As Graham Wegner highlighted in his comment on The Edublogger –“it wasn’t all that long ago (well over a year I think!) I had a Skype conversation with Alex Hayes and your good self where you declared that you didn’t really “get blogging.” So true, I didn’t get blogging and was into podcasting! Yep, took awhile to “get blogging” and thankfully the 31 Day Blogging Project made me a more effective blogger.
For me, the key to my gain from the 31 Day Blogging Project, was completing the daily tasks while collaboratively working together within a team of 14 participants. Knowledge gain was greater working in a team, because each individual gained a different perspective from the task – giving participants greater “food for thought!”
The team aspect of the project is sooo important — which is why I pleased that a new group of bloggers have just begun working together on the 31 Day Project! Congratulations Kate Olson, Sarah Stewart, Jess Mcculloch and Andy Roberts (please drop past their blogs to provide assistance and encouragement). Kate’s explanations for her involvement are inspirational
As just anyone in the world has the power to create a blog, I feel it’s my responsibility to go above and beyond to learn all that I can. My students (and colleagues learning from me in the professional development arena) deserve to have an educator who is dedicated to learning.
Here are some tips from my experience of the 31 Day Project that will help keep you sane going:
Check Out What Others Learnt
Before I started a task I would first check out what the others had learnt! Saved time and gave me ideas! Summary of what I learnt is located on this page of my wiki with links to daily tasks you need to complete (those relating to being a problogger have been remove). Click on the participants photo on the 31 Day Project page of my blog to view what each participant learnt when we did the project (please let me know if there is a problem with any links and I will fix).
Recording The Progress of Your 31 Day Project
Personally I recommend writing posts of what you learn on your blog so that your readers can also help you with your journey. My readers provided me with sooooo much guidance, help, assistance and mentoring; thanks everyone! However as I progressed I found it was better to post several tasks in the same post e.g. 31 Days To Build A Better Blog — Day 20-26 plus posts from my journey which would help my readers e.g. Why Does Technorati Mock Me?, Why Didn’t I install Google Analytics Sooner?, How keep track of new comments on other bloggers’ posts!
As you progress it is easy to lose track and feel worn out! Ticking off progress was important – writing the task number with progress status, smiley face and the famous tick/cross all helped (especially the image of the tick and smiley face).
FINAL THOUGHT
For those that have already completed the 31 Day Project — What are your tips/advice for the new participants?
If you have been thinking about doing the 31 Days to build a better blog, or wanted to improve your blogging, I strongly recommend you join the latest 31 Day Project Team and join the Better Blog Community (so the community can supply support)! Please let me know if you are joining so I can drop past your blog to provide encouragement.
Sue Waters 
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