Welcome to the people who are visiting my blog for the first time after the 15th International Reflective Practice Conference: Comhrá at Limerick University, Ireland.
I'm writing this post early because I am taking some time off for leisurely travel to Ireland in the hope that I will have adjusted to the time zone and shaken off my jet lag before I need to stand up and present at the conference. If you are reading this it also means that someone was interested enough to come along to my session, listen to me and follow up - and that is all good news. I hope to hear from you and I would love you to post a message and tell me what you thought of the conference and my presentation.
For those of you that are new here I want to tell you about my five main reasons for keeping a blog. For those of you who are experienced bloggers - please respond with your reasons and we can share the joy amongst us all.
1. I like to get these thoughts, ideas and feelings out of my head and written down somewhere. Preferably, somewhere I can find it again, so a chronological blog is perfect.
2. I like to have a separate personal and a professional blog. I can let my family and friends know what I have been doing and load up the photos, and I can also keep in contact with other blogging contacts who might (or might not) be interested in what I get up to on the weekends.
3. I like the stimulation and ideas from other people who respond to my comments. There are very interesting people out there that I would never have met if it wasn't for this blog.
4. I live in a regional town and it can be hard to talk with other people about what I am thinking and feeling. I enjoy connecting with people and discussing the issues, without worrying if they might be related to someone who knows someone.
5. It's fun. It's new and it is the future. As a PhD student I want to have contemporary research in 3 or 4 years time and I am certain that we will be doing more and more online. So, I might as well learn how to do it now.
If you are new to blogging, here are some of my favourite blogs that I recommend you visit. Sarah's blog is an experienced blogger and her blog is fantastic - she has great information for new people about how to get started, and ideas and examples about technology, tools and techniques. Pam is a midwife and I enjoy reading her posts about the different aspects of her life. David's blog is fun and I enjoy reading his thoughts about daily life, through the eyes of a 20-something US bachelor. Mary-Helen is doing a PhD about doing a PhD and she describes her blog as a place to dump her thoughts - it's an interesting journal and I enjoy reading about her latest PhD adventure. Dave has a blog about using a blog for reflective practice and he has some great ideas about using technology. Do you have any favourite blogs to recommend to us?
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6 comments:
Hi Helen
Glad to see you're having fun in Ireland. I cannot believe it was nearly a year ago I was at the conference in Rotarua. I look forward to continue our conversations about reflective practice especially in electronic forums.
Thanks Sarah - yeah time is flying by. I enjoy our conversations about reflective practice and I am really grateful for your support and encouragement. Thank you
Helen
Thanks for the comment. Your research sounds really interesting.
Hi Helen,
Thanks for your comments. Great to learn about your reasons for blogging. Hope that you would enjoy your presenation there in the Reflective Practice Conference. Here are my reasons for blogging http://suifaijohnmak.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/what-is-the-purpose-of-blogging/
I think we are all learning these together through our lenses, and continue to reflect throughout our life.
Looking forward to continue our conversations and wishing you every success with your presentation.
Cheers
Thanks Tractorgirl and John.
John - I enjoy visiting your blog - thank you for your ideas and support.
Hey there Helen,
Thanks for visiting and leaving a message on my reflective blog. I am learning about tracking back the entry to leave an entry on my visitors blog. I just figured out how to do this. Before I used to respond to visitors on my blog. I learnt that from http://www.manaiakalani.blogspot.com. I look forwar to hear what has been happening in Ireland. Best wishes.
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