I took a look at a few of my peers blogs to see what kind of blog posts they were posting – it felt like I was having a nosey in their personal diary which felt a little weird and intrusive. It’s been recommended to give feedback on blog entries, and it’s been eye-opening to see how we have all tackled the blogging task differently. Some have been very reflective on their own practice, others have used it to note any interests which have come up throughout the week, others digesting the allocated reading through their written text. It made me reflect on my own blog, and how I could improve my entries. The continuation of the imposter syndrome.
All in all, I’ve found the blogging aspect quite difficult as each blog post I do feels like a mountain to climb. I do a lot of reflection individually and more privately, but posting it publicly feels like a mammoth task when it really doesn’t have to. I guess writing like this (and more importantly, publicly) doesn’t come very naturally to me, and I truly dislike the fact that this counts towards assessment. I understand that this type of regular blogging could be less daunting to some, but personally, I would prefer to be tasked a singular written piece of academic writing where I would be in a different head space to be critical and reflect on both readings and practice. This feels like such a grey area, I don’t feel like this way of working works for me.
Additionally, the form of leaving comments on each others blogs for me works in concept but still leaves a strange feeling. I feel that I have contributed well in online discussions, signposting to references I think would be useful for my peers. I also created a Microsoft Teams group for the students within our group so that we could share resources and links organically – something unfortunately I have only contributed to. Nevertheless, when I questioned the use of it and whether to continue, my peers told me they have found it useful, and to continue to share the links (e.g. Data Feminism talk from King’s) as and when they crop up. I had hoped for group-sharing, but perhaps this is indicative of what happens when things are created without group consensus, or amongst peers who are not familiar (other than through the teaching & learning space) with each other. Another peer actually asked if it’s worth creating a small support group as new teachers which I thought was great, so with permission from both, I created a WhatsApp group for the three of us to discuss ideas (and worries/concerns!) about our micro-teaching session prior to that happening. This supportive structure has been very helpful, and it’s really nice to speak with those who are in the same situation. Maybe this works better as it’s a smaller group of us.
I am happy that peer-to-peer feedback happens quite organically, and I have not limited myself to doing this through the blogs. I guess this is the downfall to measurability – some things are hard to see and assess.