The more visual attentive of you may have noticed a new virtual lick of paint at my blog as I go for a more subtle, toned-down look. In short, I have noticed recently that a lot of my favourite ELT blogs have a nice clear look to them with simple easy-on-the-eye themes and a general lack of clutter.
So, I decided to bandwagon hop and go for a ‘back to basics’ theme of my own. I have also cut out a number of the ‘side widgets’ that were previously filling up the sidebar. Gone are the badges for award events long past that I didn’t win anyway as are the “I’m a member of some Ning Network I haven’t looked at since I joined it'” boxes. The links to Twitter and YouTube stay as they are a relevant part of my ‘online persona’ and so does the link to ‘The Round’ as I feel that is an ELT initiative worth drawing attention to.
Also gone (much to the delight/shock/horror of Phil Wade no doubt) is my Twitterfeed and its subsequent ‘auto-tweet’ links to other blogs - I figure I’ll go back to manual mode and those lovingly hand-crafted personal tweets from now on. Finally, I took the decision to refresh my blog roll cutting it down to ten of the choicest ELT cuts out there. This was partly in line with the new simplified look and partly a rip-off of Chris Wilson’s recent rationale behind introducing a blog roll to his own fine blog. Like Chris, I have gone blogs that have recently been constantly pulling me back, offering up useful insights, and prompting trains of pedagogical thought to leave the reflective ELT station.
To go over each blog, I pinched another idea off another fine ELTer, this time Mike Griffin, who recently celebrated his ‘twitterversary’ by doing a Pecha Kucha about key members of his PLN. So here is a short video highlighting each blog and why I like it in twenty seconds (more or less) each (I believe there is a name for a mini Pecha Kucha of just ten slides but it escapes me…)
You probably know most of these already but I hope you find a new one or two to boost your CPD with!
(Needless to say, if you blog is not featured here or previously was on my blog roll but now isn’t, it does not mean I don’t rate it. I’ve just changed my blog roll to reflect changes in my PLN and blog reading habits. The blog roll may well change again soon. If and when it does, I’ll be highlighting the new additions here as well)
Thanks for continued inclusion, Dave, and wholeheartedly agree regarding our similar wavelengths despite wildly different contexts. I've always felt that way about you. There are only a few that are so completely different that I keep going back to.
ReplyDeleteI love the mini PK you've done here and am inspired to do one of my own. I recently renovated my blog roll too, but feel a paring down a bit might be worth a second look.
Like the streamlined blog look, btw. :)
Btw, though I did appreciate being part of your previous auto-tweets, I'm much happier to hear you may do so manually now.
DeleteThanks for the comment Tyson - it would be great if you do a similar video as well. :-)
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