Blogging to Learn

http://knowledgetree.flexiblelearning.net.au/edition04/pdf/blogging_to_learn.pdf

Issues and risks associated with blogging

Issues and risks associated with blogging

As blogs are entirely owned and controlled by the blog author, obviously this means that the University and the teacher have no control over what students (or staff) might post and these postings will usually be publicly viewable. So there is a risk that postings could be openly challenging, critical and even offensive.
Downes (2004) recounts several occasions where problems of this sort have occurred including a university that experienced a problem when a student's blog resulted in a commercial company threatening legal action and also occasions where students have posted insulting and threatening comments about fellow students and teaching staff.
Ultimately when a blogging system is provided and hosted by the University (such as the Elgg system at Leeds) then ultimately a university staff member will administrate the system and would be able to remove any troublesome posts when they are reported. However the potential for censorship (especially if this ability is openly exercised) will have an impact on the writing of the bloggers using the system.

The comments facility

The comments facility offered by most blogging systems can be used by any blog visitor to anonymously leave a comment against any posting. With public comments there is even less control over who leaves comments and what these comments may say than with the blog postings themselves.
As before with a University hosted system any reported problems with comments could be dealt with by the system administrator.

Student participation

The long term authoring of a blog requires self-motivation and a strong desire to participate in the blogging community. As Downes (2004) points out many students (and staff for that matter) will not have this motivation and desire. This can lead to frustration in the attempts of keen bloggers to establish active blogging communities in their departments and institutions (e.g. the experiences described by Wassall 2006). As would be expected incorporating blogging into the marked components of a course is a strong motivator for students, but this approach inevitably influences the nature of the blogging activity itself.

Blogs as marked assignments

As noted above incorporating blog authoring into a marked assignment is an effective method of encouraging the use of the blogs by students (Wassall 2006). However asking students to write a blog as an assignment changes the nature of the act of blogging for several reasons including:

• The audience the blog author is focusing on is the assignment marker rather than the wider community.
• If the student is asked to blog on a topic that they do not particularly care about, engagement with the process of blogging can be lost.
• Writing a blog is an ongoing activity, whereas assignments require completion by a predefined submission deadline.

As a result students will often stop blogging once a marked blogging activity is completed (Richardson 2004a).

Students have nothing to blog about

Downes (2004) points out that "one of the criticisms of blogs, and especially student blogs is that the students write about nothing but trivia." He goes on to argue that this isn't because the students don't have anything to say, but because they need to understand that blogging isn't just about writing but is about taking part in a larger community. Firstly students need to be encouraged to reach out and engage with the subjects and communities that interest them. This starts with reading. Then they need to engage with these subjects and and communities through "reflecting, criticizing, questioning, reacting". The writing of a blog is just a means of recording and expressing this activity, exposing your own insights so that others can then engage with and react to them.

Source : http://www.sddu.leeds.ac.uk/online_resources/blogging/risks.html

Blog facilitation!

• Academic staff can post course notices and course related news items in their blogs.
• Academic staff can organise seminars and in class discussion though their blog. The discussion question is posted on the staff blog and students debate this question using the comments facility.
• Academic staff can provide records of their own research activity as reference material for students.
• Academic staff can provide opinions on published research in your field as a continually updated reading list with summaries.
• Academic staff can provide discussions of course related topics linking to topical stories that illustrate real-world implications.
• Building an frequently asked questions resource. Students can use the comment facility to pubicly ask questions of the staff member. The staff member can also use the comments facility to answer so providing the answer to the whole class of students.

Source : http://www.sddu.leeds.ac.uk/online_resources/blogging/applications.html

Importance of Reflection!

Reflection can help you to:

• better understand your strengths and weaknesses
• identify and question your underlying values and beliefs
• acknowledge and challenge possible assumptions on which you base your ideas, feelings and actions
• recognize areas of potential bias or discrimination
• acknowledge your fears, and
• identify possible inadequacies or areas for improvement.

Reflection can lead to greater self-awareness, which in turn is a first step to positive change – it is a necessary stage in identifying areas for improvement and growth in both personal and professional contexts. Taking time to reflect can help you identify approaches that have worked well, and in that way reinforce good practice.