The world of blogging has never been more accessible, nor more complex - nor more rewarding. This course will help students develop the wide range of skills needed to become sustainable, safe and ethical bloggers. We will analyse the diverse blogging styles out there, discovering what works - and what doesn't. We will also cover things that tie into blogging such as social media, sponsored posts, crowdfunding, SEO and affiliate schemes. Students will develop their own blogging approach and be able to (hopefully!) avoid any potential pitfalls.
Course Dates
Course details
Tutors
Course details
Tutors
Course details
Tutors
Course details
Tutors
Course details
Tutors
Course details
Tutors
Key Features
Aims of the course
- To expose students a wide range of online writing formats and approaches, including vodcasting, blogging and podcasting.
- To allow students to reflect, recognise and develop their own writing voice, style and platform preference.
- To recognise and address the demands of writing for an online audience, such as personal safety ethical considerations, legalities and potential abuse.
Course content overview
- This course will explore a wide range of online writing formats and reflect upon the benefits and disadvantages of these approaches.
- An understanding of the distinct nature of online writing will be developed, addressing both ethical and legal practicalities.
- The student will be able to draw on a range of strategies in order to deliver consistent online content.
Welcome week (Week 0)
Purpose:
- personal introductions
- introducing the course
- useful reading
- personal objectives
Learning outcomes:
By studying this week, the students should have:
- become familiar with navigating around the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and from VLE to links and back
- test your ability to access files and the web conferencing software and sort out any problems with the help of the Technology Enhanced Learning team
- learn how to look for, assess and reference internet resources
- contribute to a discussion forum to introduce yourself to other students and discuss why you are interested in the course and what you hope to get out of your studies
Week 1: Discovering Your Voice
Learning outcomes:
By studying this week, the students should have:
- an understanding of the diverse approaches available to bloggers and selected a favourite to model best practice upon
- an understanding of their personal drivers for blogging
Week 2: What To Write About (And How)
Learning outcomes:
By studying this week, the students should have:
- developed a personal strategy for creating their content and finding ideas
- an understanding of the benefits and risks of sponsored content, affiliates, and advertising
Week 3: Ethics
Learning outcomes:
By studying this week, the students should have:
- an entry-level understanding of copyright, both written and visual, and the General Data Protection Regulation
- an awareness of wider ethical issues such as informed consent, abuse, managing their personal data, plagiarism and content theft
Week 4: Community (No Blog Exists Within A Bubble)
Learning outcomes:
By studying this week, the students should have:
- developed an appreciation and understanding of the established community within their particular sector
- an understanding of how to manage third party input on their own sites, such as commenting, feedback and potential abuse
- commented on an external blog
Week 5: Sustainability (It’s Not All About The Stats)
Learning outcomes:
By studying this week, the students should have:
- an understanding of the importance of self-care, scheduling and taking a break
- an entry level understanding of SEO
- an entry level understanding of monetizing opportunities such as Patreon, Amazon, and Ko-fi
Week 6: what next?
- assessment of student learning
- assessment of student satisfaction
- encouragement of further study
This course is open to everyone, and you don’t need any previous knowledge or experience of the subject to attend.
Our short courses are designed especially for adult learners who want to advance their personal or professional development. They are taught by tutors who are expert in both their subjects and in teaching students of all ages and experiences.
Please note that all teaching is in English. You should have near-native command of the English language to get the maximum benefit from the course.
Each week of an online course is roughly equivalent to 2-3 hours of classroom time. On top of this, participants should expect to spend roughly 2-3 hours of self-study time, for example, reading materials, although this will vary from person to person.
While they have a specific start and end date and will follow a weekly schedule (for example, week 1 will cover topic A, week 2 will cover topic B), our tutor-led online courses are designed to be flexible and as such would normally not require participants to be online for a specific day of the week or time of the day (although some tutors may try to schedule times where participants can be online together for web seminars, which will be recorded so that those who are unable to be online at certain times are able to access material).
Unless otherwise stated, all course material will be posted on the VLE so that they can be accessed at any time throughout the duration of the course and interaction with your tutor and fellow participants will take place through a variety of different ways which will allow for both synchronous and asynchronous learning (using discussion boards etc).
Fees
The course fee includes access to the course on our VLE, personal feedback on your work from an expert tutor, a certificate of participation (if you complete work and take part in discussions), and access to the class resources for two years after your course finishes.
Concessions
For more information, please see our concessions information page.
Alison Fordham Bursary
University of Cambridge Professional and Continuing Education is proud to offer the Alison Fordham bursary, which is awarded to students who wish to study on one of our short online courses via our VLE, reducing the fee paid by 50%. The bursary is limited to a single award for each set of online courses.
Application criteria:
- applicants should set out their personal learning motivations since priority will be given to those who are returning to learning after an extended break, or have not previously engaged with fully online learning, or are seeking to use the online short course as a bridge towards undergraduate award-bearing study
- applicants who can demonstrate financial need
For more information, please see our bursaries information page.
A certificate of participation and a digital credential will be awarded to those who contribute constructively to weekly discussions, exercises and assignments for the duration of the course.
