Time for a blog renew for HotLunchTray. In an effort to refocus on serving the target HLT audience it is time to rebuild focused content.
The One Hour Content Plan by Meera Kothand advised bloggers to do several things which will help to renew HLT. I had previously used the workbook Create from Meera, but I needed a fresh look at my blog and content – and The One Hour Content Plan accomplished that.
Rededicate to HLT core readership
I loved Meera’s point that “Content that tries to attract everyone attracts no one.” I can identify two types of teachers that I want to support via HLT. The support may be direct to classroom teachers, or to those delivering professional development to groups of teachers, or just for the consideration of those watching Educational technology trends.
“I’ve Taught 20+ Years”
I’ve taught for 20+ years. Suddenly it’s like I’m a new teacher. I can’t keep up! Can’t it just go back to how it used to be?
“I can do anything with Tech.”
I can do anything with technology. I appreciate good instructional design, but I’m uncertain of how to use that to create online content for my school subjects.
Create content that serves that readership
I narrowed my areas of expertise to Blended Learning, Online Teaching, Instructional Design, Online Teacher Professional Development, and Educational Technology Blogging. The areas of expertise I have been following the longest are Blended Learning and Blogging. However, since March 2020, I have been immersed in fully online teaching in K-12 like never before.
Blended Learning
This blog has been an authority on K-12 Blended Learning in advance of the COVID-19 pandemic, through the author’s dissertation, and in the midst of the misapplication of the term “blended learning.” In the new (future) normalized K-12 environment everyone needs to have a solid handle on the meaning of Blended Learning and the incredible potential for K-12s through Blended Learning done well.
Blogging
As a blog establishing in 2010, HotLunchTray has been concentrating on instructional technology. The constant changes in the education space are just ramping up after this resurgence in this current investment of technology. Definitely stay tuned to HLT by subscribing now.
K-12 Online Teaching
March 2020 has changed K-12 education forever. Educators fill the spectrum between welcoming this transition and educators waiting for “normal” to return. But families with a new appreciation for the flexibility provided by K-12 online teaching possibilities.
Instructional Design
From the arrangement of asynchronous content to the delivery of synchronous sessions, instructional design is a skill set long-neglected by K-12 teachers. Over the years, those who rose to leadership positions in K-12 had no experience in teaching online, creating online content, nor the facets of relationships from a distance.
Nuances of building in a learning management system (LMS) include particular considerations which instructional leaders may not know. Recommendations for the various combinations of synchronous and asynchronous teaching are new and largely not understood in K-12. HLT explores and amplifies the best practices in K-12 instructional design in-person and online.
Online Teacher Presence
Proximity and body language used to be the largest factors in building positive student relationships. However, K-12 online teaching has complicated the way in which educators establish teacher presence in the online classroom. Ways to create teacher presence in an online environment are skills that need to be explicitly taught.
Create content of value
The HLT will start offering different formats of content aside from blog posts. Follow the blog for updates on downloads, eBooks, and courses – free and paid – to grow both of the target audiences of HLT.
1 Pingback