Teaching Matters blog post submission and writing style guide
The focus of Teaching Matters is to celebrate and showcase learning and teaching practice across the University of Edinburgh. Teaching Matters was established in 2016, and currently hosts more than 1200 posts from over 900 University of Edinburgh staff and students. The site has a large international audience composed of staff, students, and the wider public who want to find out more about successful and innovative teaching practices around the University, as well as engaging in debate and discussion around hot topics in Higher Education.
Writing a blog post for Teaching Matters
Teaching Matters welcomes submissions from University of Edinburgh academic and professional staff, undergraduate and postgraduate students, and University alumni. Posts can be written by a single author, or multiple authors (including students and staff writing together).
To submit a blog post, please click on the ‘Submit a post’ option on the Teaching Matters blog, which allows you to submit a post directly to Teaching Matters. Once submitted, the editors will be in touch shortly afterwards to discuss any editorial guidance and publication date.
This document offers direction on how to complete the ‘Submit a post’ page for submitting drafts of Teaching Mattersblog posts. It also offers guidance on writing style and structure. Any questions, please contact the Editors at teachingmatters@ed.ac.uk.
Blog post submission guidance
Below is guidance on how to complete each field on the ‘Submit a post’ form.
Author details
Full name: Add your name as you would like it to be appear on Teaching Matters.
Email address: Add your university email, or personal email if preferred.
Title: Add your title, such as Prof/Dr/Mr/Mrs/Ms/Mx
Social Media Handles: Please note any social media handles that you would like us to use when we promote your post on our social media accounts (X / Instagram / LinkedIn). These can be personal, as well as linked to your department/School/organisation.
Biography: Provide 2-4 sentences as a short biography, for example, you could state your job position, department/school, specific teaching or research areas, professional affiliations or personal interests.
Blog post
Blog Post Title: Please provide a title that gives a sense of what the post is about – feel free to be creative! If you cannot think of a title, please leave this field blank and the editors will come up with a title for you.
School/Centre/Department: Select your School/Centre/Department/Institute from the drop-down menu. If there are multiple authors from different School/Centre/Department/Institute, or yours is not on the list, please make a note in ‘Notes for the editor’ at the bottom of form.
Theme: All blog posts are assigned themes and tags to make them easier to find on the site. Using the drop-down menu, please select from one of the following 12 themes that best represents your post (the examples given in each theme are not exhaustive):
- Academic and personal support: e.g., mental health; wellbeing; counselling; academic support; community building; sense of belonging/mattering; supervision; mentorship; personal support; student advisors and academic cohort leads; induction and navigating transitions.
- Academic communities: e.g., the establishment and maintenance of different academic communities; practice sharing; internationalisation; interdisciplinary and collaborative working; and working with tutors and demonstrators.
- Assessment and feedback: e.g., assessment and feedback practices and processes; exams; grading; summative and formative feedback; feedforward techniques; peer assessment; programme-level assessment; Gen AI; innovative assessment methods.
- Community engagement: e.g., community partnership and engagement; experiential learning; outreach; sustainability; service learning; living labs; external placements; fieldwork and knowledge exchange.
- Curriculum development: e.g., curriculum development; course and programme design; interdisciplinarity; Curriculum Transformation Programme; internationalisation; and co-design.
- Digital education and online learning: e.g., hybrid teaching and learning; learning technology; learning analytics; MOOCs; online learning; open education; AI and Gen AI; open educational resources (OERs).
- Diversity and inclusion: e.g., support for diversity and inclusion; accessibility; widening participation; equality; disability; LGBT+; Universal Learning Design; BAME; gender; or other protected characteristics.
- Scholarship of teaching and learning: e.g., pedagogic research; scholarship; practice sharing, the Learning and Teaching conference; Principal Teaching Award Scheme; and academic writing or publication.
- Staff development in learning and teaching: e.g., Edinburgh Teaching Awards; rewards; accreditation; promotion; mentorship; HEA Fellowship; peer observation; and professional development.
- Student employability and career development: e.g., employability; careers; future skills; internships; graduate attributes; and alumni networks.
- Student engagement: e.g., student voice; student-led learning; the Edinburgh Award; peer learning; Student Partnership Agreement; student-staff partnership; and co-design of curriculum.
- Teaching environments: e.g., teaching environments (physical, virtual or social); group working; large classes; hybrid teaching and learning; peer learning; lectures; tutorials; workshops; laboratory and clinical practices; external placement; and fieldwork.
If your post covers more than one of these themes, please make a note in ‘Notes for the editor’ at the bottom of form.
Tags: List 4-6 keywords that relate to your post, such as, assessment; feedback; inclusivity; wellbeing; internship; PGT; Gen AI, etc. The editor may also add appropriate tags to increase the searchability of your post.
Blog post: Add the content of your post into this field. Below is some guidance on blogging writing style and structure:
Writing style:
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- The tone can be quite conversational and less formal than an academic paper.
- There is a freedom to choose your writing style: it could be reflective; provocative; critical but constructive; practical; descriptive; or written as a dialogue/conversation.
- It should be written in language that is accessible to an intelligent lay audience
- Avoid jargon and spell out any acronyms.
- Use of first-person pronoun is encouraged.
Word Count: We advise a word count of between 600-900 words. Much longer, and it may put readers off from engaging. If the topic you want to cover requires a substantially larger word count, please get in touch with us to discuss the possibility of publishing it in two consecutive posts.
Structure/ content: Blog posts do not need to follow a prescribed structure. However, a possible structure for your post might be as follows:
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- Opening: briefly (1-2 sentences) outline the topic and its relevance to learning and teaching.
- Main body: 3-4 paragraphs containing examples, reflections, top tips, or discussion points/ideas.
- Ending: A reflection on lessons learned or future directions and/or an emphasis on practical applications; advice on how different disciplines/groups could adapt the practice; and links to further resources.
- References: If you want to include references to journal articles, books or websites, please include a hyperlink to the site or journal DOI, or list the publications at the bottom of the post (3 or 4 maximum).
Top tips for writing a blog post:
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- Student quotes or contributions are a great way to bring the article to life.
- Subheadings are a writer’s best friend.
- Feel free to use bold function, but avoid italics and underlining for accessibility reasons.
- You can add a hyperlink by highlighting the relevant text and clicking on the ‘insert/edit link’ function on the toolbar.
- If you’ve already written an article for another blog, such as HEA fellowship application, or a web feature, we can help re-style it.
Upload image: In this field, please upload any images you would like to accompany the post. Each post has a ‘feature photo’ attached to it that will be displayed on the homepage. If you do not have your own image, you can browse freely usable, royalty-free websites such as Pixabay, unsplash or Wikimedia Commons.
Please credit the source and creator. If you do not have any appropriate images, we will source an image for you.
Please ensure you have permission to use the image, especially if it is a photo featuring people, and that the images are of high quality. If you would like your biography to be accompanied by a headshot photo, please upload one here, in black and white.
Notes to editor: In this section, please note any of the following:
- A specific Teaching Matters series that this post relates to (see the Teaching Matters’ Call for Contributors).
- The embed code for any videos that you would like embedded in your post – the video is best uploaded to Media Hopper first.
- Any extra ‘themes’ you would like your post attributed to your post.
- If there are multiple authors from different School/Centre/Department/Institutes, or yours is not on the list, please note this here.
- Anything else you would like the editor to be aware of with regards your submission.
Once submitted, a Teaching Matters editor will get in touch with you directly to discuss your submission and advise on any possible editing and publication plan.
Please contact Teaching Matters on teachingmatters@ed.ac.uk if you have any questions or queries.
Happy writing!
