As professor, a major question with which I must deal is whether and in what ways the software technology called blogging is a worthwhile addition to the distance learning toolkit. Having doctoral students with whom to explore, experiment and question makes the investigation real and manageable. The contents of the comments received to the first three postings and the way the blog handles them provide data for tool evaluation.
Much of the anecdotal reporting sees a blog as a means of self-expression with opportunities for social interaction, a kind of public diary with peer feedback. An ongoing problem with writing is the “blank page” syndrome in which the writer stares at a blank page or a blank screen and nothing comes to mind. If the social networking value of the blog encourages non-writers to write, the blog must be given some value points.
Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/) bears testimony to the attraction of bearing one’s soul in public has for young people. Here are some of the phrases found on the homepage: “… a social utility that connects you with the people around you”, “…upload photos”, “…get the latest news from your friends”, “…post videos on your profile”, “… join a network to see people who live, study, or work around you.”
Gary Stager (http://www.stager.org/blog/) is a Logo advocate who, in 1987, visited a graduate course in Logo for Learning that I taught in NJ. Refer to his September 4, 2007 post called “Why Teachers Don’t Use Web 2.0”. Here is an example of what you will find: “No matter how cool, powerful or revolutionary Web 2.0 tools happen to be, there are few if any mature objects-to-think-with embedded in them and certainly no explicit statement that their use is designed to transform the learning environment.”
Comments to this post should be limited to
- How might thinking skills be developed or extended through blogging?
- How might the learning environment be transformed with blogging?
Respond only if you have come up with a new idea or have read something relevant.
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