For EDCI 336, we will be using the Open and Educational Technology Collective, hosted by a team of B.C. post-secondary education IT professionals on BCNet’s Educloud, so your data is stored not only in Canada, but within B.C. We have created a template for you to get you started. To create your blog, please follow these steps:

1. Go to opened.ca and click ‘Get Started’.

Go to opened.ca and click ‘get started’.

2. Click the red ‘Get started’.

Click ‘Get started’

3. Create an Opened username.

Create an opened username.

4. Complete the form.
  • Remember, if you want to be anonymous, you can use a pseudonym.
  • You MUST use your own UVic email (…@uvic.ca email address. Do not use edtechadmin).
  • Make sure you choose ‘Just a username, please.’
  • Click ‘Next’

Fill out the form.

5. Go make some tea, and check your @UVIC.ca email in about 10 minutes.
  • Sometimes the confirmation email takes a few minutes, if you don’t see it in 10-15 minutes, check your spam/junk folder.

Check email in 10 minutes.

6. Activate your username.
  • The email will come from ‘OpenETC Administrator’ and will contain a link that you must follow to activate your account.

Activation email.

7. Then you’ll get another email.
  • Click ‘Log in’.

8. Log in to WordPress.
  • Use the username and password that were included in the confirmation email.

WordPress log in screen.

9. Your Dashboard will be empty.

Empty Dashboard.

10. Stay logged in and visit this link.
  • Make sure the ‘EDCI 336 Template’ is selected.
  • Create a URL domain for your site, which will be ______.opened.ca, where you fill in the blank.
    • The URL can contain only lowercase letters (a-z), numbers, and hyphens (no spaces allowed)
    • Please do not use your UVic username in the URL.
    • If you want to remain anonymous, don’t include your name here.
    • You cannot change this later.
  • Give your site a title, which you can change later.
  • Choose your privacy setting
    • The top two options (allow search engines) are open on the web, but you can still protect your posts with a password – we invite you to learn openly in this class and encourage one of these two options.
    • ‘Visible only to registered users of this network’ includes all students and faculty in BC who are logged in to an opened.ca site.
    • ‘Visible only to registered users of this site’ means that you will have to add users from the class who you want to see the site.
    • ‘Visible only to administrators of this site’ means that the site is private and only you and the network administrators can see it.
    • The bottom three options, as described above, will prevent your posts from being syndicated to the course site, so please contact your instructor if you choose one of these options.
  • Double check the EDCI 336 template is selected, then click Create Site

11. Site Confirmation.
  • Once the site is created you will get the message ‘The site [Your site title] is yours. [yourURL].opened.ca is your new site.’
12. Where to find your new site.

Finding your site.

13. Accessing your Dashboard.

Accessing the dashboard.

14. Privacy Settings.
  • The default privacy setting is that your blog is open on the web, but you can change that if you would like.
  • Hover over ‘Settings’ then click ‘Reading’.

Reading Settings.

15. Before you change this setting…

Privacy Settings.

  • The top two options are open on the web, but you can still protect your posts with a password.
  • ‘Visible only to registered users of this network’ includes all students and faculty in BC who are logged in to an opened.ca site.
  • ‘Visible only to registered users of this site’ means that you will have to add users from the class who you want to see the site.
  • ‘Visible only to administrators of this site’ means that the site is private and only you and the network administrators can see it.
  • The bottom three options, as described above, will prevent your posts from being syndicated to the course site, so please contact your instructor if you choose one of these options.
16. Where to start?
  • Edit your About Me page to share something about yourself. You can choose to use this page as you wish according to your privacy preferences, or delete it if not using.
  • Create your first post to capture the setup process, aspirations for the portfolio or class, your inquiry topic and plan, and/or reflections from the first class.
  • Adjust the look and feel of your site using templates or the WordPress customizer. Do not spend too much time here, as things will take shape as you start creating content on the site. Look and feel can be changed at any time even after content has been created.
  • Review ‘What Makes a Good Blog Post‘ and ‘Changing what Appears on your WordPress Homepage‘
17. Last words…