With three months on the clock and over 100 posts, TheUniversityBlog has been an enjoyable project for me that’s gone from strength to strength.

And there’s plenty more to come too.

Thank you for all your support so far.  It’s exceeded everything I’d imagined by a long way.

The Christmas break is underway for most of you now, just as it will be for me at the end of this week.  A university without lots of student activity is a university that inevitably closes for many of the staff too.

Therefore, Friday 21st December will be my last day of posting until the New Year.  I’ll be back to the posting as of Friday 4th January, so I hope to see you back then.

Once the Christmas break is over and we all get back into the swing of things, I plan to take the blog further, mainly with regard to its promotion and organisation.  My aim is for as many students as possible to have knowledge of TheUniversityBlog.  Then it’s their choice whether or not to visit, natch!  At the moment, only a select number of students are aware of this place, which is obviously a shame.

At least they’ll have a large back catalogue of posts to catch up with when word gets out…

I’m writing about my aims today because of a post over at Daily Blog Tips.  The site has got a new group writing project, focusing on everyone’s “2008 Blogging Goals“.  I thought it a great excuse to explain my plans and thoughts for the coming months.

So here goes…these are my goals:

1. Inform universities of this blog

I’m taking this site seriously and I want people to know it’s available.  I write about academia in the UK to help students make the most of their time studying.  If universities are aware of this, it gives them another source of writing to refer students to if they need to know about something.

2. Let Student Unions know about the blog too and engage with them to find out what students are looking for help/advice with.

Following on from my first aim, it would be crazy to ignore the actual Student Unions.  After all, I’m writing articles for students, about student life!  Not only will the SUs know how I can reach out to students, but they’ll also be able to tell me the important issues on the minds of students.  These things change, so the only way to keep up with it is to listen first-hand about what’s going on.

3. Write posts well in advance of publication

After having been struck down with illness twice in quick succession, my regular posting on TheUniversityBlog took a beating.  This didn’t make a difference in terms of visitor numbers (they went up!!), but I was annoyed at myself for not having a backup plan.

Therefore, I hope to get a lot of articles finished in advance over the coming months.  Then I’ll be ready for posting no matter what.  Queue evil laugh…

4. Set aside more time to communicate with other bloggers, academics, students, influential people.

When I started TheUniversityBlog, I thoroughly enjoyed speaking to others to get interviews and opinion.  I was unable to continue spending dedicated time on that, but I miss it and will be incorporating some of this communication time into my plan.

I also want to do more guest posting and establish a stronger link between bloggers in similar territory.

I’d finally like to hear more from individual students, past and present.  The focus will be on advice they would pass to others, how their lives have been changed by university, and what they would like to know more about.

5. Link my work in Higher Education with this blog

So far, I’ve spent very little time focusing on my own development within HE.  I’m only a couple of months into my first position within academia, so it’s no surprise that I haven’t made full use of this link yet.  But I’ve certainly learned a lot already and it’s great to be in this position.

My final blogging goal is admittedly a vague one, but it’s an important one.  There’s a lot of scope to give TheUniversityBlog greater depth and I’m working toward understanding how I can take it to the next level.  Getting back into the thick of HE can only enhance the possibilities for this blog.  So watch this space!

Just one more regular EduLinks to go before Christmas/New Year.  Time flies, doesn’t it?

Lifehack.org – Advice for college graduates

[Following on from the previous EduLink, this post sums up all the advice given by readers to Lifehack.  The main tip in this post is NETWORK!  To be honest, it’s a tip you really need to use.]

College Scholarships Blog – 6 Things to Remember When Cramming for Finals

[That’s right, it’s revision time.  We know that all too well at TheUniversityBlog.  This link will give yet more help on getting the most from the work.]

Academic Commons – Special Issue

[I haven’t read this, but I’m determined to make this some Christmas reading of mine.  I thought I’d share the link, because it sounds interesting.  A special edition of Academic Commons, devoted to Cyberinfrastructure and the Liberal Arts.  Many articles, lots of reading, might be interesting to you too.]

Litemind – Five Reasons to Collect Favorite Quotes

Litemind – 6 Tips to Generate Outstanding Ideas

[A new blog that I found a few days ago.  I thought I’d provide a couple of worthwhile links.  If you’ve not read the blog before, I suggest you give them a look.  Both links above are helpful for creating ideas, expanding your creativity, and opening your mind.]

Telegraph – Are you drinking too much? // Millions more classed as danger drinkers

[Larger measures, stronger wines…they make it sound like we’ve never had it so good.  But when we don’t realise how much we’re drinking…hic!  No wonder some people get drunk on just one or two drinks!]

Officer Online – Money makes the world go around

[The financial position of the NUS and how the NUS is looking to change for the better.  Interesting to have an understanding of where the Union is going and how it’s been working.]

Study Hacks – The Most Important Paper Research Advice You’ve Never Heard

[If you’re seriously ready to work toward an essay that’s not good, but GREAT, you’d be wise to follow the tips Cal describes in his post.  Work like this and you’ll be well on the way to supreme quality.]

Independent – Universities can inspire the young

[Teeside is making its mark and letting young people know about it.  Their outreach attempts sound promising.  Let’s all shout from the rooftops how fantastic and beneficial university really can be!]

Since starting TheUniversityBlog, I used a dark theme.  But after using Google Reader to check out about a million different feeds and news sites, I liked to see things with a brighter background.

That’s why I’ve now changed the theme.

What do you think?  Any thoughts?  If you preferred the previous theme, let me know.  I can always change it back, of course!

But I hope you like this one.  Slightly more flexible for navigation too, methinks…

Yes, it’s been a while. Here are some good old EduLinks to keep you going. Happy reading!

Time – 50 Top 10 Lists of 2007

[Lots of American focus, as you’d imagine, but I’m a sucker for this kind of thing.]

Open Culture – 28 Podcasts That Will Teach You French, German, Italian & Spanish

[To get the most out of learning a language, get used to listening to the language. While it’s great to listen to radio stations and watch TV shows over the net, Open Culture have put together a load of audio learning podcasts. After listening to these, you’ll be more than happy to listen to the radio in whichever language you’ve wanted to learn.]

Jonathan Fields: Awake @ The Wheel – Top 10 ways to un-bake your brain

[My ‘Enjoy your study more’ article on Tuesday mentioned some similar ideas. As this article explains, life can make us feel a bit low and unhappy. So whether or not you’re studying, there’s always reason to enjoy yourself.]

Chronicle of Higher Education – Yale Uni Puts Complete Courses Online

[There’s so much available to students now. If you want to go that little bit further in your study, you’re spoilt for choice. Now Yale has put up some of their courses for anyone that’s interested. Astronomy, English, Religious Studies, and lots of subjects beginning with the letter ‘P’…something for everyone hopefully!]

LifeHack.org – We Ask, You Answer: Advice for Recent Grads

[Readers of Lifehack offer their ideas and advice to graduates on how to work the future to the max.]

The Road Map – How to Start a Conversation in 10 Easy Ways

[For Freshers, it’s now been well over 2 months of getting installed into the university way. Enjoying yourselves? I hope so. Even well into your degree, it’s still necessary to speak to new people and get involved in conversations. That can be quite intimidating sometimes. The Road Map offers some tips to getting the most out of new conversations and beefing up your confidence when going about it.]

The M.A.P. Maker – 25 articles on networking for shy people

[Moving on from starting conversations, university is a great place for networking. Make sure you go beyond networking with just students. Network with as many people as you can. Even if you’re shy and couldn’t imagine much networking, you MUST be able to find a few pearls of wisdom from this mammoth list of articles.]

Online Tech Tips – Web sites that work offline thanks to Google Gears

[One of the next big things tipped to make a difference to our lives is the ability to use online tools while you’re offline. Back in the day when the Internet was related more to bulletin boards than the World Wide Web, I would download all my messages and forums from a slow dial-up modem and reply to everything offline. Once I’d finished, I’d log back on and upload my responses. The offline way gives us much more flexibility. Well, that’s the idea anyway.]

New York Times Magazine – Year In Ideas Magazine

[If nothing else, this will get your mind whizzing in all sorts of directions. Let it wander for a while. Who knows where it might take you?]

Improving Your World: Relationships – Tips for improving communication with family and friends

[In a nutshell, stop looking internally and start listening to and understanding others. But if you want to delve a little deeper than that, there’s plenty of help in this article.]

Life Optimizer – The 80/20 Principle: 11 Ways to Boost Your Life

[A fab post. Although the focus is on general life, it’s a good student checklist too. I could have done with some of these thoughts when I was a student myself…]

Study Hacks – 25 Articles Every Student Should Read

[While Cal is on holiday (lucky thing!), he’s highlighted some writing that will ‘change the way you think about being a student’. He’s very kindly recommended one of my recent articles too, bless ‘im! So if today’s EduLinks aren’t enough and you’ve missed my regular dose of linkageness, this list should be more than enough. You’ve never had it so good!]