Welcome to Efficiency Exchange where university professionals like you share their good practice and ideas. We’d like to tell you why they do it, and why you could too!
Our contributors clearly see the benefits of sharing. In our recent survey of bloggers, 87 per cent said that Efficiency Exchange had raised the profile of their work within their own networks.
For some, sharing via Efficiency Exchange helped to promote their projects to a much wider audience.
“Due to the fantastic support from the Efficiency Exchange, our survey reached a world-wide audience. Thank you Efficiency Exchange!”
And a quarter of bloggers surveyed found that their contributions to Efficiency Exchange increased the impact of their work within their own institutions.
The work we were undertaking has achieved much greater internal recognition after being highlighted on the Efficiency Exchange.”
Why share?
Because we believe in helping to create smarter working universities that deliver a great educational experience for our students. And we hope that you do too.
So, are you ready to join us? Your blogs, case studies and reports are all welcome. If you have a story about how your work is helping to make a smarter working institution and deliver value to your students, we will be delighted to help you tell it. To get started, just follow these steps.
Writing a blog for Efficiency Exchange
1. Consider your approach
Once you have an idea, have a think about how you are going to get it across. Here are some different approaches that you can try:
- Showcases – Write a blog to highlight your project or achievement — and if they can also promote an event or link to a case study, that’s even better.
- Report summary – If you have a report or toolkit you want to highlight, a blog is an ideal format for summarising the key points.
- Top tips: “Five tips on student retention…” – Tips and practical advice work well in a blog. It doesn’t have to be five, of course!
- Thought leaders and calls to action – You are welcome to express your views on a topic, make a call to action, or invite participation in your survey or project.
2. Send us your idea
Please send us your idea for a blog or case study by email and we will respond with feedback and guidance.
3. Think about content and structure
Your blog should be an easy-to-read online article of around 500 words, following this suggested format:
- Highlight the “why” by describing the context such a new policy, a new venture or a problem to be solved.
- Describe “how” you addressed the issue you faced.
- Don’t forget to include “who” was involved such as staff and students. If you can include a quote from somebody who was involved or benefited from your activity, so much the better.
- Summarise the tips, take-aways and learning from your activity.
- Encourage the reader to discover more information by linking to a report, case study or your web page.
- For extra brownie points from the editor, you could write a 50 word summary of your blog that we can use on our homepage to describe it.
- Invite feedback from readers to build your network and engage with colleagues.
4. Think about style
Here are some recommendations for blog style:
- Conversational style: Bring your own personality to your writing and talk to your readers as you would in an informal professional conversation.
- Invite comments: Encourage readers to comment and acknowledge their contributions.
- No jargon: Avoid specialist terminology and write for readers who are not specialists in your field.
- Think web and mobile: Provide links not footnotes and keep paragraphs and sentences short. Use bullet points for a short list of steps or tips.
- Be responsible: Express your opinions, but be careful not to say anything that could be interpreted as demeaning or inflammatory.
5. What we need from you
We need a hi-res digital image of you and a short biography of 50 words. You are also invited to send us photos, videos or graphics that could appear in your blog.
6. Terms and conditions
- Authors’ views are their own and are not necessarily endorsed by the Efficiency Exchange or its partners.
- Copyright in content posted on the Efficiency Exchange remains the property of the author or organisation, unless stated to the contrary.
- Blogs are published under a Creative Commons licence with these conditions, unless stated to the contrary:
- Attribution (BY) – requires attribution to the author
- Non-commercial (NC) – restricted to non-commercial purposes
- No Derivatives (ND) – does not allow adaptations of the work.
- The editor will make amendments to improve readability as required.
You can also find out about producing a case study in a more structured style. These are ideal for achieving impact for your work and they are highly shareable.
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To contribute or find out more, contact Dr Cristina Devecchi.
