This week in Media 1 has been largely about setting up our blogs for the semester – and so it is only fitting that we find ourselves studying the usefulness of blogs as an academic tool.

It is clear from the article by Miles (2006) why we find ourselves using these blogs. Miles suggests that blogs are a good way to recognise our work and its potential to “make a contribution to a larger community“; as well as a tool able to create a “community of learners” via the process of reading and commenting on ideas of other students blogs.

This sense of collaboration could become valuable later on in our degrees when we are subjected to the ever-dreaded group assignments. By creating an environment of collaborative learning, we are potentially already in a position of having worked together; and so students will not be as self-focused when it comes to learning.

I also found Miles’ comment on “seeding tasks” jumped out at me, having noted we are asked to publish at least four posts per week; with clear criteria to fill for three of our posts. In a way this makes sense. If we develop habits of meeting these requirements, we will quickly find our blogging voice, and allow ourselves to create a large reflective folio on the semester’s work.

 

The second reading I undertook for the week was Newport’s post on the 10,000 hour rule. That is – you are unlikely to master something until you have at least 10,000 hours of experience.

While the post discussed the idea of a large quantity of hours, Newport focused more on the idea of the quality of these hours – in what he called ‘deliberate practice’. By maximising the effectiveness of the hours we dedicate to that we wish to master; we will find ourselves achieving our goals much more quickly than others who are putting in the quantity of hours but not the quality.

This post also allowed for a good example of blogs in action. Newport had embedded hyperlinks, text manipulation such as bolding and italicising to draw our attention to certain parts of his argument, and used photography as well to make the post more appealing.

 

This week’s readings have allowed me to grasp a strong idea of why a blogs can be more than just a vain personal reflection; and how I must put in extensive quality time in order to create the best content possible for my blog.