Classcaster^®

Classcaster is a course/academic blogging system that provides faculty, librarians, and staff of CALI member schools with a new way to interact with students and communities. A Classcaster blog provides authors with tools for posting not only traditional blog articles but also tools for podcasting and sharing any documents and/or files with students and communities.

Classcaster blogs are easy to create and use.  Each new blog is created with a unique URL, file space for podcasts, pictures, and documents, RSS feeds, and an easy to use WYSIWYG editor for creating and editing articles.  In addition to these features authors can enable password protection for their blog, turn on comments for articles, add their podcasts to the iTunes Music Store, and enable Classcaster teleblogging that allows for easy creation of podcasts with any telephone.

1. Surf on over to www.classcaster.org.
   
2. Click on 'Create a Blog' on Classcaster's top menu.
3. Login to the CALI website.   You need a CALI website login and password and be a faculty member, librarian, or staff person from a CALI member school to create a Classcaster blog.
4. Read and accept the Terms of Service. 
5. Complete the 'Create a user' form.   The form is pre-filled with information from your CALI account, including your email address and password.  The Classcaster username is created by simply merging your first and last names.  Make sure to enter your password in the 'Confirm Password' box near the bottom of the form.
6. Complete the 'Create a Blog' form, naming your blog.   You are limited to 50 characters .  Your blog's URL will be based on the name you give your blog.
7. On 'Choose a template' feel free to pick from any of the templates.  You can always change your mind and the template later. 
8. You should then receive an email with a confirmation link. If you do not receive an email within about 15 minutes, please send a message to webmaster@cali.org. Click on the link in the email to open a browser window and activate your blog. 
9. From the activation window you can head to the blog or to the admin interface.
   

One of the more exciting features of Classcaster is the ability to record podcasts just using your telelphone.  Every Classcaster blog has this feature, all you need to do to start podcasting is follow these instructions.

1. Login to your blog's Dashboard.
2. Go to your blog's admin pages.
3. Click on 'Manage' on the top menu.
4. From the 'Manage' page, click on 'Activate Classcaster' from the 'Classcaster' section.
5. Complete the 'Podcasting Information' form filling in your telephone number and selecting a PIN.   Please remember these numbers as you will need to enter them to record your podcasts.
6. Click 'Activate'.
7. All done.  You have now activated the podcast recording features of Classcaster.

To actually record a podcast:

1. From your blog's manage page, click 'Manage Classcaster'.
2. Dial the phone number in the first paragraph.
   1. Yes it is Atlanta, so long distance charges may apply.
   2. Yes there is only one number at this time, so if you get a busy signal or voicemail just hangup and try again later.
3. Listen carefully to the Classcaster voice menu.
4. When prompted enter the 10 digit phone number you used to activate Classcaster.
5. When prompted enter your PIN.
6. If you mistype any of the numbers the system should prompt you to try again.
7. Once it accepts your phone/PIN combo, you will be prompted to record your message, so just follow the prompts. 
8. If you hangup or are disconnected before the recording is finished, don't worry.   The system will save what you have recorded and forward it to the blog .
9. Once Classcaster says good-bye, you may hang up and your recording is posted to your blog as a draft, so no one can see it except you.

So, now you've done it, recorded a podcast.  If everything worked, which I'm sure it did, the recording was transfered to your blog and a draft post was created in the Podcasting category.  Now just a few more steps and you're ready to share with the world. 

1. Login to the admin page of your Classcaster blog.
2. Click on the 'Posts' tab that is below the 'New Post' heading.
3. You should see, under 'Topic', a post titled ' A new ClassCaster post ' with a 'Status' of 'Draft'.
4. Click on the edit icon for this post. 
5. You can now edit the post, changing the title, text body, etc.
   1. NOTE: Generally I would leave the 'Click here for Classcaster audio' line alone since the link under 'here' points to your podcast.
6. When you are done editing the post, change the 'Status' to 'Published' and 'Update' the post.
7. Surf on over to Classcaster blog homepage and you should see your new podcast post.

Yes, you can add a password to restrict access to your blog.  Classcaster blog owners can restrict public access to their blog, allowing only those with the password to read the blog and download podcasts and other documents. This feature is activated from your blog's 'Control Center', by clicking on the 'Secret Blog' link under the 'Security Plugins' heading. Please note that setting a password for a blog causes the blog's RSS feeds to stop functioning properly.

• Login to Classcaster Dashboard
• Go to your blog's Admin page
• Click on 'Control Center' on the top menu
• Under the 'Settings' list click on 'Register a new blog'
• Enter a title for your new blog
• Click 'Register'
• Once the registration process is complete you will be back at the Dashboard
• Select your new blog to adjust its settings

1. Login to your blog's Dashboard and access the admin pages by clicking on your blog's title after Administer you blog.
2. Click on Manage from the topmost menu bar.
3. Click on New Category to create new categories.
4. Give the new category a name, enter a brief description of the category, and check whether or not to display the category name on the front page of your blog.
5. Click the Add button to create the category.

Now when you create a new post or edit an existing one you can assign it ot that category.  Note that any given post can be assigend to more than one post.

1. Go to your blog's Dashboard and follow the link to the Admin pages.
2. Select 'File Center' from the menu.
3. Click on 'Files' to see what folders and files are available already.
1. Note that there is already a podcast folder.  This is a special folder for your telephone recordings.
4. Select 'New Folder' to create a a folder to store your MP3 files in.  Give it a short name and a longer description.
5. Click 'Add' to create the folder.
6. Select 'New File' to add a file to your blog.  Use 'Browse' to locate the file on your hard drive.
7. Enter a 'Description' in the space provided.  This should be brief, contain only text, and avoid special characters.
8. Select a 'Folder' to save the file in.
9. Click 'Add' to upload the file.

You can upload most document and media types to a Classcaster file folder including Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files, Wordperfect file, and PDF documents.  To upload files, please use the directions for uploading MP3 files, but substitute your documenet files for the MP3s.  Be aware that there is a size limit of 32 megabytes for any one given file.

1. Go to your blog's Dashboard and follow the link to the Admin pages.
2. This should open the 'New Post' form.
3. Fill out the information for the post.
4. At the point where you want to insert the file, click on the 'Insert Recource' icon.
5. This opens a windows showing your folders and files.  Navigate to the file you want to add and click the 'Add file' link.
6. This inserts a link to the file at the cursor position.  You may edit the text of the link, but do so carefully as the link contains special information that enables the podcasting of the file.
7. When you are done editing the post, change the 'Status' to 'Published' and 'Update' the post.

You can add the 'Play It Now' Flash MP3 player to any post. 

• The player needs only to know the download URL of the MP3 you want to include.  If you are storing your MP3s in Classcaster, the URL is http://your_blogname.classcaster.org/blog/resource/podcast/download/myFileName.mp3.
• Once you know the URL of your file, open the post you would to add the player to for editing.
• Click the 'Toggle HTML Source' button (it's the last button on the right on the editor toolbar) to show the plain HTML of the post.
  • NOTE: This is a very important step as the player will be properly inserted into your post if you do not paste it as plain text into the post.
• Copy and paste the entire chunk of code below onto the bottom of your Classcaster blog post, substituting the name of your blog and the name of the MP3 file where indicated.

<p>Play It Now! <object width="17" height="17" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.classcaster.org/button/musicplayer.swf?&amp;song_url=http://your_blogname.classcaster.org/blog/resource/podcast/download/MyFileName.mp3&amp;">
<param name="movie" value="http://www.classcaster.org/button/musicplayer.swf?&amp;song_url=http://your_blogname.classcaster.org/blog/resource/podcast/download/MyFileName.mp3&amp;" />
<img width="17" height="17" src="noflash.gif" />
</object> </p>

• Once you have added the Flash object to your post, you can use the 'Preview' button to make sure it is working properly. 

It is possible to change the name of your blog, but please be aware that changing the name of your Classcaster blog also changes the URL of the blog which can result in broken links and the need to do a bit of editing to get your posts in order.  That said, follow these steps to change the name of your blog:

1. Go to your blog, click on 'Dashboard' in the menu area.
2. Login.
3. Click on the title of your blog link after 'Administer your blog->'.
4. Click on 'Control Center' on the top menu.
5. Click on 'Blog settings' under the 'Settings' heading.
6. Change the 'Name' of your blog to something else.
7. Click the 'Update' button at the bottom of the page.
8. When the page refreshes note the new URL for the blog.
9. If you have added any links in your posts that point back to your blog, like links to podcasts, you will need to edit these posts and substitute the new URL for the old.

I would like to have students post substantive pices to my Classcaster blog and find that the comments section is too restrictive.  How can I let students submit posts to my blog?

There is a submission plugin available on Classcaster that allows your students to submit posts for your blog.  You can review and publish these posts as part of your Classcaster blog.  Follow the steps below to activate the submission plugin, add a link to the submision form, and review the submissions.

Activating the plugin

1. Login to your blog's admin page.
2. Select 'Manage' from the menu.
3. Under 'Manage Posts' click on the link for 'Submissions'.
4. Check 'Enable this plugin' and 'Enable the built-in HTMLarea editor' boxes.
5. Click on 'Update'.

Add a 'Submit Article' link to your blog.

1. Select 'Manage' from the menu.
2. Under 'Manage Links' click on 'New Link'.
1. If this is your first time adding a link to your blog, you wil first be directed to the 'New Link Category' form to add a category for your links.
3. Fill out the form.  'Name','URL' and 'Category' are required.
1. For 'Name' try 'Submit an aritcle'.
2. For 'URL' use '/index.php?op=submissionForm' (no quotes).
3. Select a 'Category'.
4. Click on 'Update'.
5. Now a link to the submission form will appear under the 'Links' heading on your blog.  You can direct students to the link so they can submit articles to your blog.

Reviewing Submissions for Publication

1. Click on 'Manage' from the admin menu.
2. Under 'Manage Posts' select 'Posts'
3. Submitted posts show up with a status of 'Unmoderated'.  You will need to check this page regularly for new posts since there is no email notification for this feature at the moment.
4. Click on the edit icon for an 'Unmoderated' post.
5. From the edit form you can do the usual to edit the post if necessary.  Use the 'Status' selection to set the post to 'Published' and it will turn up on the blog.

That's it.  If you want to see the submission form in action and submit a story of your own, perhaps tell us about your Classcaster blog, visit Classcaster News and look for the submit link in the right hand menu.

1. Launch iTunes.  Yes, you need to download and install Apple iTunes in order to submit your feed.
2. Enter the iTunes Music Store.
3. Select 'Podcasts' from the menu.
4. Select 'Submit a podcast' from the menu or click on the icon.
5. Enter the URL for your Classcaster blog's RSS feed into the form.  You can find this URL on the homepage of your blog by copying the link of the RSS 2.0 button.
6. Next, enter your Apple ID (yes, you need to create one of those, too).
7. Once you login you'll see a brief summary of your blog information. Click on 'Submit' to get the ball rolling.
8. You then get a nice message thanking you for your submission.
9. It will take up to 36 hours for your Classcaster podcasts to turn up on the iTunes Music Store

Play It Now!

1. Log in to your blog's Dashboard.
2. Select the blog you want to work with.
3. Click on Control Center.
4. Click on Blog Settings under Settings and make note of the name of the template your blog is using.
5. Return to Control Center.
6. Under the Blog Templates heading, click on Blog Template Editor.
7. From the list of templates click on the copy icon of the template set you want to customize. This is usually the template you are using now.
8. In the prompt window, name your copy and click OK.  Suggestion: your blog_name_template_name.
9. You should see a green affirmation of copy saved. Your copy is at bottom of list.
10. Scroll to your copied template and click on edit icon to see a list of files that you can edit to customize your blog.

View a screencast of the process here.

Before you can add or change a logo in the header of your blog, you need to create copy of a template set.  Once this is done, you can use these instructions to change your logo. 

Please note that you will need to edit a cascading style sheet to make these changes.  Explaining CSS is beyond the scope of this FAQ.  If you have questions you may want to check with your local web person.

1. Upload the image you want to use in your header/banner
   • Note the location of the image relative to the stylesheet for your template set. This is usually the same directory or in a images or img folder.
   • Note the size, in pixels, of the image. You will need this information to correctly size the header in the stylesheet.
2. Open header.template and look for the id attribute of the <div> tag that defines the header space. Make a note of this attribute and close the file.
   • This is usually banner or header.
3. Open the .css file for your template set. 
   • This file is usually style.css, but maybe default.css or something else
4. Locate the #banner or #header element.
5. If a background attribute is defined, edit it to include your image, making sure that you set it relative to the location of the stylesheet.
6. If there is no background attribute, you will need to add one similar to the following:
   • background: #fff url(images/gutenberg.gif) no-repeat top right;
   • This needs to inside of the header or banner element of the stylesheet.
7. Check to make sure that the height and width attributes, if set, are large enough to accomodate your graphic.
8. Save the changes.

To try out your changes, you will need to activate your new template.  From the Control Center:

1. Select Blog Settings.
2. Under Template, select your new template from the list.
3. Click Update.
4. Visit your blog to see the new header.

If the changes are not displaying properly, repeat the steps above to reset the template and try adjusting the style sheet again.