Jan 27 2010
Adding Contributors to Your Edublogs Blog – Updated Version
Back in the fall, Edublogs changed the look of their dashboard making my version 2 of this screencast somewhat obsolete. So, here is the new and improved version of adding contributors to your class blog (using the free features of Edublogs).
Keep in mind depending on how many students you have, this process can be pretty tedious! I found it bearable it with a class of 30 students. Changing the passwords each year saves you from repeating this process every time you have a new class.
Visit my class blog, MrToft.ca, to see how I’ve set things up.
Sue Waters has a similar tutorial in written form here: http://help.edublogs.org/2009/08/24/adding-users-to-a-blog/.
She has also written a post on this topic here.
Click here for a larger version
There is an easier way – $
There is another way, that is much easier, but it involves being a paid subscriber. I think this tutorial (written when the feature was free a few years back) still applies to how things work these days.
I’ve paid to be subscriber myself, but in my case it was more for the extra storage space you get.
Hi there,
I was wondering if you could help me in the next step. Creating the catergories to put student work in?
Thanks again for the tutorial its fantastic!
So helpful
Mel
@Mrs. Apthorpe I am glad that you found the tutorial helpful. I have put up a blog post today on how to add categories to your blog. I found it easier to do this as a post rather than a comment.
http://portablepd.edublogs.org/2011/03/15/adding-categories-to-your-blog/
Hi Nathan,
Thank you for the great instructions re adding students as contributors. I added one and all seemed to be going well but now I can’t get back to my original dashboard. Everytime I sign in I’m getting the ‘new’dashboard. What am I doing wrong?
@lhowlin I will make sure that Nathan knows that you left a question for him but in the meantime… I was trying to thing about what you are seeing when you get the “new dashboard”. If you look up at the upper right hand corner does it list you as being logged on (e.g. gidday Jane Smith) or one of your new users? Sometimes if I forget to log off I end up back at the dashboard for one of the users that I have created. I found I had to consciously log off from the dashboard after creating my users.
I am probably way out in left field with this answer (or perhaps question). Just thought I would give it a shot.
Jane
I agree with Jane’s suggestions. There have been times where I haven’t been able to log off Edublogs. Going to Edublogs.org and logging off there has sometimes been the cure for that.
Let us know if this was any help.
I wonder if you can clarify this before I start: when you use your own user account name plus the new student user name, do you literally use a + sign, or were you just saying “plus”? I can’t see it clearly enough in the video. Thanks for this video — I think this is going to help a lot!
@greece,
I literally use the + sign. For example, if my gmail address were portablepd@gmail.com you would enter something like portablepd+student01@gmail.com.
I hope this works for you. Congratulations on getting so many students using your blog already!
@Nathan Toft, For some reason, after I have added a student and try to log in as that student to finish creating their account, the “G’day” part still says my user name and does not give me “profile” as an option. I did log out and re-log in as that student . . . Can you help?
@Nathan Toft, I figured that out, sort of. I got it to work, anyway! Next question: My student shows up as a contributor on the Authors/Users page, but she does not show up anywhere else. I guess I need to add her to the Blogroll or something? Sorry – I’m brand new at all of this!
Wonderful explanation – I wish I had watched this before I set up my students with their own blogs. Being new to blogging, it might have been easier to do it this way instead of creating individual blogs for each student. As I told my students, this is a learning experience for all of us.
Thank you for creating this video…and if you have any other tech tips for blogging with students – please share them – you make it seem so easy.
@Milena Streen, Thanks for the encouragement. It’s a boost to hear that these tutorials are being used.
You can find other tutorials by clicking on “Tutorials” in the tag cloud on the side menu or visiting:
http://portablepd.edublogs.org/tag/tutorial/
Excellent video as always Nathan. Great demonstration of how it is done!
Oops and then walking away I suddenly realised that you added an extra step in that you no longer need (and since I know how long videos take to create I’m glad I’m not in arms reach).
With Users > Add New you can use it to create usernames and add them to the blog at the same time. So you no longer need to go to the sign up page to create the username — instead you do it in the one step. See here – http://help.edublogs.org/2009/08/24/adding-users-to-a-blog/
Is this where I need to send you some chocolate?
@Sue Waters, No chocolate required! Thanks for letting me know about this. I’m all for taking away a step or two.
Looks like another tutorial is in the works.
I’ve redone the tutorial and updated this post to reflect the changes.
@Nathan Toft, oh I really did feel bad about it and what was ever funnier was the fact that I didn’t spot it straight away. Considering I’m like having to explain it almost every day that is really funny.
Sorry about you having to create it again