Weekly Digest #18: How to Blog about Education
The Learning Scientists Blog has been active for 5 months. During this period, we have published 65 posts, including 16 guest posts by teachers, students, parents, and other researchers. When we started, we didn’t really know much about education blogging, or even science communication in general. We still have a lot to learn, but along the way we’ve come across some useful resources for writing about education and communicating our research. In this digest, we highlight useful resources for those who are writing (or hoping to write) about education.
1) Learn how to get started
Seven steps to become an educational blogger by Tom Bennet, @tombennett71
In this short guide, Tom puts forward what he feels are the most important steps to take if you are on the fence about starting an educational blog. The overarching point, though, is that your writing should be driven by a passion for education.
2) Read some blogs
List of UK Education Blogs by Andrew Old, @oldandrewuk
Image from pixabay.com
If you want to be inspired – or, perhaps, completely overwhelmed?? – here is a list of 3,066 UK-based education blogs. If you know of any lists like this from other countries, please do leave them in the comments!
3) Avoid clichés
The Five Worst Education Clichés by Andrew Old, @oldandrewuk
As you can see from the previous resource, the market for education bloggers is pretty saturated. If you want to make a mark, you’ll have to avoid repeating that which has already been said. This list of clichés – coincidentally, put together by the same person as the previous resource – is a helpful reminder of what to avoid.
4) Get people to read your blog
A Scientific Guide to Writing Great Headlines on Twitter, Facebook, and your Blog by Leo Widrich, @LeoWid
If you want people to read your blog, you will have to get the word out there – and this is in itself a skill you have to master. This article gives a detailed account of title and headlines that maximize the chances your blog posts will spread through social media, with specific examples of research to back up the advice.
Note: There are many articles out there purporting to tell you how to best market your blog; a lot of them are pretty useless and quite clearly just written to get many shares and create ad revenue. But this particular website has some quality content that can be helpful for the serious blogger.
5) Meet other edu-bloggers
We recently started a Facebook group to create a community of edu-bloggers.
Image from Pixabay
There are two main goals for this group:
1) To keep up with each others' blogs
2) To exchange opportunities for guest blogs
You are welcome to suggest other uses for the group!
Every Sunday, we pick a theme and provide a curated list of links. If you have a theme suggestion, please don’t hesitate to contact us! Our 5 most recent digests can be found here:
Weekly Digest #13: How Teachers Implement Retrieval in their Classrooms
Weekly Digest #14: How To Encourage Students To Transfer Their Knowledge
Weekly Digest #15: Working Out What Works - Highlights From ResearchED Maths & Science