In relative terms, some Web 2.0 tools have been around for a long time. As a result, us technology-types often forget that relative longevity doesn’t translate into people knowing how to use them.
Blogs are a perfect example of this.
One of the original Web 2.0 tools, web logs (you can see where the silly name comes from) have been the poster child of the participatory web. Now everyone with a thought and a computer to write it on can become a journalist, editorial writer, political pundit, sports writer, or budding Bridget Jones.
Blogs are web pages upon which it is very easy to write text and share with the internet.
Add to this the fact that the “style” of blogs is to show most recent submissions over past submissions, while archiving older posts and you can see why it has emerged as a “journal” like environment. Talking Tech - the very site you are reading - is a blog. So I am not going to go into too much detail about how they work. If you are here reading this, then you are seeing what blogs can look like. To see more, follow other links on the sidebar to other blogs.
Instead, let’s look at what makes blogs powerful educational tools.
Let’s start with a key question:
If they are “journals”, what makes them better than pen and paper ones, or a Word document that you store on your computer?
First and foremost, it is the power of linking. Because the site is on the web, you can link to other sites. Perhaps an article you are responding to, a video you are commenting on, or a picture that you are inspired by. You can connect people to information and you can give opinion/review on ANYTHING, sharing the original with the reader.
Second, RSS makes blogs better. Because readers can subscribe and have your newest posts “delivered” to them through a(n) reader/aggregator, the chance for increased readership grows. I’ve explained RSS before, so I’ll leave it at that.
So, great…you can link, readers can keep up, but what makes them powerful educational tools?
One word: conversation.
Blogs have created world-wide conversations. Because posts can be commented on, bloggers can now offer ideas, opinions, or information, and get feedback from their readers. The blog’s presence on the web extends the audience of readership beyond the walls of a classroom, beyond the limitations of a grade level, and outside of the confines of a school.
The audience is the WORLD wide web, and that’s a lot of people. Sure, not all of those people are reading one blog, but if the topic and the writing are meaningful, the audience will come. Teachers can facilitate this with school-to-school relationships or “blog-pal” classes. Parents can get involved and comment on students’ work (not to mention get insight into their writing style, their personality, and the issues they grapple with).
Teachers have used blogs to get information out to students: links to websites, YouTube videos to consider (yes, there is educational stuff on there), articles to read, and/or simulations to try. They have used it to prompt students, “what are your Top 3 books of all time”, “how can you make a difference on global warming?” The key has been to encourage student reflection.
The result has encouraged student conversation.
Kids naturally begin to comment on other kids’ comments. They start to talk. And when carefully monitored and encouraged, they continue that conversation in class too.
Why do blogs belong in education? They belong because they enable writers to enrich their writing with sources, suggestions, and links. They belong because they provide writers with the opportunity for self-expression with an audience. They belong because they allow for that audience to be ANYWHERE.
Here is a video from Frieda Foxworth on reasons to blog with students:
Download Video: Posted by ffoxworth at TeacherTube.com.
So how do you get started?
One thing we often encourage is for teachers, who want students to blog, to blog themselves. Start up your own blog at blogger or edublogs. They are free and they are easy to sign up for and set up. And let me know if you have questions.
Here’s a blogging for beginners video from Frieda Foxworth:
Download Video: Posted by ffoxworth at TeacherTube.com.
Image by dailydog, found at Flickr Creative Commons
