Most of the time that you are on the site you don’t even have to be logged in. Many of the modules will ask you to leave a comment or answer a poll which you can do even without your Commons account.
Some assignments, including video performances, will ask that you create a post. That’s what that “+New” link from before is all about. Don’t press it until you finish going through this page.
Adding Posts
A post is a date and time-stamped contribution to the site that can be created by any author (the role that you have) of the site. Posts all require a category that you’ll select before publishing your work.
The Commons utilizes WordPress’s Block editor, a simple-to-use interface for adding and designing content that does not require any knowledge of coding.
Watch an overview of the Block Editor. I encourage you to follow along and try things out.
One of the most common things that you will be doing is sharing a video assignment with us. To do this you will need to upload your video to YouTube first so that it can be directly embedded in a post rather than being hosted as a download. (This gives you more control over your video and what happens to it and lets us watch assignments directly from the course site.)
Two important notes:
Accessibility: Whenever possible throughout the site I have tried to give multiple options for accessing materials. I encourage you to also be aware of some of the things that you can do with your contributions such as: adding captions to your videos, putting in alternative text for any images, and more.
Copyright: Rules on copyright for different kinds of materials are complex. There are some things that are permissible in the classroom that are not for the general public. I don’t expect you to know all the rules, but I encourage you to be aware that it is always important to give credit where credit is due. This is part of why citation is a Big Deal. Please be sure to include citations with materials that you post (you’ll see examples throughout the site.) If you are posting a video performance, make sure to give us the citation for the book if needed.
The best way to learn how to use the Commons and develop WordPress skills is to try things out. So go for it!
Create an introductory post now.
Be sure to choose “introductory post” as the category. Try including different kinds of media! Tell us anything you’d like (within reason…) If you aren’t sure what to include, you might tell us a bit about a favorite activity from childhood, a positive or a negative reading memory, a favorite school assignment, etc
Pre-class surveys
Please complete the following two surveys (they will open in a new tab) to help give me a sense of what options are available to us in terms of technology
When you’ve created your introductory post, you’re ready to go on to Module 1 – Guiding Questions for the semester. If you aren’t set up with your Commons account, you can come back to making your introductory post and go on to Module One. You do not need to be logged in or able to make posts in order to comment on the following materials.
