Written by: Meaghan O’Neil (HAPS Blog Blog Master, Communications Committee)
Welcome to the 2026-2027 academic year everyone!
What better way to kick off the new academic year than with a fresh, new blog post?! But wait… what even IS a blog post? If you’re anything like me, when I heard the word “blog” initially, I found myself saying “well, that sounds interesting… but I honestly don’t even know what that entails”. If you relate, this post is for you!
Here at HAPS, we have this informal, publicly accessible domain where we can share many different aspects of our professional careers.
What are some example areas of interest?
- Experiences – Did you do anything exciting with your classes? Study abroad trips? We love to live vicariously through our members!
- Pedagogy – Do you have insight over certain educational practices or classroom inclusions? Many of us want to consistently update our classrooms and practices – share with us!
- Flipped or Online Teaching – Related to pedagogy, have you been trying something new that seems to work in a distance or flipped classroom? This is an ever-changing domain of teaching! What works for you?
- Conferences – What were your experiences at the conferences? So many of us can’t attend all of the conferences. Did you go to a Regional? Virtual? What was it like?
- Professional Development – Have you done some professional development workshops recently that had some strong takeaways for your classroom and practices? Tell us about it!
- Volunteer Opportunities – Have you or your students been active within your community? What have you been doing?
There’s such a wide array of topics that can be discussed here that this list is by no means limiting! Blogs have a light, conversational tone and can give a sense of voice within the text that is absent in peer-reviewed literature.
Here’s some guidelines for posting within the HAPS Blog:
- Blog length – there’s no set limit though most will fall within 600 words
- Use short, easy-to-read sections of text
- Posts may not…
- Conduct or promote outside business activities
- Promote or advertise commercial products regardless of whether they are related to teaching or unrelated to teaching.
- Defame or cause defamation to the character of any individual, organization, or institution
- Divulge personal information about students nor any personally identifiable information about students.
- Release any information that jeopardizes student safety or comfort in any way.
- Include images! If sourced from other sources, please cite them in your submission
Are there submission deadlines?
No, there are no submission deadlines! We take rolling submissions, but would like to feature a new blog post on a monthly basis. If you’ve got an idea, send it our way!
Ready to dive in?
Send an idea, question, or better yet a blog post to our HAPS Blog Master, Meaghan, at moneil@hapsconnect.org to get your voice heard!