Education, Education, Education

As you all know, I'm in my first year on the Educational Studies in Swansea. Now, I find that education is always changing and I need a reliable source to keep up to date on my knowledge of education, and if there are any recent changes I could impress my lecturers with! A few months ago I found a handy blog that does all this in an efficient way. It comes from the popular newspaper "The Guardian" and is called the 'Motarboard blog'
This site is very useful for seeing up to date news about education in a creative and effective way, it contains media such as embedded videos, images and links to other blogs/sites that are useful. I chose to follow this blog because it integrates friendly understandable language with comedy on occasions, which makes it very easy to read. It also has the option to comment on each post, which is useful for those who extroverts who like to voice their opinions and have a debate! The colour scheme of the page is very eye friendly and always has high resolution pictures, vibrant colours and the information is always reliable - everything you want from a blog!
I would give it one little criticism, and that is they are not too frequent with their posts.. It seems to be a very popular blog with over 300 comments on just one post, and sometimes can leave me waiting a week for the next post.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard 

What is a blog?

A blog is generally defined as a personal diary, but with similarities such as embedded media on the sites and a similar layout, it is sometimes difficult to find differences between websites and blogs.

The biggest difference between the two is the option to comment on various posts, the reader is able to share their views on the subject and is more of a discussion, whereas a website is simply feeding you the information. Blogs are generally dated with a larger heading, with post displayed on one page with easy navigation.

Both the sites aims is to gain the most views as possible - although a web site has a less personal touch, and has a more professional feel.

There is much more of a personal touch to a blog, the author doesn't have to write in a formal way and it's a good idea for them to have their own profile where the reader can learn all about the author and his/her writing style. Blogs have a particularly special place on the Internet as most people like to express their views and opinions with others, it is effective because it makes people connect to others with similar interest and can be an effective way of communicating with people across the globe.

The option to subscribe to the author is a popular option for most people, they will get real time updates about the site/blogs through e mail, and as most emails are now handled by mobiles, it makes the accessibility of the site much easier for the reader.

One thing to take note of on both sites is the language, blogs tends to use simplistic language that appeals to a wider range of audience, and can sometimes include humour in their post. the daily update can be useful for the reader as it keeps the blog fresh and there's always something new to read.

Most authors of a blog normally promote each other, and you can find plenty of links to other topic related posts that can make the user spend a lot of time just looking and commenting on one topic.

Take a look at this blog; http://theblogaboutcars.com/

And then this web site; http://www.topgear.com/uk/

Could you now tell the difference between the two? Do you notice the similarities between them?

Hopefully this blog would have helped you understand the characteristics of a blog!