To blog or not to blog…
As well as teaching, I am also interested in minimalism, passive income, and social media. The conventional wisdom in blogging/online communities is that it is necessary to have and actively manage an online presence. Write a blog, be active on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin: all with the ultimate goal of building a tribe and enhancing your credibility. If all goes well, this will lead to fulfillment and opportunities for professional advancement.
However, does this transfer to the ELT world?
My friend John Wiltshier does not have a blog. Instead he spends his time and energy creating textbooks and presenting to teachers.
Paul Nation does not have a blog, but that has hardly stopped him influencing language teachers all over the world.
Tim Murphey does not have a blog, although you can find his website here.
Scott Thornbury does have a blog, although he doesn’t update it very often (on the blogging scale of things, at least). Barbara Hoskins Sakamoto has a hugely successful blog, although she seems to be focusing on guest posts recently.
So what lesson to draw from all of this? Is blogging (regardless of its intrinsic rewards) something that is worth doing? Or is it, as some of my more pragmatic friends put it, a waste of time?
A lot of the time I feel I should shut down the browser and settle down to some ‘serious’ work: some official publications that I can put on my resume. Right now, in Japan at least, your blog or online presence will probably count for nothing when applying for jobs. Even the most cursory ‘kiyo’ (internal university journal) article would trump years of online writing when applying for a university position.
Thinking about the opportunity cost, the few hours a week I spend on this could probably be better employed elsewhere…
So what do you think? Blogging, from a professional point of view, worth it or not?
I think that this is a very good question. My take on it is this: blogging, tweeting, etc. Will not help you get through the first round of university hiring, i.e. the review of your application. But, it will help you during the second and third stages of the hiring process, interviews, follow ups, etc. Your blog will be a great way to demonstrate what kind of person and teacher you are. A good, active blog is a great way to reiterate what you’ve talked about in your interview.
So, if blogging is keeping you from publishing, then you stop and work on research. Without the requisite number of published papers, you’re not likely to make it to the interview stage where a blog will help you shine. Ideally, you should have both – academic papers and a social media.
You are sharing ideas with a community of like-minded people and our students benefit from all of this. It might not get you a job or be financially rewarding, but 100%, keep on blogging.
Hey Ben,
Certainly must feel like a tough gig at times and you’re right, the time is in all reality, probably better spent elsewhere. The other side of it is though, it’s good to do things that we enjoy. You enjoy it and lots of others benefit from it, too. I know this is the first time I’ve commented, however, I often stop by and check out your blog. I find it very helpful and informative. You write well and it’d be a pity to see you stop.
Keep it up mate.
Best,
Greg
Hi Ben – I agree with the testing ground idea. I find it a useful way to discover if anyone I know has expertise in the area I am looking to discover – also find it useful to get comments that I can use to test my own thoughts. Most of all it is nice to commit thoughts to paper and see how people react. You write well and people read your posts so don’t stop!
If the writer is in education, I would be looking for something I could use in my own classroom to improve myself. As I teacher, I blog to not gain popularity, but to improve my own writing and communication skills.
I think the media is less important than content. Although I think Google+ is the way of the future.
Tough decisions, Ben. I don’t have any answers, but I can tell you why I started blogging.
In my case, I took the Becoming a Webheads course through TESOL Electronic Village online (part of my “do something that will make you feel like a beginner” efforts). The only way to see how online stuff worked was to dive in. That meant starting a blog (among other things).
There were already a ton of excellent ELT bloggers, and I didn’t really know what I could add to what they were already doing. I’m not a fan of personality blogs, and don’t think I’m all that interesting, in any case.
That’s why I started collecting blog posts from other EFL teachers. THEY were interesting, and most of them didn’t have an online presence. It’s not a time saver, since most guest posts take more time to format and upload than my own posts take to write, but I’m happy to use what small recognition I receive to shine a spotlight on classroom teachers.
Some of my guest writers have personal blogs, and guest posts bring more readers for the rest of their writing. Some of my guest writers don’t have any sort of blog (and aren’t ready or interesting in maintaining one), or blogs that aren’t about teaching. For them, Teaching Village gives them a way to share their writing without the commitment to regular blogging about teaching.
I would still love to publish a guest post from you, too, Ben!
Best of luck with whatever you decide to do!
Great, Ben! I look forward to seeing your post. I can either add you to the blog and you can write a draft there, or you can send me your post as an email attachment (word) or as a google doc. I’m flexible 🙂
Tim Murphey is awesome! He was my first professor when I started grad school working on my MA in TESL.
As for blogging, I think that followers will keep following so long as you have something of value for them to read.
Great blog by the way. Found it on milepoint of course.
There are some benefits to blogging. Writing practice is one; a ‘kiyo’ might be stumping you, but the informal blog post might come tumbling out.
Also, if you can establish consistant posting, the blog can become a bit of a testing ground for ideas. When you have commenters, they can pick apart an idea from many view, increasing insight for when you rework the idea in a later form.
Also, I’m not sure blogging has really taken off yet in Japan. This is something you might be able to decide yourself, but being one of the first to take it seriously may have dividends later on. Social mores tend towards conservatism in Japan, no?