Welcome to the Future of Social Learning for Pet Bloggers
Hi there! This is my first blog post as an official member of the BlogPaws team. Allow me to introduce myself before we get started. My name is Aimee Beltran and I’m the Director of Community Education for BlogPaws. Writing that still feels surreal! This job has really been a dream come true for me because it’s a marriage of all the things I’m really passionate about; blogging, instructional design and pets! I accidentally got into instructional design more than ten years ago but that’s a story for another day. Once I started my blogs (Irresistible Pets & Irresistible Icing) back in 2010, I really started to see how the Internet, social media and technology were changing the way that we learn and consume content. Today, in the this post I’m sharing with you what the future holds for the BlogPaws Social Learning Center and a chance for you to share your feedback!
No longer do colleges or corporations hold the lock and key to all of the knowledge. We now have access to more content than our brains can handle! Social learning is becoming the new normal but I’m here to tell you that it’s not a new concept.
What is Social Learning?
The way we learn has changed thanks to technology, social media and blogs. We no longer have to wait for an instructor to spoon feed us information. It’s readily available 24/7. Social learning is simply learning and sharing from each other. It’s not a new concept. It’s been going on since the first caveman showed his neighbor how to start a fire.
It’s not even a new concept for BlogPaws. Everything that BlogPaws does for the community is “social learning” from the conference, the blog, the forums and even the Twitter chats!
What is the BlogPaws Social Learning Center?
My new role as Director of Community Education will focus on developing the BlogPaws Social Learning Center. The SLC will provide a variety of learning opportunities to further your career as a blogger and social media influencer. There are four key components that the SLC is built upon. Let’s talk about the 4 C’s of the SLC:
Community
BlogPaws already has a strong sense of community. It’s through the community that we as bloggers interact with each other through the discussion boards, the Facebook group, and the weekly Twitter chat. I’ve always felt like I could reach out and ask questions to my fellow bloggers and get a quick response. The Social Learning Center will continue to build upon that sense of community and make it easier to interact with each other.
Collaboration
I see a lot of collaboration in our community with bloggers that collaborate together to create a blog series or host a blog giveaway. We also collaborate with our community members to create content, influencer campaigns, and speak at the annual conference. Our goal with the Social Learning Center is to provide more opportunities to collaborate with each other. Collaboration is what social learning is all about!
Content
What’s a blog or a community without content? The Social Learning Center will provide you with different types of content outside of the blog. We are working on developing:
- eCourses
- Webinars
- Podcasts
- eBooks
- Workbooks
We know that we can’t do this alone. We’ll be looking to you for your best tips and ideas. Stay tuned for more about that!
Curation
As you know there is SO much content online that it can be overwhelming! Curation is about sifting through all of the noise to share the very best content with you. The SLC will help curate the best of the best to help you with your blogging goals.
Next Steps for the SLC
It’s important to me that you’re included in the process as we start working on designing content and relaunching the SLC. My goal is to keep you involved every step of the way. Right now, we are in the middle of analyzing the needs of our community to make sure that we are creating the right type of content and serving it up to you in a way that makes sense.
I believe in open communication and I want to hear from you! My “office door” is always open and I encourage you to shoot me an email at aimee@blogpaws.com with your suggestions, questions, or just to say hi!
Penny For Your Thoughts?
Well, I don’t really have a penny but I can send you a virtual Thank You! I’ve put together a quick survey for you to share your feedback about the SLC. It will only take a few minutes but will be a tremenous help with how we move forward with the SLC! You can take the survey by clicking here or complete it down below without leaving this page.
