Blogging Guidelines

In this course you are required to write a minimum of 10 posts of at least 200 words each for our class blog, although you may post and comment as much as you please!  The blog will allow us to continue discussion beyond the classroom and to explore our collective ideas about art and history.

New topics for discussion are posted on Fridays. Students are given 2 weeks to respond to a discussion topic.  Blogging gives your opportunities to contribute your personal ideas on  current discussion topics, lets you  draw readings and other materials into the discussions; and gives you the chance to  draw connections between your ideas and class lessons.  Since the OpenLab is a relatively new CityTech platform, I will not grade your blog activity, rather I will give you credit for each post.  No credit will be given if your blog post consists of one- or two-disconnected sentences; is plagiarized from other sources; is more than 2 days late; or no post is written for the assignment.

How does Blogging Affect Your Grade? Blogging is Homework and worth 10% of your final grade average. In effect, each blog post is worth 1 point of the final grade, which doesn’t sound like much but adds up. If you get A’s on your exams and papers but a zero for blogging, you will not get an A in the course. If you consistently score around 60 (D-) on exams and papers, the blogging grade can raise your grade to the D+/C- range.

Online Decorum:
Consideration for the feelings of others is expected.  People cannot see you smile and may not know when you are joking.  Do not tell people they are wrong, but explain why you believe differently.  Offer constructive criticism by directing your classmates to your source of information.  Any use of profanity, insults that defame character, race, ethnicity, religion, etc. are inappropriate and will not be tolerated.

How to Post on the Course Blog

1. Go to the Course Site at https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/arth1100f2013/.  On the right navigation bar under “Meta” click “Login.” Enter your username and password.
2. Now you are on the WordPress Dashboard (if not, click on “Site Admin” under “Meta”. To post your blog entry, click “Add New” under the “Posts” (the pushpin) menu on the left navigation bar.
3. On the Add New Post page you can enter a title for your post and then paste or type your blog post into the large field in the middle of the screen.
4. There are two ways to format posts: Visual or HTML. If you know HTML feel free to use it. Otherwise you may want to select Visual and use the buttons along the top of the field to add bold, italics, etc.
5. Give your post one or more tags by entering them into the field under “Post Tags” on the right side of the Add New Post page.
6. If you’d like to take a look at your post before publishing it live on the course blog, click the “Preview” button on the upper right side of the Add New Post page.
7. When you’re ready to publish your post to the blog for all to see, click the blue “Publish” button on the right side of the Add New Post page.
8. To view the blog after publishing your post, click the blog’s name at the top of the Add New Post page.

To post a comment on the blog, click the “Leave a Comment” link on any blog post.

For both blog posts and comments, I strongly suggest that you write in a word processor or text editor and paste the finished text into the Add New Post page or comment box.

Please let me know if you have any questions or run into any problems: scheng@citytech.cuny.edu