In the aftermath there were swathes of blog posts, reviews, mentions, friend requests and follows from everyone who attended and it was great to read about everyone’s experience of it, but the trouble for me was that everyone was saying the same thing. Everyone enjoyed it – great. Everyone thought it was well put together – great. I’m just not sure I want to read about the same events from 10 different people’s perspectives (when most of the 10 perspectives are pretty similar).
Although I didn’t get much of a chance to chat to many people through wanting to enjoy spending the day with my friend (who I don’t get to see anywhere near as much as I would like) I did get the gist of the type of blogger in attendance. There were the typical ‘mummy bloggers’. Oh how I hate that term as, no doubt, they do too. Lots and lots of mummy bloggers and more than a few babies in tow too. I had the uncomfortable experience of sitting next to a baby who decided it was hungry (and it wasn’t a bottle the mother got out). As well as the mummy bloggers there were the fashion bloggers, the beauty bloggers (they stick out like a sore thumb all primped and preened), and the ‘allsorts’ bloggers – those people who just blog/vlog/cast about anything and everything.
One particular type of blogger seemed somewhat lacking in attendance however, and of course I would notice this since I belong to that particular niche. I seemed to be the only student blogger there. In fact, in the past year or so I’ve noticed a distinct lack of press/attention/recognition for student bloggers full stop, and when I say student blogger I mean someone blogging about their studies, not just a blogger who happens to be a student.
Maybe I’m missing some mystery site where student bloggers collate, but of all the blogging awards, conferences, lists (top 100s or whatnot) that I know of, none of them seem to pay much attention to student bloggers and I just think this is criminal. When I first started my own blog I mistakenly thought I must’ve been one of the few people blogging about their studies but I’ve since discovered that I’m oh so wrong and there are so many good student blogs out there but no kind of hub or group for them to belong to.
Someone, please correct me if I’m wrong. Please.
If I had the time and energy I’d love to go about righting this wrong myself but in truth I haven’t the foggiest about setting up websites and all that jazz and haven’t realistically got enough time to do it. If I did, I wonder how popular it would be. Do you think I’ve got a golden idea on my hands here or do you think raising the profile of student/mature student bloggers is just wishful thinking on my part?
(1 vote)
Comments
I think this is a good idea and you're right there is nowhere currently, apart from on here which would point you in the right direction. It's also pretty topical at the moment with plenty of information out there about mature students.
My blog has started to morph into a blog about studying as it is such a big part of my life now. I think I will be starting a dedicated student blog to keep everything all in one place.
It would be good to engage with other student bloggers in much the same way the 'mummy bloggers', 'fashion bloggers' all do.
I think raising the profile of mature students and students in general is a good idea as they are facing a tough time ahead and people need to take notice and pay attention.
Hi Jenny
If you haven't shared your blog address with us already, please do so as we'd love to add it you our blogroll to help flag out all the OU student bloggers out there. You can drop an email to platform@open.ac.uk and we'll add a link.
Thanks, Robyn
Ooh it would seem my comment about breastfeeding has upset a few people.
Let me clarify that I have no problem with breastfeeding in the slightest, in fact I'm one of the 'it's the best possible start for your child' brigade, I'm just really squeamish and as someone who doesn't have kids and probably never will it makes me squirm a bit thinking about it.
I'm just a total wimp :oD
I'm blogging about my OU progress on WWW.mintylearns.wordpress.com I have been doing it for almost a year now. I do include what is going on in my everyday life, but I mainly started to give me motivation to write.
My blog is generally about everything going on in my life so studying does crop up quite often. I've written quite a few posts on studying with the OU. I don't know of anywhere we student bloggers gather other than here unfortunately. Do let me know if you discover anything!
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I'm a carer and I also work full time and stuggle to fit it all in. I think the stuff students have to say is hugely relevant. Especially about keeping going. My blog is athttp://maturestudenthanginginthere.wordpress.com/. I love reading your blog and think it is so important for other students to understand that life isn't straightforward but you can, despite all of that, still study.