{"id":6687,"date":"2017-10-17T09:12:08","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T08:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=6687"},"modified":"2017-10-19T11:09:41","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T10:09:41","slug":"heblogswap-sharing-practice-and-building-community-in-cyberspace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2017\/10\/heblogswap-sharing-practice-and-building-community-in-cyberspace\/","title":{"rendered":"#HEBlogSwap – Sharing Practice and Building Community in Cyberspace"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Faces\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The idea of the #HEblogswap arose in September 2016 when Santanu Vasant approached me via Twitter to do a blog swap, where I would write for the Learning at City blog<\/a> and he would write a blog post for QMUL\u2019s ADEPT blog<\/a> (ADEPT stands for Academic Development, Education and the Promotion of Teaching). I wrote a piece on social media in higher education<\/a> and Santanu wrote one on the \u2018peculiar practice\u2019 of educational development<\/a>. Having a guest writer brought a different perspective to both our blogs, and we thought: why not do this as an annual event, in mid-September, before term starts for universities? That way we could share practice, get our writing out to a wider audience and build a community in the process.<\/p>\n

This year, we decided to open up the blog swap via Twitter, by asking people to find a writing partner, write a blog post for each other on a topic of educational development and to either send over the document or to have an account on the blog they were swapping with and post on 13th September, with the hashtag #HEblogswap<\/a>. We also advertised it via the SEDA (Staff and Educational Development Association) mailing list, the ALT-Weekly newsletter and using the #altc during the annual Association for Learning Technology Conference in Manchester this year, as well as on both our personal and institutional Twitter accounts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Blog swap! Find a blog partner, write for each other, post on 13 Sept! Tweet #HEblogswap<\/a> (and find a partner on the hashtag!) pic.twitter.com\/T8IYVALvsy<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ed Dev team at QMUL (@Ed_Dev_QMUL) August 29, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

The blog swaps that occured<\/h2>\n

Chris Jobling (@cpjobling<\/a>) and Rebecca Jackson (@chasing_ling<\/a>)<\/h4>\n

Rebecca\u2019s post for Chris\u2019s blog: The Importance of Showing Your Enthusiasm in Large Group Maths Sessions<\/a><\/p>\n

Chris\u2019s blog for Rebecca\u2019s blog: Transferring Enthusiasm <\/a><\/p>\n

Chrissi Nerantzi (@chrissinerantzi<\/b><\/a>)and Sue Watling (@suewatling<\/a>)<\/h4>\n

Chrissi\u2019s post for Sue\u2019s blog: My PhD Journey <\/a><\/p>\n

Sue\u2019s post for Chrissi\u2019s blog: Anyone for T?<\/a><\/p>\n

Emma Kennedy (@EmmaKEdDev<\/a>) and Santanu Vasant (@santanuvasant<\/a>)<\/h4>\n

Emma\u2019s post for the Learning at City blog: Stress-Free September? Starting the New Academic Year<\/a><\/p>\n

Santanu\u2019s post for the ADEPT at QMUL blog: Pedagogy First During Learn Time<\/a><\/p>\n

We also received a lot interest from individuals and departments up and down the country who wanted to take part, some of which can be seen via the #HEblogswap<\/a> hashtag on Twitter, but didn\u2019t have a public blog or a person to swap with. We hope to run this again next year, so if you don\u2019t have a blog, then either set one up or ask to be a guest on someone else\u2019s. You could use this as an opportunity to either start your own blog, restart a dormant one, or bring more interest to your own.<\/p>\n

In both instances, I found it really enjoyable and intellectually stimulating to write for Learning at City. I had to consider the slightly different audience (Learning at City covers more issues of learning technology than ADEPT) as well as making sure that my blog was explicitly aimed at a cross-institutional audience. It was also an opportunity to select a topic on which I wanted to showcase my thoughts and write for a wider audience.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m planning to extend this among my colleagues next year, encouraging them to write a guest blog post for another site. Many of my colleagues are theoretically enthusiastic about blogging, but their participation is limited to ADEPT – which although outward-facing, is still run from within QMUL. This means that writing for ADEPT feels like yet another internal job, rather than a chance to really connect with people in the wider educational community. The HE Blog Swap offers a chance to reach beyond one\u2019s own institutional network, swapping ideas and connecting with a wide range of other educators.<\/p>\n

One thing I\u2019m also considering is extending beyond the binary of the \u2018swap\u2019 and allowing people to host multiple guest blogs on their site – this would help accommodate guest bloggers who didn\u2019t have anyone to swap with. I considered it this year, but didn\u2019t have a number of posts to give in exchange for guest posts. I felt it would be unfair to have multiple guest posts on ADEPT without giving guest posts back to those who had taken the time to write theirs. However, this may be a chance for us to swap multiple posts: the colleagues I mentioned above, for instance, might be willing to write guest posts on behalf of ADEPT that we could give out in exchange for multiple guest posts from others. However, it\u2019s important to maintain the element of reciprocity and fairness that was present in the original. The blog swap is about extending networks and strengthening relationships within the wider educational community, and we can only do that with equal give and take.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Emma<\/a>Dr. Emma Kennedy, Education Advisor, Academic Practice, QMUL. Email<\/a>. @EmmaKEdDev<\/a>. Blog <\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Santanu<\/a>Santanu Vasant, Senior Learning Technology Adviser, Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT). Email<\/a>. @santanuvasant<\/a>. Blog <\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you enjoyed reading this article we invite you to join the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) as an individual member, and to encourage your own organisation to join ALT as an organisational or sponsoring member<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The idea of the #HEblogswap arose in September 2016 when Santanu Vasant approached me via Twitter to do a blog swap, where I would write for the Learning at City blog and he would write a blog post for QMUL\u2019s ADEPT blog (ADEPT stands for Academic Development, Education and the Promotion of Teaching). I wrote […]","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":6692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1051,10,99],"tags":[1175,750,1177,1176],"class_list":["post-6687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-featured","category-innovative-practice","tag-heblogswap","tag-blog","tag-emma-kennedy","tag-santanu-vasant"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2017\/10\/faces-2679740_1280-1.jpg?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11228,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2023\/06\/when-diversity-amp-inclusion-is-a-key-conference-theme-it-changes-the-whole-game\/","url_meta":{"origin":6687,"position":0},"title":"When Diversity & Inclusion is a key conference theme, it changes the whole\u00a0game","author":"ALT","date":"23 June 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This blog was originally posted on 15 June 2023 on Dr Teeroumanee Nadan\u2019s blog teeroumaneenadan.com In the recent years that I have got the time and opportunity to be more engaged in the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) conferences, my line of work has been categorised as \u201cwildcard\u201d or sometimes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "altc23"","block_context":{"text":"altc23","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/events\/altc23\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2023\/06\/image-2.png?fit=660%2C599&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2023\/06\/image-2.png?fit=660%2C599&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2023\/06\/image-2.png?fit=660%2C599&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7295,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2018\/07\/heblogswap-2018-find-a-blog-partner-write-for-each-others-blog-and-post\/","url_meta":{"origin":6687,"position":1},"title":"#HEblogswap 2018 – Find a blog partner, write for each other\u2019s blog and post","author":"Teresa MacKinnon","date":"26 July 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 It\u2019s back - #HEblogswap, now in its third year, is on Wednesday 12th September. 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