Aims of the course:
1. To expose students a wide range of online writing formats and approaches, including vodcasting, blogging and podcasting.
2. To allow students to reflect, recognise and develop their own writing voice, style and platform preference.
3. To recognise and address the demands of writing for an online audience, such as personal safety ethical considerations, legalities and potential abuse.
Course content overview:
This course will explore a wide range of online writing formats and reflect upon the benefits and disadvantages of these approaches.
An understanding of the distinct nature of online writing will be developed, addressing both ethical and legal practicalities.
The student will be able to draw on a range of strategies in order to deliver consistent online content.
Course outline
Welcome to the course (Week 0)
- Become familiar with navigating around the VLE and from VLE to links and back.
- Test your ability to access files and the web conferencing software and sort out any problems with the help of the Technology Enhanced Learning team.
- Learn how to look for, assess and reference internet resources.
- Contribute to a discussion forum to introduce yourself to other students and discuss why you are interested in the course and what you hope to get out of your studies.
Week 1: Discovering Your Voice
By studying this week the students should have:
- an understanding of the diverse approaches available to bloggers and selected a favourite to model best practice upon
- an understanding of their personal drivers for blogging.
Week 2: What To Write About (And How)
By studying this week the students should have:
- developed a personal strategy for creating their content and finding ideas
- an understanding of the benefits and risks of sponsored content, affiliates, and advertising.
Week 3: Ethics
By studying this week the students should have:
- an entry-level understanding of copyright, both written and visual, and the General Data Protection Regulation
- an awareness of wider ethical issues such as informed consent, abuse, managing their personal data, plagiarism and content theft.
Week 4: Community (No Blog Exists Within A Bubble)
By studying this week the students should have:
- developed an appreciation and understanding of the established community within their particular sector
- an understanding of how to manage third party input on their own sites, such as commenting, feedback and potential abuse
- commented on an external blog.
Week 5: Sustainability (It’s Not All About The Stats)
By studying this week the students should have:
- an understanding of the importance of self-care, scheduling and taking a break
- an entry level understanding of SEO
- an entry level understanding of monetizing opportunities such as Patreon, Amazon, and Ko-fi.
Week 6: Feedback and future directions
- Assessment of student learning
- Assessment of student satisfaction
- Encouragement of further study
Schedule (this course is completed entirely online):
Orientation Week: 10-16 April 2023
Teaching Weeks: 17 April-21 May 2023
Feedback Week: 22-28 May 2023
Each week of an online course is roughly equivalent to 2-3 hours of classroom time. On top of this, participants should expect to spend roughly 2-3 hours reading material, etc., although this will vary from person to person.
While they have a specific start and end date and will follow a weekly schedule (for example, week 1 will cover topic A, week 2 will cover topic B), our tutor-led online courses are designed to be flexible and as such would normally not require participants to be online for a specific day of the week or time of the day (although some tutors may try to schedule times where participants can be online together for web seminars, which will be recorded so that those who are unable to be online at certain times are able to access material).
Unless otherwise stated, all course material will be posted on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) so that they can be accessed at any time throughout the duration of the course and interaction with your tutor and fellow participants will take place through a variety of different ways which will allow for both synchronous and asynchronous learning (discussion boards,etc).
A Certificate of Participation will be awarded to participants who contribute constructively to weekly discussions and exercises/assignments for the duration of the course.
What our students say
“What I have gained from the course?
- A lot of information and resources about blogging which has increased (from a low base I think) my knowledge and understanding. There is a lot more to blogging than I had really thought about. As well as writing and posting regularly there is making your blog look attractive and getting it seen and read. The latter probably being the most demanding of all.
- Some interesting insights into other lives, interests, motivations and writing styles - from all of you, fellow students.
- Excellent feedback from Daisy. I appreciate the focus on quality of writing from someone who is earning a living - or aiming to do so from writing.
- Space and time to think about whether I want to pursue blogging."
"This course has provided me with input on so many different aspects of social media and blogging! Each week's content was really thought-provoking and I found myself reflecting on it even when I wasn't sitting at my laptop. Daisy is such an encouraging, positive person who gives spot-on feedback, really making me see things I didn't before. I was so touched by the positive comments and am now so motivated to continue writing and posting. A huge thank you to you Daisy! "
"The course has really helped me to think about blogging beyond the writing, i.e. ethics and the legal aspects linked to blogging. The course has also helped me to find my voice and style in my writing. It's also introduced to me tools to help me write, but it's also helped me identify what doesn't help me to write...sorry written kitten! I've signed up for another course that starts this week, so I look forward to transferring some of what I've learnt here, onto the next course!"
