Blogging for Health & Life Sciences

A critical evaluation

by Dr Anne Osterrieder & Marion WaiteFaculty of Health & Life Sciences Research Conference25th June 2013

Where are you?

Have you already started blogging and want to know more?

OR

No idea about blogging .....but ...Curious?

Wordpress - http://wordpress.com/

The 'Dashboard’ (powered by Wordpress.com)

Benefits of blogging for teaching & learning

Facilitate courses, build content

Share resources

Develop writing skills

Alternative way to present your work

Create an online presence

Reflection & evaluation (Brookfield, 2005)

Brookfield's critically reflective lens 1: autobiographical experiences of teacher/author/learner

As a source of primary

research data

Models and demonstrates

reflection

Ongoing teacher and

peer feedback

Links to secondary

data & current

thinking in a discipline

Elements of Graduate Attributes

Promoting

• Digital literacy - students & staff

• Critical self - awareness ... (of learning & feedback styles) - students & staff

• Global Citizenship (by valuing learner diversity & sustainability through paperless practice)OBU Graduate Attributes

PhD blogginghttp://sciencehastheanswer.blogspot.co.uk

Curating information

Academic blogging - common barriers

• Lack of confidence in: writing skills, subject knowledge, technical skills.

• Time constraints.

• Fear to appear unprofessional.

• Keeping a blog going.

• How to write a blog post?! How often? About what? How to promote it?

• Questions around legal issues such as copyright, intellectual property, libel law, institutional guidelines....

ReferencesBrookfield, S. (2005) Becoming a critically reflective teacher, abriged in Oxford Brookes University

RADAR collection [Online] at https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/e646a903-79ca-7312-51f0-b0360a77c0b8/1/index.html

'Science has the answer' by Dr Heather Doran: http://sciencehastheanswer.blogspot.co.uk/

Guardian Science Blogs: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science-blogs

Plantcellbiology by Dr Anne Osterrieder: http://www.plantcellbiology.com