As educators there seems to be a real push towards this thing called “blogging.” The process of blogging seems like a daunting task to add on top of the busy life of a college professor. Just figuring out how a blog should fit into my online presence has questioning what value it will add to the online space. Will anyone ever read this blog?
My Failure
This is not my first attempt at blogging. Last time I tried a blog it failed. It failed because I was unclear on it’s purpose. I basically used my blog as an alternate format to share my YouTube videos. Video transcripts do not make good blogs.
My Purpose
This time around I have a clearer idea of what I want to try including on a blog or maybe vlog. My blog will be a place to share insights. That is why I called it insights.nursekillam.com
It is a place for showcasing reflective practice. I may share questions that I have, challenges I have faced or my on current issues. Sometimes I may express opinions or frustrations. Ideally others will find the content useful in some way and start engaging as a community. I welcome critique and discussion.
I am sure that this blog will evolve with time – as should any project that is grounded in constant evaluation and reflection.
Comments Welcome
Please leave a comment. I would love to hear your thoughts on if something like this is valuable. Should I blog? Should I vlog instead? After all, “NurseKillam” is primarily a YouTuber 😉
2 Comments
Alan Levine · August 16, 2017 at 4:01 am
Hi Laura, I have enjoyed meeting and seeing your enthusiastic energy during this institute. And I can see you have a knack for figuring out tech and media.
Actually the peak period of educators blogging was maybe 8-10 years ago. Many who actively wrote blogs stopped, put their attention into social media, or I am not sure what.
I can say it probably won’t work if blogging feels like a chore, in my mind, the time spent has to fill a purpose for you, maybe to refine ideas, maybe to get feedback. I have a sense your measures seem to be in audience, which is okay, but perhaps not the only outcome of doing this.
The acy of writing a post means typing a title in a box, composing a few paragraphs, maybe adding a media file or some URLs. This is equivalent in time and process to something we do a lot during the day- email. Do we question time spent there?
I can mostly speak from my own experience, but what works best is thinking about what I want to write away from the computer, while walking, driving. If you develop the idea in your head, writing it becomes the transfer process.
I like your idea and name of insights, what some call “thinking out loud”. Posts can be various lengths. I’d hope maybe you can give it a go for a while. You may not get many readers at first, but we hope in the Extend project there are enough colleagues to give you feedback.
admin · August 16, 2017 at 2:16 pm
Thank you. I really like your point about questioning the time spent on email. My intent is to use it for reflection and if I get readers that is a bonus.