Purposeful Online Communication

I set up a blog for my staff awhile back, thinking we could use it for general communication. However, it's been very difficult to whip up much participation. What can I do to increase interest?

Use of a blog is foreign territory for many educators, so what you’re actually asking your staff to do is adopt a new behavior. Just like any other habit, it takes time, perseverance, and a compelling reason to change.

You don’t mention a specific purpose for the blog in your question. If you haven’t done so already, identify a reason for staff to use the blog. Perhaps it becomes the vehicle for distributing the school bulletin, for building meeting agendas, or sharing other important information. Make sure that you are posting consistently and that readers are notified when the blog is updated, using something like Bloglines subscriptions. Most importantly, make sure that your expectations for use of the blog are clear, and build in some accountability.

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