posts from the blogs and websites you subscribe are automatically added to your Google Reader when they’re published.

You read them inside Google Reader as follows:

1.  Log into your Google Reader account

2.  Click on the folder you want to read.

3.  Make sure it is set to Expanded view so you see the full post.

3.  The number of unread posts is shown in brackets next to the folder name.

4.   Just scroll down through the posts in the folder to read all posts.

5.  As you scroll the posts will automatically be marked as read and the number of unread posts listed next to the folder name will decrease.

6.  Just click on the post’s title to visit a post to add a comment

Reading posts from Google Reader on an iPhone or an iPad

The easiest way to read posts inside Google Reader on an iPhone or an iPad is using a mobile app like Reeder.

Reeder syncs with your Google Reader account and automatically brings all unread posts into your Reeder app allowing you to quickly read through them on your  iPhone or iPad.

Creating a blogroll using Google Reader

A blogroll is a list of links that you display on your blog.

Bloggers commonly use blogrolls to list their favourite blogs.  Blogrolls help readers locate other blogs worth reading — you are saying “these are some blogs I like – which are worth checking out!”

Educators and their student commonly use blogrolls to link to all the student blogs in their class as it helps them easily locate and visit each others’ blogs.

Creating a blogroll using Google Reader is a faster way of adding a blogroll to all student blogs than adding the links inside each blog dashboard using Links > Add New.

Please note:

• Previously you could create blogroll by making a folder public
• Now you create a blogroll using a bundle

Here’s how create and add a Google Reader blogroll:

1.  Hover your mouse over the name of a folder you want to create a blogroll from to display the drop down arrow.

2.  Click on the drop down arrow to display the folder options.

3.  Select Create a bundle.

4.  Click Save.

5.  Click on Create a bundle clip.

6.  Customise the blogroll title, select your color scheme and copy all the embed code.

7.  Now go to Appearance > Widgets in your blog dashboard

5.  Click on the desired Sidebar to expand (so you can add the widgets)

6.  Add a text widget to your desired sidebar.

• You drag by click on the widget with your left mouse and moving the widget.

7.  The widget will automatically open — just paste all the embed code for your Google Reader blogroll, click Save and then Close.

8.  Now your blogroll will appear in your sidebar.

You add new blogs or remove blogs from your blogroll as follows:

1.  Click on Browse for stuff

2.  Click on View your bundles

3.  Click on Edit underneath the bundle that holds your blogroll.

4.  Drag and drop new blogs into the bundle or remove a blog by dragging it into the trash area.

5.  Every change made in the bundle automatically updates in the blogroll on your blog.

Creating a public page using Google Reader

A public page is a place for you to collect any of your items in Google Reader that you want to share with other people.

Public pages are handy for educators who want their students to be able to read all posts from the student blogs in one location but don’t want their students to set up their own Google Reader account.

Please note:

• Previously you could create public pages by making a folder public
• Now you create a public page using a bundle
• If you’ve already added a Google Reader blogroll to your blog sidebar then the students can click on the preview link at the bottom of the blogroll to visit your public page and read the latest posts.
• To add and remove blogs from your Public page you need to edit your Bundle by following the instructions for editing your blogroll.

Here’s how create a public page:

1.  Hover your mouse over the name of a folder you want to create a public page from to display the drop down arrow.

2.  Click on the drop down arrow to display the folder options.

3.  Select Create a bundle.

4.  Click Save.

5.  Click on Add a link.

6.  Copy the URL from the address bar.

7.   Now go to Links > Add New in your blog dashboard

8.  Add a title for your Google Reader public page to the Name

9.  Add your Google Reader public page URL to the Web Address 

10.  Select Blogroll in the Categories and the click Add Link

11. Now go to Appearance > Widgets in your blog dashboard

12.  Add your links widget to your sidebar.

13.  You should now see a link to your Public page and students just need to click on this link to read the latest posts.

How to send Google Reader items to your blog

There’s occasion when you might want to send interesting posts from Google Reader directly to your blog.

This is easily done using the “Send to”  feature of Google Reader.

Here’s how you do it:

1.  Go to Reader Settings in Google Reader.

2.  In Reader Settings click on Send To tab

3.  Click on Create a Custom link at the bottom of the page.

4.  Add the Name of your blog, the URL in the following format and then click Save.

http://yourblog.edublogs.org/wp-admin/press-this.php?u=${url}&t=${title}&s=${source}

5.  Now click Back to Google Reader at the top of the page.

6. You’ll now see a Send to link at the bottom of each item in your Google Reader account.

7.  To send an item to your blog select the name of your blog from the Send to dropdown menu and presto it’ll open up in quick press view on your blog.

Final thoughts

What tips would you give educators for using Google Reader or RSS?  What else would you like to know?

If you are enjoying reading this blog, please consider Subscribing For Free!

Check out this 2018 update of using Skype in the classroom, complete with a PDF full of tips to ensure your Skype call goes smoothly!

Increasingly, educators globally are transforming their classroom using Skype to create powerful, authentic, motivating learning experiences for their students.

From connecting with classrooms in other locations to learning about each others’ culture to connecting with content experts — educators are extending learning beyond classroom walls.

So how do you use Skype effectively with your class?

Hopefully this will help!

Here’s our educator’s guide on every thing you need to know about Skype from……

1.  Setting up your account

A. Installing Skype and creating your Skype username
B. Setting up your Skype Profile
C. Updating your Privacy Options
D. Configuring your Audio and Video settings
E. Adding People To Your Skype Account

2.  Using your Skype account

A. Skype Status
B. Sending or Receiving an Instant Message
C. Calling someone who’s on Skype

3.  Using Skype in your Classroom

A. Setting up the equipment
B. Using the microphone and video
C. Being part of the audience
D. Using the Chat window
E. Finding classes and content experts to connect with

Alternatively, here’s The Complete Educator’s Guide to Using Skype effectively in the classroom PDF version — for you to download and print off.

About Skype

Skype is a free application that allows you to call people from all over the world using the Internet.

When you contact another person that uses Skype you talk or chat for free.

Best of all you can tell when another user is online and what their status is so you know if they are available.

Setting up your Skype account:

A. Installing Skype and creating your Skype username

Before you can use Skype you must install it on your computer and set up a Skype account.

Here’s how you do it:

1.  Download and install Skype from the Skype website
2.  Once installed open Skype and you’ll see a start-up screen
3.  Click on Don’t have a Skype Name?

4. Follow the directions to create a new Skype account and username then click Sign In

• Remember first impressions count!  Choose your username carefully
• Choose a username that makes it easier for others to find you and conveys the right impression of who you are

B.  Setting up your Skype Profile

Before adding contacts to your Skype account it is important to set up your Profile.

The more relevant the information you include in your Profile the easier it will be for others to ensure they’re connecting with the right person.

To change your Profile you need to:

1.  Click on the Profile tab

• or select Skype > Profile > Edit Your Profile from the menu bar

2.  Change Your Picture by clicking on Choose picture from file

• or select Skype > Profile > Change Your Picture from the menu bar
• It’s harder to located the correct contact without a profile picture and you’re less likely to added as contact if you’re using the default avatar.

3.  Add your Country/Region, State/Province, City, Time, website (if applicable), gender and language by clicking on each field or using the drop down menu.

4.  Complete your About Me information.

5.  You can check how others will see your profile information by clicking on the Public profile and Contacts only buttons at the top of your Profile page.

• Public Profile is what people see when they search for your Skype contact details.
• Contacts Only are what people who have been added to your Skype account can see.

C.  Updating your Privacy Options

Your privacy settings control who can contact you via Skype, how long your IM history is kept and is used to manage blocked users.  It’s worth adjusting these before getting started using Skype.

By default, only the people on your Contact list are able to:

1. See your profile picture
2. Application share their screen
3. Video talk with you
4. Send IM’s

While anyone on Skype who searches for you can add you as a contact or call you.

To change your privacy settings select Skype > Privacy in the menu bar.

What privacy options you choose is entirely up to you!

However,  if you want to minimise unwanted calls from anyone you might want to change it to “Allow calls from …. people in my Contact list only”

D.  Configuring your Audio and Video settings

It’s best to make sure your audio and video is set up properly before using Skype to make calls.

There’s nothing more annoying frustrating than the other person not being able to hear your voice and/or you not being able to hear theirs.

To make calls you’ll need to have either:

1. Headset with microphone
2. Microphone with speakers

Equipment for personal Skype calls:

• In built microphone and speakers on laptops work fine but you may need to adjust the sound setting to prevent the other person hearing their own voice feedback by your computer
• Comfortable headset with microphone is recommended if you’re planning to use a lot and for extended periods
• Headset choice is very personal however I use Logitech Laptop Headset H555.  Cheap headsets work just as well
• Alternatively, use a cheap desktop microphone with speakers
• Web camera (optional) – dependent on whether you like to video talk

Equipment for Skype calls in classrooms:

• Desktop microphone
• Speakers
• Web camera
• Interactive white board for display or a data projector if video conferencing with another class

Once your Skype equipment is connected to your computer all you need to do is configure your Audio settings by going to Call > Audio Settings in the menu bar.

Now just select your Microphone and Speakers from the drop down options.

Repeat the same process to set up your web cam using the Video Settings options.

Testing your Audio, Sound and Video quality is as simple as:

1.  Click on Echo / Sound Test Service

2.  Click on Call

3.  Now follow the instructions to test your set up using Skype’s automatic sound test service

• If you don’t hear any sound you’ll need to check your set up

4.  Alternatively, you can click Check Settings to the right of Call.

E.  Adding People To Your Skype Account

To contact people you will need to add their username to your Skype account.

The easiest way of finding someone’s Skype username is to contact them to ask:

1. If  you could add them to your Skype account
2. For their username

However, you can easily search for  friends’ Skype account using their email address or name.

You add people to your account by:

1.  Select Contacts > Add a Contact in the menu bar or click on Add Contact.

2.  Enter their full name, email address or Skype name.

3.  If the Skype account of the person you wish to add is displayed, click Add below the contact.

• Clicking on their Avatar displays all their profile information
• If more than one Skype account matches your search, click on view to check out all matches found.

4.  Before the contact can be added, you must send a contact request to that person. Enter some text to introduce yourself and click Send request.

5.  The contact will be added to your contact list, but will appear offline until they accept your request.

6.  Once the person agrees to your request, they will be added to your Contact list. You can then make free calls and video calls to that person, and send instant messages and files to each other.

• Occasionally they won’t receive your notification to add to their contact list – in this situation just ask them to also add your username to their account.

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2.  Using your Skype account:

A. Skype Status

Best part of Skype is you can tell when another user is online and what their status is so you know if they are available.

Some one’s Skype status is showing Available or Away from keyboard are normally near their computer.

However, it good etiquette to send a person a short Instant message and waiting to see if they reply rather than calling them as it might not be convenient, you might be interrupting their work flow or they may not have their audio configured.

Once you’ve engaged in a IM conversation then you can nicely ask them if they mind or if it is convenient to use voice.

Changing your Status is as simple as:

1.  Click on drop down menu next to your status
2.  Select your new Status

B.  Sending or Receiving an Instant Message

Sending an Instant message is as easy as:

1. Find the person or group you want to message from your contact list.
2. Their username will load in the main window and you just click inside the conversation box.
3.  Now type your short message and click the blue Send message button, or press Enter on your keyboard.

If someone IMs you, your Recent tab will turn orange and will show a number to to indicate how many new IM you have received.

You’ll also see an orange dot against the person’s name in your contact list who has sent the IM.

To check newly received IM:

1. Click the Recent tab. You’ll see a list of contacts who have recently contacted you using IM.
2. Unread messages are indicated by the person’s name shown in bold with a number next to their name.
3. Click on the person’s name to open up the main window and view the conversation.

4. Type your reply inside the conversation box and click the blue Send message button, or just press Enter on your keyboard.

Other useful things you can do in an instant message include:

1.  Add more people to the conversation to create a group IM

• Click on Add People
• Choose their names from the Contact list and click Select
• Now click Add

2.  Use emoticons or add small pictures to show how you are feeling

3.  Send documents, photos or videos

4.  Use Extra features like play games and personalise your Skype.  Read more about Extras here.

C.  Calling someone who’s on Skype

Remember it good etiquette to send a person a short Instant message and waiting to see if they reply before calling them as it might not be convenient, you might be interrupting their work flow or they may not have their audio configured.

Once you’ve engaged in a IM conversation then you can nicely ask them if they mind or if it is convenient to use voice.

Calling someone who’s on Skype is as easily as:

1. Find the person you want to call by looking in your contact list.
2.  Check their Skype status and if they are available click their name. You will see their details in the main window.
3.  Click the green Call button . You should hear ringing. If you don’t hear the other person or they can’t hear you, click the call quality icon in the call bar .
4.  Hovering your mouse over the main window during a call brings up the Skype menu items which you use to access different Skype features.

5.  To hang up, click the End call button.

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3.  Using Skype in your Classroom

Using Skype with your students does require new skill sets to developed.

For good video quality students need to think more about impact of:

1. Their own movement
2. Their movement of objects
3. Where they place objects to display to the other class.

For good audio quality students needs to:

1. Be confident
2. Think about what they want to say
3. Speak clearly and loudly enough
4. Slow down their speech and avoid use of language specific to their country unless they explain what the term(s) means

The keys to an effective skype classroom session include take the time to:

• Practise all skills before the Skype session
• Decide what outcomes you want to achieve and plan the Skype session including the questions, what you want to discuss and show before you start
• Allocate students different job roles for during the Skype session such as webcam operator, microphone manager, speaker, photographer, film session, IM writers, live bloggers, data recorders

It’s also worth keeping parents and families informed of why and how you’re using Skype in the classroom so they feel comfortable with the process.  Check out Keith Ferrell’s Rationale for using Skype in the classroom and parent permission slip — which he uses to explain the process to his families.

For detailed information on planning and running a Skype session refer to Silvia Tolisano’s:

1. Skype jobs for Students
2. Assessment of learning via Skype – excellent explanation of pre-activities, during skype call activities and post activities
3. A few tips for student filming in the classroom

Equipment for Skype calls in classrooms:

• Desktop microphone
• Speakers
• Web camera
• Interactive white board for display or a data projector if video conferencing with another class

Below are tips adapted with permission from:

1. Sue Wyatt’s Improving our Skype Calls
2. Ann Mirtchin’s Using Skype in the classroom

A.  Setting up the equipment

• If using a webcam where the videoconference is projected onto an interactive white board for display or via a data projector locate the webcam beside the board, so the speaker can see both the webcam and class they are speaking to.
• Have a chair near the microphone for speakers to sit on.
• Have the webcam on eye-level with the speaker so they don’t have to look up or down at the webcam as this will distort the view of the class watching.
• Set up the desks for students not at the microphone, so they can still be seen by the class you are speaking to.
• Ensure everything is set up from the start including any objects you want to share.
• Do a test Skype call with the other teacher before the day so you can both trouble shoot any video and sound issues.
• Test the equipment before starting class.
• If you experience issues with the call during the session try switching off the video to see if that helps.
• Have a management plan for discipline problems before commencing — so you can intervene quickly if needed.

B.  Using the microphone and video

• Speak clearly and try to slow down your normal speech.  It takes time to adjust to some accents — talking slower helps.
• Speak fluently with no small talk or swearing.
• Avoid language that is only from your country unless you explain the meaning to your viewers.
• When it is your turn to talk, make sure you know what you are going to talk about. Try to explain rather than give a one or two word answer.
• Show confidence when speaking – this might mean a few rehearsals for some students.
• If using a desk microphone, hold it straight and speak straight into it, not swinging it side to side
• Minimise too much movement of objects or people as this can cause blurring
• Left mouse click on the corner of the main window and drag to increase the window size to enlarge the video and then click on the Show IM icon so you can send IM and watch the video.
• If not using IM, then just click on Full screen to enlarge the video stream.

C.  Being part of the audience

• Be quiet when someone is speaking on the microphone.
• Listen attentively when you are not the speaker, as you might know the answer to the question being asked by the other class.
• Ideally only one person should speak at a time
• Don’t sit friends near each other as they will tend to distract each other when not the speaker.
• Sit where you can see and hear the conversation but where it is also easy to get up and go to the microphone.

D.  Using the Chat window

IM is excellent for feedback and questions.

It’s especially ideal when connecting with classes that English isn’t their first language, or when sound quality isn’t good — it’s a great way of  typing in key phrases to ensure information is being understood.

• Use IM to send a quick message to check the other class is ready before calling.
• Allocate students to be in charge of the IM conversation during the video conference and provide them clear guidelines of their role.

E.  Finding classes and content experts to connect with

Here’s where you’ll find some connections to get you started:

• Skype other Classrooms!
• Around the World with Skype – scroll down page
• Skype in the Classroom website

Back to Top

Final thoughts

Would love to hear about your experiences!

What advice have we missed?   What other advice would you give educators using Skype in their classrooms?

And we’d love to hear what you’ve gained from using Skype in the classroom — please leave a comment to let us know.

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To help you out, here is a list of the most popular and most useful widgets that can be added to your blog in no time.

We’ve set up a Widget Demo blog so you can check out all these widgets in one handy location to see how they look when added to a blog!

Scroll down to the bottom of this post for more instructions on how to add widgets to your blog. Don’t forget, these widgets can also be embedded using Insert Embed Code in any page or post as well!

We regularly update this post with new information.  This post was last updated March, 2015.

Visitor Statistics

Visitor tracking widgets display the visitors to a blog and are important ways to highlight a blog’s global audience.  This can be incredibly motivating for students and provides built in opportunities for geography and maths lessons.

1. ClustrMaps – The most popular widget on Edublogs.  Displays a small map with “dots” for each of your visitors.
2. Flag Counter – Lists the most common countries that your visitors are from and shows the flag from each country.
3. Revolver Map – displays all visitor locations and recent hits live and in realtime on a revolving globe of the Earth.
4. Who’s Among Us – With an account, includes some nice stat collection tools.

Talking Avatars

Talking avatars are great for a wide range of purposes including grammar and fluency reading practices, delivering content and engaging auditory learners.

1. Voki – Add a speaking and highly customizable avatar to your blog.  Record you voice, create a character, and much more!
2. Read The Words – Human avatars that will read text or recorded audio right in your blog.
3. Site Pal – A paid widget that can make scarily realistic avatars using uploaded photos of you or students.

Clocks and Calendars

Clocks help develop connections with classes in other locations and countries while helping teach time to younger students.

1. Clock Link – 100’s of different and unique clocks of all types.
2. Local Times  – wide range of different types of clocks to help connect with classes in other locations.
3. Human Calendar – adds a cute calendar composed of photos of people.
4. My Calendar – Used to display a monthly calendar.
5. Countdown clocks – Displays a countdown clock for an event e.g. time until Christmas.

Weather

Weather widgets help classes from other countries learn about weather and seasons in your area while helping to teach your younger students more about weather.

1. AccuWeather – The most complete collection of weather widgets to show current conditions and forecasts.
2. WeatherBug – Displays live, local weather conditions and forecasts.

Multimedia

Images and videos are great ways of sharing visually what is happening in your classroom and class.  They are also a good way of  delivering content and engaging visual learners

1. Image Widget – Easy add an image with text to your sidebar.
2. Instagram – displays your latest instagrams on your blog.
3. Flickr Badges – Add a link to your Flickr account
4. Flickr – Display your latest Flickr photos on your blog.
5. Facebook Photo Gallery – Show off your public facebook photo galleries right on your blog.
6. Gallery Widget – Display a photo gallery or slideshow in your blog’s sidebar.
7. YouTube – Grab the embed code from any YouTube video or playlist and add it to a text widget in  your sidebar.  Tip – change the custom size to 200 pixels before grabbing the embed code so it fits your sidebar.
8. RadioTuna – Pick a genre and play music for your visitors.

Reading

Bookshelf widgets are a good way to share your favorite books or provide recommended reading lists.

The most commonly used widget for sharing books is:

1. GoodReads

Miscellaneous

1. About.me – Pulls your About.me profile information, and a small screenshot of it, into your sidebar.
2. Blogroll – Display a list of the blogs you like to read or share links to resources.
3. Class blog widget – Displays a link to all student blogs attached to your class blog via My Class.
4. Email Subscription – Adds email subscription to your sidebar so readers can subscribe to email notifications of new posts.
5. Feed Wind – Display the latest posts from another blog anywhere on the web.
6. Google Maps – Embed a Google map – complete with directions, street views, and more.
7. Wolfram Alpha – Wolfram Alpha contains hundreds of customizable widgets from a wide range of subject areas, including unit converters, weather tools, graphing calculators, problem solvers, and much more. This might be the only resource math and science students and teachers need for their blogs!

How To Add Widgets

There are 100’s of different widgets that you can add to your blog sidebar using embed code in a text widget.

Adding these widget is as simple as follows:

1.  Grab the embed code for the widget you want to add.

2.  Go to Appearance > Widget.

3.  Drag a text widget into your sidebar.

4.  Paste the embed code into the text widget.

5.  Click Save and Close.

6.  You should now see the widget in your sidebar.

Share your favorite widgets

With so many widgets that you can to use, we are certain to have overlooked a few of your favorites.

Leave a comment below with any that we missed so that we can add to the list!

I’ve been asked for advice for blogging with ESL/EFL students.

I’m sure that ESL/EFL educators and their students will provide the best advice.  So I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Larry Ferlazzo’s Thoughts

And to get the conversation started Larry Ferlazzo (from Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day……For Teaching ELL, ESL, & EFL) has kindly shared his quick thoughts on blogging with ESL/EFL students:

1. Help students get email addresses
2. Compile a list of user names and passwords because someone will forget theirs.
3. Choose a blogging solution that includes an option for leaving an audio comment as it is a MUST – (if you use Edublogs.org you need to use either a Pro blog or Campus blog)
4. Identify some very, very simple tasks that students can do (refer to my Class website Intermediate English for ideas) and then they just have to paste the URL address of their creation in the comments.
   • They’ll get used to the tech that way.
   • Model on a computer projector each task and what is required so everyone sees.
5. Next, have students leave audio and written comments.  Highlight examples on computer projector.
6. Gradually use more complex tasks, like on my class blog.
   • Students can paste essays they write in the comments section, but should type them out in Word first to take advantage of grammar and spell check.
   • However, first, they should write it out longhand so they don’t get intimidated by all the mistakes Word will show them making.

Your thoughts

Would love to hear your thoughts!

1. What have you found works well?
2. What hasn’t worked well?
3. Do you have any questions on blogging with ESL/EFL students you would like answered?

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The aim of the post is to help educators and students with their personal blogging.

For my responses to student blogging questions refer to What You Wanted To KNOW About Student Blogging.

Want my blog to be well read and have a great appearance

Here’s my thoughts including recommended widgets:

1. Always put the most important widgets at the top of your blog
2. Search widget – top of blog or top of sidebar
3. RSS feed using Feedburner – here’s how to add it to your blog
4. Subscribe by email using Feedburner – here’s how to add Feeburner email subscription to your blog
5. Effectively use both categories and tags on your post to make it easier to find posts – here’s the difference between categories and tags
6. Place category widget above tag widget in your sidebar
7. Consider all widgets you add very carefully.  Do you really NEED them?  Do they help or distract from your blog appearance and content?
8. AVOID excessive use of bold, italics and colored font in posts
9. Use headings, number listed, bullet lists, short paragraphs to break posts into manageable chunks– here’s my first five tips for writing better blog posts
10. Use images effectively to engage attention –- read these posts:
    • Copyright and Using Images in Blog Posts
    • Finding and Adding Creative Commons Images To Your Blog Posts
    • Uploading Photos From Digital Cameras Into Blog Posts
11. Avoid blog themes with strong colors or text that is too small that distract the reader from content and make them not want to read it
12. Choose a blog title that is immediately meaningful and relevant to first time visitors – this can make or break their decision to become a subscriber.
    • For example, the original name Mobile Technology in TAFE for my personal blog is a classic example of a REALLY bad blog title

Here’s what to consider when choosing a blog theme.

And think about using your own custom image header like I’ve done on my personal blog – here’s how to upload custom image headers

Do a first time reader audit on your blog

A good approach to improving your blog appearance is to “Do a first time reader audit on your blog” by:

1. Following Darren Rowse’s Run a First Time Reader Audit on Your Blog instructions to observe how someone who has never read your blog navigates it
2. Contacting a few experience bloggers and ask them to do a quick audit of your blog to give you advice on what works and what doesn’t

How you see your blog and what you write about is often totally different from how viewed by others

What experienced bloggers spot differ from someone who normally doesn’t read blogs.

Can you tell how many times your blog has been viewed?

Knowing how many times your blog has been view doesn’t give you a true reflection of your readership.

Blog readership is made up of two totally separate components:

1. People who visit your blog site
2. Readers who subscribe to your blog using RSS or email subscription

The number of people who read your blog by visiting your blog site is generally considerably lower than those that subscribe by RSS or email subscription.

To understand your readership and changes you need to:

1. Set up Google Analytics for your blog
2. Set up Feeburner RSS and email subscription

PostRank is also good for monitoring other engagement factors.

How can a blogger attract more readers?

Hard question because it’s a combination of factors including:

1.  Your blog’s appearance

Some bloggers write great content but:

• Their blog theme and sidebar clutter distracts readers from appreciating the great content
• Lay out of their posts makes their posts hard to read –  here’s my first five tips for writing better blog posts

2.  Type of posts and how frequently you publish posts:

Bloggers like Stephen Downes, Larry Ferlazzo and Richard Brynes all have high readership because they all:

• Have high posts frequency (post several posts per day)
• Publish posts that provide great information for their readers

As a general rule high posts frequency combined with great content increases readership faster than low post frequency with great content.

But you don’t always need high posting frequency to have high readership.

For example, some one like Vicki Davis posts less frequently but  has high readership because of her great content and amazing support of the educational community.

It’s worth checking out Post Rank’s Education list even though their list is based on engagement factors (as opposed to readership) — to check out different edublogging approaches.

3.  Connecting with others

Being a blogger isn’t just about publishing posts.

It’s also about reading others posts, taking time to comment on their posts (in meaningful ways), engaging with your readers by commenting back when they leave comments — being a good blog citizen.

A natural part of connecting with others means that more people are likely to become aware of your work.

Don’t forget that linking to someone else’s post is an important part of blogging.  Why?

Because reading posts that talks about other bloggers or their posts but doesn’t include links to them is really frustrating for readers. Readers like to follow the links and check out the information in more detail but without the links they can’t!

And when you include links to another bloggers post it sends a pingback to that blogger.  Most bloggers check out pingback to their blogs.

Here’s more information on What’s A Pingback? And How To Write Links

But please note — I can’t stress meaningful ways enough when connecting with others, writing comments or using pingbacks.

4.  How you make people aware of your posts

I know other bloggers feel uncomfortable about this as myself.

But nowadays increasingly readers are reading blog posts by links shared on twitter rather than RSS.   So it is now a good idea to tweet when you’ve written a new post.

If you’re not currently using twitter – here’s how to get started.

Bloggers are also using Facebook to connect with more readers – here’s how you do it.

How do you get more people to read your blog and comment?

Increasing readership doesn’t necessarily lead to more comments.

As a general rule if you publish several post per day readers are less likely to comment on posts than if you publish posts two or three times per week.

Scheduling posts several days apart gives readers time to process your posts and means they are more likely to write comments.

However, it does all depend on how you’ve written your post.  Has your post invited a response?

There are skills to writing posts that make readers want to comment — my Comment Count post should give you some ideas.

What are your best practices to ensure uninterrupted publishing posts?

We’re all always busy — so time can be a challenge.

The key is work out what routine works best you and set up a system that helps you.

For example, decide how often you want to publish posts?  Several times daily, once daily or a few times a week?

As a general rule writing a post 2-3 times a week is more achievable for most educators.   So how you do it is decide that Tuesdays and Thursdays are the days your posts will publish.

And to make life easier you can write the posts at the same time and then schedule to post on those days.

Some bloggers also find using a calendar where you plan the topic of your posts helps.  While I’ll also use Google Document which I update with new post ideas.

How do you determine “worthy” topics to attract readers

Really gets back to the reason why you blog.

For many edubloggers blogging is a bit about their readers and a lot about their own personal needs to reflect on what they are learning or what they want to share.

One of the commonest mistakes I see made by new blogggers is focusing on what they think their readers want to read.

My advice is forget about your readers and focus on your own needs.  You’ll be more passionate and it’ll come through in your posts.

And never assume that someone’s already written what you’re saying.

Have bloggers block.  How do I get going again, post length, finding my voice etc

Don’t feel alone — we all suffer from it at some stage.

Some find having a break helps.

Whereas breaks don’t help me and the best solution is to force myself to write the post (any post) to get back into my blogging routine.

Post length

Post length is an interesting topic.  As a general rule shorter posts are more likely to get comments while longer posts are more likely to be bookmarked.

It’s really about what works for both you and your readers.

For example, this post is definitely too long but I didn’t want to break into a series of posts because I normally post twice weekly.  Would it have been better as separate posts for each question?  Probably!

Finding your voice

Each blogger has their own distinct writing style which we often call their voice.

Once you’ve got your blogging routine back I’m sure you’ll find your voice comes back with it.

Final thoughts

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions.

Would love to hear your thoughts!

1. What did I miss in my responses?
2. Do you have any other questions on blogging you would like answered?

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I’ve promised to follow up What You Wanted To KNOW About Student Blogging with a post that  focuses on responses to more general blogging questions.

The aim of the post will be to help educators and students with their personal blogging.

But first I really love to know what you really want to know about blogging or have always wanted to ask.

Please leave a comment to tell me the questions you would like answered about blogging such as:

1. What would you like to know more about?
2. What have you always wondered or been trying to work out?
3. What have you been struggling with?

And to make sure I don’t miss any really important topics

— please feel free to also share your most important tips for new bloggers.

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You’re not alone — and lots of people have been asking me for advice lately.

So let’s first talk a little on the WHAT and then on ‘the how to deal with them’.

What Are Spam Commenters?

The main reason why people write spam comments is to provide links to promote their web site(s).

Common spamming techniques include:

1.  Creating pingbacks to blog post

2.  Adding links to their web site in the comment and/or the URL

Easiest option is to use Comment Blacklist or Comment Moderation

It’s as simple as:

1.  Go to Settings > Discussion

2.  Add the spammer’s URL, email address, IP address or word(s) commonly used to the Comment Blacklist field or Comment Moderation field

• If you are concerned genuine comments might be blocked you use the Comment Moderation Field

For example, IP address 69.174.246.208, their website and/or car details such as Acura or radiator would work for this comment spam

And it might look like this:

3.  Click Save Changes at bottom of page

Now any pingback that contain any of these words in its content, name, URL, e-mail, or IP is automatically:

1. Held in your moderation queue (if you used comment moderation) – where you can decide if to approve or delete them.
2. Marked as spam and you won’t receive an email notification (if you used comment blacklist)

Alternatively you could also use Akismet – here’s instructions for setting up and configuring Akismet!

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Which is frustrating as  some readers are more comfortable, and prefer to read posts, and comment on them, in Facebook rather than on blogs.

Facebook normally checks your feed every few hours and automatically adds any new blog posts to your Facebook notes.

If your blog feed is no longer being imported into Facebook the solution is to cancel your current blog import and then reimport it.

Not currently feeding your posts into Facebook?

Here’s our instructions on How To Import Your Blog Posts Into Facebook

Here’s how to restart your blog import:

1.  Log into your Facebook Account

2.  Click on Profile

3.  Click on Notes tab

4.   Click on the title of one of your posts or notes

5.  Now click on My Notes

6.  Click on ‘Edit import settings’

7.  Click on Stop Importing

8.  Now add back in your Feed URL, agree to their conditions to import feed and then click Start Importing

9.  On the preview of your imported blog page click Confirm Import if you are happy with the Preview.

Final Thoughts

Not currently feeding your posts into Facebook?

Here’s our instructions on How To Import Your Blog Posts Into Facebook

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What would my “top ten things to figure out about blogging” list be for new bloggers? And how would my tips compare to others?

Can you help us create a list of “top things to figure out about blogging” for new bloggers?

Please leave a comment to tell us:

1. What are your 3 (or more) most important things a new bloggger needs to know?
2. Alternatively, tell us what you don’t understand or want to know more about in terms of blogging?  So we can help you!

Thanks to Nathan Toft for inspiring this post!

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