Welcome to 23 Things for Digital Knowledge!
Things 1 & 2 will introduce you to the programme and ask you to set up a blog to share your 23 Things experience.
Thing 1 – Introduction
Familiarise yourself with the program:
- Read How To Take Part
- Read the FAQ
- Have a look at the 23 Things we will be exploring through the programme.
Read through and familiarise yourself with:
- Social Media Guidelines for Staff and Researchers (Staff)
- Social Media Student Handbook (Students)
If you are not affiliated with the University of Edinburgh, have a look to see if your own university or employer have social media guidelines or policies in place.
We will also be linking to useful LinkedIn Learning video tutorials throughout the programme. Access to LinkedIn Learning is provided for all University of Edinburgh staff and students. But don’t worry if you’re not a member of staff or student at the University, there’s plenty of content for you too.
Information on how to use LinkedIn Learning can be found here: https://www.ed.ac.uk/information-services/help-consultancy/is-skills/linkedin-learning
You can also choose to sign up to the 23 Things for Digital Knowledge mailing list.
The mailing list sends out an email once a week during the supported season of the course (September – June) and once monthly outside of the supported season. The emails provide overviews of the Things, notification of when 23 Things events are scheduled, and any updates to the course.
Thing 2: Blogging
What are blogs?
A blog (a truncation of the expression weblog) is a website with content regularly updated by a single author. Entries are generally written to be informal, reflective, and moderate in length from 50-500 words (although this varies).
Blogs are organised in reverse-chronological order from the most recent post, or entry, to the least recent.
Why blog?
Sometimes new bloggers feel a bit strange writing down their thoughts and publishing them online for anyone to see. But there are several reasons why blogging is a useful tool:
- blogging about what you’ve seen or done is a way of incorporating reflective practice into your professional life.
- blogging about events will help you remember them more clearly in the future, and that’s useful for job applications and when working towards qualifications.
- you will positively impact on other people’s development by blogging your ideas and experiences – professional engagement isn’t just about your development, but it’s also about sharing what you know with others.
- by sharing your ideas and knowledge you’ll be able to engage in conversation with peers outside your local area and develop a wider professional network.
What is tagging?
A tag is a way of describing or flagging the content of your blog post and can also be used to identify posts of interest on a specific topic. As part of 23 Things for Digital Knowledge we ask that all registered blogs with posts for the 23 Things programme be tagged with ‘23ThingsEdUni’. This allows us to pull those posts from registered blogs into our aggregate so that all participants can read and share in the 23 Things experience.
Tagging your blog posts with the specific Thing being covered, e.g. Thing1, also helps identify and collect together posts on the same Thing.
Click here for more information on using Tags with a WordPress blog
How to complete Thing 2
Step 1
Create a blog. (If you already have your own blog skip down to step 2.)
- WordPress – We recommend WordPress.com as a blog hosting site as it is one we use within the University and are able to support. It is also one of the easiest to set up and get started blogging in fairly short work. To help you out we have created the following guide : How to create a WordPress blog.PDF (391KB)
- Blogger – Blogger is another good blogging platform and is provided by Google. Information on how to set up an account with Blogger can be found on the Blogger Getting Started Guide.
- PebblePad (University of Edinburgh staff and students only) – If you would like to participate but don’t wish to create a public blog, an alternative is to use PebblePad. PebblePad is available via MyEd and is a web-based tool that enables users to develop and share an electronic collection (or e-portfolio) of work. You can create reflective Journal Entries that remain private to you unless you choose to share it. Click here for more information on accessing and using PebblePad
Step 2
Register your blog using the form below.
Remember, you don’t need to blog or register a blog with us to work through the content on 23 Things for Digital Knowledge. Blogging does enrich your experience of the course, allowing a space to try out the Things and reflect on your experience, and can be a great tool to show evidence of Continued Professional Development. The blog also provides a way to evidence your participation and to receive recognition (earn and receive an Open Badge).
Register Your Blog
Step 3
Write a blog post and tag it 23ThingsEdUni. (When you tag a blog post with 23ThingsEdUni, so long as your blog has been registered, that post will be pulled into our 23 Things Community Blog. This way you can share your thoughts and experiences with others on the programme.)
Use your blog to write a short post about:
A) what you hope to gain out of the 23 Things programme.
B) were you aware of the University’s Social Media Guidelines for Staff and Researchers or the student Social Media Student Handbook? What do you think of the guidelines/handbook?
