Week 10: Practical Activity – Reviewing My Blog

Blog Review Questions

Is the layout clean and easy to read?

Yes. I deliberately chose a minimalist format for my blog, so that attention is drawn directly to blog posts without distraction. A minimalist approach to presentation ensures that the focus remains on the messages of writing; in this case my posts and their content (Gerd 2015).

Have you used headings in a way that attracts attention to key points?

Yes. Campbell (2006) suggests that as today’s world is becoming more and more visual, students must learn to adequately integrate a visual aspects in their writing. With this in mind, I have used headings thoughtfully throughout my blog to highlight key discussion areas; a fundamental feature of effective writing presentation (McCarter & Whitby 2007). Whether it is in bold, italics or a separate section, I believed I have used headings purposefully to facilitate the reading of my blog posts.

Is white space used appropriately?

Yes, I believe I have used white space appropriately. Where the study materials for this week on Moodle suggest that white space is important in drawing the reader’s attention, I have made sure that in each blog post that I have paid attention to my use of space, and the overall visual impact of writing sections and images (Ames 2015).

Have you completed all the tasks?

Yes, I have completed all the weekly tasks for the blog.

Have completed all blog requirements?

Yes. All of my posts are tagged and categorised based on their content.

Have you responded to all weekly requirements?

Yes I have.

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Blog Assignment Reflection

What were your major challenges and how did you overcome these?

The major challenge I had with assignment is that it is very time intensive. While initially I thought that it would be fairly straight-forward, each week’s series of topics took a considerable amount of time to get right.

In order to overcome this, I took a proactive approach to my blog. I did not want to get close to the due date and freak out because I was behind. So consistently worked a week ahead (sometimes even two weeks ahead) to ensure that I was constantly up to date.

Was it too hard/too easy/about right?

I don’t think that there was anything too hard or too easy about the blog assignment task. I think your approach to the blog may have dictated whether or not this piece of assessment was difficult. I think that because I was so proactive in staying ahead with the weekly tasks, the blog was a fairly straight forward assessment for me.

Has it helped improve your writing?

I think this subject and the blog have improved my writing. I have come to appreciate the value of having shorter sentences and more concise writing style. Technically, I think I have become a sounder writer which will benefit me beyond just my university studies.

References

Ames, K 2015, Week 10 – Impact of Design and Structure, COMM11007: Media Writing, CQUniversity e-courses, http://moodle.cqu.edu.au

Campbell, N 2006, ‘Communicating visually: Incorporating document design in writing tasks’, Business Communication Quarterly, vol. 69, no. 4, pp. 399-403.

Gerd, B 2015, ‘Improve Your Writing Skills With Practice’, Public Relations Tactics, vol. 22, no. 2, p. 18.

McCarter, S & Whitby, N 2007, Writing skills, Macmillan, London, England.