Blog Post 3

“Always Learning”

I found this blog to be one that “worked” for a variety of reasons. I thought the overall layout of the blog was nicely done and looked professional without over crowding the page. The blog gave the reader something to look at as well as think about with the quality of content on their page. The author, Kim Cofino, takes the time to explain why she is using a blog as well as why its important to reflect back on your personal teaching experiences. In terms of design, I thought this blog used white space to her advantage and presented the material in a logical and meaningful way. I thought the Kim’s blog was creative and user friendly, which made traveling around her page easy to do. The blog utilizes different tabs on the top of the page to separate different pages, which is why I think I enjoyed her blog so much. The material was separated into different categories and included links to other pages or resources. I thought at times the blog was a little text heavy but I don’t think it interfered with the overall quality of her page. As I was scrolling down Kim’s blog it seemed to be full of content, which tells me that she is serious about her blog and takes time to make it appealing to a variety of potential readers.

“State of Ohio Education”

This blog did not seem to ”work” in my opinion because of its design and layout flaws. At first I thought the page was nicely laid out, but as I scrolled down, the content became hard to read and felt crammed along the side. The author tried to include too much on their main page and actually hurt their blog by doing so. Going down the right side of the page there are links with different dates (blog archive) that looks repetitive and boring. I understand that the author, Colleen Grady, is trying to provide additional information and past work, but this way is not very appealing. I think it would be helpful for this blog to use more illustrations and/or pictures on their page to make it “come to life” and give the viewer something else to look at. I think the Colleen does use white space well on her blog but it can be excessive at times. After reading her blog, I would guess that Colleen is relatively new to blogger and only uses the basic features of the site. One aspect of her blog that I really enjoyed was her “recommended books” section, which allowed her to express her opinion on different authors or pieces of literature. I think that this blog has potential but needs to be slightly altered to appeal to more viewers.