Why Blog Now?

This is a question that I have been contemplating for about six months now. To blog or not to blog?

This post may not make sense to anyone but me, but I feel that as I begin this process I should be clear about why I have decided to add blogging to my long list of already scheduled tasks. You see, this isn’t my first time blogging. Back in 2008, I started an educational blog as part of my graduate degree program at George Mason University.

I successfully blogged for about 2 years before feeling overwhelmed with keeping up with a blog, a Twitter account, a website, newsletter and well, everything. So when I started feeling the itch to write again, I thought, can I do this? I know the effort that goes into blogging and I know the kind of writer I am, one that edits and edits and edits….How do I do it without feeling stressed out over it and publish posts in a timely manner?

So why now? There’s two reasons. 1) The two mediums that I chose to share ideas and thoughts on, Twitter and YouTube, just aren’t enough: Twitter only has so many characters, while video tutorials that keep viewers engaged can only be so long. I have come to realize that I have a lot of knowledge to share and no feasible way to share it. 2) Pursuing the goal of becoming a Google Certified Trainer. One of the things they look for is how active you are online and in social media and being part of an educational community. The idea is to share. A blog is perfect for this!

What will this space hold? I’m still deciding on some things and figuring my way through WordPress, which is new to me, but here’s what I have so far:

• Publish one original blog post per week. It may be an idea I have observed in a class, a thought inspired by something I have read or viewed, a tutorial with step-by-step instructions, or reflecting on how a lesson went.
• Publish my Tech Tuesday YouTube series every other week. I wasn’t going to initially do this, but one of my favorite blogs, Cult of Pedagogy publishes her podcast and transcript to her site, so I thought, well, why not?
• Links to workshops: As I grow my presenter and trainer skills, I want one place that participants can find my workshop and presentation resources. Click on the workshops link for those. Coming soon!

I hope you’ll join me as I slowly dive back into blogging!