The blogging professor

There's an interesting article in the May 4 Chronicle of Higher Education on blogging in academia by Martin Weller, a professor of educational technology in the UK. He notes: "In terms of intellectual fulfillment, creativity, networking, impact, productivity, and overall benefit to my scholarly life, blogging wins hands down." I must agree with the good professor. He goes on to raise two important questions: Is blogging scholarship? (He argues yes!). And how do we recognize and reward academics who blog?

Weller notes that being an active blogger has reduced the number of journal articles he has published; however, blogging has increased his peer network, allowed him to stay up to date with knowledge in his field, increased research collaboration, and increased the number of invitations to give talks.

An additional advantage of blogging, I think, is the ability to address issues in real time. For policy issues, the journal format is often not timely enough and in some cases, too formal, to have the impact of a blog. And truth be told, it's a lot more fun to blog.


Graphic:  Hubspot