Question: To Blog or Not to Blog
As you’ve delved into more and more web resources in your explorations you’ll likely come across a variety of web sites. Many will be static web pages where there’s an author or group of authors. Another set will be of the read/write nature where the author writes and readers write. These might be blogs, wikis or among others (for instance, Amazon customer reviews).
Why are these types of read/write (Web 2.0) sites taking over the web? Well, there’s truly a multitude of reasons, too many to list here, but I’ll try with one word:
Sharing - We learn through sharing knowledge, experiences and ideas. Sharing is easier and farther reaching than ever before. The transfer of ideas through sharing in a variety of mediums is the basis of social media.
The big question educators ask themselves when faced with the option of a blog or wiki is whether they have the time to start and maintain one. Eventually this question evolves into the question of whether an educator should have students blog (or wiki) while not maintaining a weblog or wiki of their own.
So I ask you, do you think it’s important to blog (or wiki) yourself before you embark on designing sites for your students?
Before you answer consider what these folks are saying about blogging:
- Steve Dembo asks if the time spent is similar to homework expectations for students in his post Too Much Blogging (be sure to read his question at the end of his post).
- Kim Cofino offers insight on blogging the elementary way and starting with students as contributors to a class blog (you’ll learn a lot from Kim here if you follow her links)
Next Post:
Assignment: Project Research… The New Way
I checked out both blogs and it is helping me see a way for the kids to comment on class or assignments. I guess my reservations come in formulating the questions for them to respond to. It sounds easier than reality for me because I tangle with the “busy work” notion and want to make it a learning experience if I direct them to it. I understand that any safe experience on the net is OK, but as the one blogger stated, it will consume many more hours in a day that I just don’t have!
I believe that designing and asking good questions is at the heart of quality teaching. At the same time, we need to be comfortable with our students coming back with more questions than we start of with. That is a clear sign that they are trying to understand what we present before them or engage them in. I’ve seen blogs be implemented as busy work and they simply do not work that way. In fact, I would (and have) discourage the use of blogs this way.
From my perspective, at a practical level, it would be about fostering the use of a blog/wiki site outside of class. A place where students can ask questions that extend their learning and connect with others (experts or peers outside the classroom). The hours are by choice. Steve (Dembo) chose to write (he was referring mainly to his 30 Days to Better Blogging project). It does give you an idea that “edubloggers” (not fond of that term, but it works here) struggle with time as well.
Thanks for your comment!
Thanks so much for highlighting a few of my posts! I hope they’ve been helpful to your readers (and maybe earned me a few new readers too)
On to your question! This is one I’ve been thinking about a lot as I help other teachers begin a blogging journey with their students. Personally, I think all that is required is an open mind and a willingness to explore (short answer: no), but I also think that in order to truly understand the power of blogging (and other web 2.0 tools) you really do have to understand it for yourself, you have to have made your own connections, discovered your own way into building a personal learning network, and taken the time to truly explore all of what these tools have to offer.
Kim, thanks for your comment. That’s precisely what we are trying to do with this group of teachers. They are exploring a variety of tools from their personal/professional and classroom practitioner perspectives. The design was to make their explorations truly meaningful and not exploring Web 2.0 for the sake of exploring Web 2.0. The struggle we all have is in the balance between personal/professional and classroom practitioner. Does blogging really mean that you author your own blog? Can you be a blogger and only read/comment on others?
Thanks again for stopping by!