A defining expectation of students completing the MEd. Teacher Librarianship is that they develop as reflective practitioners through maintaining a blog throughout the course.

I am positive that at some (frequent?) points throughout the course, students may look upon this requirement as a burden. As an ‘extra’ task of questionable merit.

I can understand this feeling from the perspective of someone who has experience in the challenges of juggling the many demands of online and part-time study. Time is precious. Spending time on anything that seems superfluous creates frustration. Yet, as a committed blogger myself, I can also see the incredible benefits of sharing learning reflections and working through challenging ideas in a public forum. Having blogged on and off since about 2006, it was a no brainer for me to blog throughout my PhD studies, and the opportunities, connections and massive growth in my own capabilities gained through this process are something I would not have been able to achieve any other way.

But enough about me. If you are a student of the CSU MEd. Teacher Librarianship course, regardless of what stage you are at, I would encourage you to read this fantastic blog post by Rowena McGregor. It beautifully sums up the benefits of developing a reflective approach to librarianship, and captures the essence of why we encourage students to maintain a blog through the course. It situates Rowena’s thinking and learning within the research literature and demonstrates the conversational yet academic tone we ask students to aim for in their own posts. This post, which I discovered serendipitously through Twitter could not have come at a better time for those beginning their blogging journey or those whose impetus is flagging.

Thank you Rowena, for sharing your thoughts – as you identify in the post, you have made a positive difference (McGregor, 2021 para.13) – one that would not have happened had you kept your thinking entirely private. Thank you also for sharing the inspiring poem by Richardson, which I have sampled below.

So please take the 5 minutes needed to read this post, and bookmark it to return to whenever you are questioning the time commitment of reflective blogging.

References

McGregor, R. (2021, November 6). Reflective practice. Is this the library?. https://rowenamcgregor.com/2021/11/06/reflective-practice/

Richardson, L., & St. Pierre, E. A. (2005). Writing: A Method of Inquiry. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (pp. 959–978). Sage Publications Ltd.