Learning Commons:Blog Style Guide
Goal
Blogs are short, blog-type entries that offer a student's perspective. They refelct upon current events and student priorities for that particular week. The goal with the posts is to have an impact on what the reader does to learn and keep the blogs concise and strategic.
Blogs should include:
- A reflection from a student's perspective--don't be afraid to show your personality with your writing. Keep in mind that sharing YOUR experience and why it worked for you is valuable.
- Referenced learning principles and researched pedagogical strategies when you can. This can be done even just by sharing (and linking) to suggestions and content already on our site.
Blogging Guidelines
- Ideal length. Generally 1-3 paragraphs and 200-300 words. Make use of columns to format content if appropriate.
- 1st person. People like people, so why not write as a person and not as a robot? A mistake many websites make is by just pushing information out and not really appearing like there are REAL people available to help. Remember, we’re a service, would you rather deal with a person or a machine?
- Clear Topic Thread. Know the point you want to make and stick to it. Only include other information/facts/resources if they are relevant. It sounds obvious enough but it’s actually really easy to stray off topic and start rambling about anything and everything.
- Personal experience. Blogs are much more relatable to students if they come from direct experience. Don’t suggest something you haven’t tried yourself or know actually works.
- Produce quality content, especially when considering the length of posts. Create content that provides value. Dig more deeply, provide a new angle, make unusual comparisons, and offer your own voice, your own knowledge, and your own interpretation. Ask yourself: will students be able to learn something from this content? If so, will students be able to use what they've learned from my content?
- Ask a campus partner or an individual who is knowledgeable in the topic for information on top of your own research.
- Do an "interview" styled blog post with an expert.
- Have a guest blogger who has relevant personal experience or is an expert in the topic write the post (look to campus partnerships and take the chance to showcase their voices and ideas).
- This may sound simple but if you feel stuck- let the blog post sit for a bit. Good things are worth the weight.
- Talk to Teri about it on your 1 on 1.
- Talk to a fellow CLCA.
- Include relevant resources. If you’re going to espouse how fantastic something is, include the link! This is a great way to include campus partners and build a community of resources and services for students. It also helps make your blog post a little more interesting.
- Peer Edit. We all make mistakes. As a general rule, always get at least one other team member to check over your post for clarity, message, spelling, grammar, etc.
- Have a hook! Boring titles on blog posts won’t get read. Within reason of course, create a catchy headline for your post and include it in the excerpt. Hooks often come in the form of questions, like: “Pulling too many all nighters?”, “Can’t find a place to study on campus?” etc. Be creative, engage your audience. Also, asking a question invites people to comment or participate in a discussion, is always a good thing.
- A fun high quality graphic and/or video. Blog posts that are just text aren’t much fun to read. Here are the image parameters to follow. Also, make sure to follow copyright guidelines, if you don’t have any originals, check stock photography websites and use approved, rights-managed images. One such site is Flickr’s Creative Commons where you can check out collections of images licensed under CC. Don't forget to attribute accordingly!
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Tips for feeling stuck or feel like you don't have enough knowledge of topic: |
Learning Principles
When you can, reference underlying theory and research-based principles of learning. Refer to the following website to get an idea of these basic principles when blogging about your own experience.
Your Post Creation Checklist
| Task/Consideration | yes | no | problem/issue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Is this a current/timely issue relevant to a UBC student? | |||
| Is this post written through a student's lens? | |||
| Have I stayed on topic for the post? | |||
| Does it address an aspect of learning? | |||
| Does it offer practical suggestions and provide value for audience? | |||
| Have I included links to relevant resources? | |||
| Is there potential to enhance student learning? | |||
| Has a high quality image or video been included for the feature? | |||
| Has it been categorized as a feature? Did I provide a catchy hook for the excerpt? | |||
| Have I checked to see that it is appearing as it should on the homepage or carousel? | |||
| Have I proofread or had someone spell check? | |||
| Have I identified a poll for the post? Have I posted the poll question and link to page on social media channels (Twitter and Facebook)? | |||
| Have I properly attributed the necessary images/resources? |