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Blog Wow!
As an instructor you can choose to add either the Blogger tool or the Blog Wow! tool to a course for students to use as a vehicle for expressing ones comments and promoting conversation/interaction amongst peers based on a course topics. Depending on the permissions set by the instructor, students can create their own blogs or just edit/add comments to a blog.
A Blog, much like a Wiki is a system of posting, editing and managing a collection of hypertext pages usually dealing with a topic or purpose.
This tutorial covers:
To Begin:
Login to Laulima and go into your course that you would like to have the Blog Wow! tool added. Add the Blog Wow! tool.
If you are not sure of how to add tools in Laulima, please refer to the Laulima tools & Examples of Usage tutorial.
1. When you add the Blog Wow! tool, you must first set the permissions on what the students, TAs, as well as yourself as the instructor can do in the tool.
2. By default none of the permissions are set.
1. Once your permissions are set, and you have enabled users to write their own blogs, you can begin adding new blogs.
2. Click on "Add blog entry" to begin your new blog.
3. Add a title and put the content of your blog in the text editor. Content can be added by either typing it out or by copying and pasting from a text document that has been pre-written.
*Note: If you are pasting from Word, it is suggested that you use the "Paste from Word" icon. 
Choose one of the 3 options for who will be able to view your blog.
4. Once you have entered all the content, click on "Publish entry" and your blog will be posted.
Adding an image
Images can also be added to blogs.
1. If you have an image that you would like to add to your blog, you must first upload it to your Resources folder, or know the URL link if it is posted outside of the Laulima system. When using an image in your Resources folder, get the URL for your image by clicking on your file.
2. Once you have copied the URL for your image, go to the Blog Wow! tool and begin adding your blog. Click on the "Insert/Edit Image" icon to begin adding your image.
3. Paste the URL that you copied into the URL box and click "OK".
4. Your image should now be in your blog. When you are finished with your blog, click on the "Publish entry" to post.
Adding a link
Links to external sites can also be added to blogs. You can share an interesting site that you have found with other users in the course by adding a link in your blog.
1. Open the web page that you would like to add to your blog in another window. Copy the URL for this web page.
2. Begin adding your blog. Highlight the text that you would like to add the link to and click on the "Insert/Edit Link" icon.
3. Paste the URL that you copied into the URL box and click "OK".
4. Your text that you highlighted should now be linked. Once you have finished editing your blog, click "Publish entry" to post.
Adding a Comment
Users can add a comment to blogs that are viewable to other users. This feature is only available if allowed in the permissions.
Instructors can opt to be the only one who can leave comments if blogs will be used as part of an assignment.
1. On the blog that you would like to leave click on "Leave a comment" and the Leave Comment box will appear beneath that blog entry.
2. Type your comment in the box and click "Publish comment." Once the comment has been published, it will show the number of comments at the bottom of the blog.
3. Click on the "# comments" link to view all comments for that blog.
Editing your Profile
Your profile will be shown next to all your blog entries. You can add your name and an image to your profile. Students can also do this if they are enabled to create new blogs.
1. In the Blog Wow! tool, click on "My blog settings".
2. In the text editor you can put your name, nickname, and/or a short description of yourself. And following the same directions from the adding an image section of this tutorial, you can add the URL for an image if you would like to add an image.
3. When you have made all the changes, click on the "Change settings" button. Your profile should then appear when you click on your name to view your blogs.
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