Blogging as community of practice: lessons for academic development?

• Published in: The international journal for academic development Vol. 20; no. 3; pp. 212 - 223
• Main Authors: Guerin, Cally, Carter, Susan, Aitchison, Claire
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Routledge 03.07.2015; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Academic achievement; blogging; Case Studies; Communities of Practice; community building; Computer Mediated Communication; connectivism; Content Area Writing; Context Effect; Discourse Communities; Doctoral Programs; doctoral writing; Editing; Educational Change; Educational Practices; Electronic Publishing; Graduate studies; Group Dynamics; Higher Education; Learning; Learning Strategies; Literacy; Mass Media Use; Social Media; social media in higher education; Social networks; Web 2.0 Technologies; Writing Improvement
• ISSN: 1360-144X; 1470-1324
• DOI: 10.1080/1360144X.2015.1042480

As practices and expectations around doctoral writing continue to change, so too do the demands on academic developers and learning advisors. Social media is increasingly playing a role in doctoral education, just as it is in higher education more generally. This paper explores a blog initiated in 2012 to inform and support doctoral writing; since its inception, it has grown to include diverse and overlapping communities of academic developers, language and literacy specialists, supervisors, and students with shared interests in doctoral writing. This case study reflects on our experiences of entering the online environment through the lens of connectivist learning, noting the practices and communities that have been established, and the blog's positioning in relation to our formal roles within universities. We consider how blogging relates to our work as academic developers. Details of our experiences, with our analysis and reflection of them, can inform other academic developers seeking to engage in social media networks as part of their working lives.