Blogging: To be or not to be? That is the question

To begin today’s blog I’d like to give a little insight into my avatar. What’s an avatar? It is the little picture that appears by your name when you comment on a blog. The avatar I chose is a picture of A.Q. Shipley, the center from the Penn State Football team. If you look at the picture closely (you almost have to since it is so small) you will notice that he is getting ready to snap the ball. This is an analogy for us as educators. We are the centers in the game of life. We all attempt to successfully snap the ball, in the form of what we teach, to our students. It is then up to them to run with it or throw it. I am really embracing the idea of blogging as one way my students can “run” with what they learn in class.  They can choose where they go with the information in the form of their thoughts and ideas (creative thinking and expression). I appreciate the fact that blogging encourages creative, independent thinking, while fostering collaborative learning. The idea of allowing students to post their own thoughts and ideas, instead of regurgitating information is refreshing. In addition it can be a means of obtaining feedback on the presentation of a lesson, which is often lacking in education. We have developed ways of determining if the students learned the material that was presented, but we rarely get feedback on our methods of presenting the material, except when we are observed by an administrator or peer. We are lacking “real time” feedback from our “customers”, the students. Occassionally they may ask a question if they don’t understand something, or they may comment if they can copy their notes fast enough. Otherwise, we as educators are in the dark when it comes to the effectiveness of our presentation skills from the student’s perspective. I believe another benefit of blogging is that it provides the opportunity to learn from others who may be “demographically different”. Gender, race, financial status, geographic location, etc. all can influence a person’s beliefs and perceptions. Our students are often unaware that others may view things differently than they do.  Blogs provide an opportunity – an avenue – for all students to participate and include their insights and ideas. Education can know expand beyond its traditional boundaries.

Many of the ideas listed above can also have a downside: The fact that students can openly communicate their thoughts and ideas is excellent, providing they remain within the context of the lesson, however the potential exists for the discussion to get “off track” rather easily. In addition, students may become critical, not only of the ideas presented (which may be acceptable) but of other students. Because a blog solicits ideas and insight from all students, the different demographics may become apparent in their responses. Most of today’s students do not have the understanding or tolerance to accept ideas which do not agree with theirs. ”Acceptable” blogging techniques will need to become a key unit of instruction before the students begin blogging. Another potential “pitfall” of blogging is over-structuring. I have to admit that I would probably be guilty of this. I am reluctant to relinquish control of the content for a variety of reasons such as misdirection, inappropriate comments, etc. This can be detrimental to the overall process of blogging in that it can restrict “free and creative thought and open communication. An interseting perspective is presented by Ben Grey: 

“Teachers, who structure their blogging too much, lose the concept of conversation.”

This is an issue I think that most plagues teachers who create classroom blogs. Teachers are so afraid that something untoward is going to happen on their classroom blogs, and they fear the fallout and parental wrath they will incur should something go wrong. We live in a society where responsibility is taken away from the offender and misappropriated to the wrong party. There is a percentage of parents who will blame the teacher for setting up the rules and scenario that allowed the students the opportunity to do wrong, and therefore will exonerate their own when inappropriate behavior occurs. It’s sad, but that is what often drives teachers to seek high structure with classroom blogs.

The over-structuring of a blog, while understandable given the societal context of parental and even administrative pressure, is exactly what makes a classroom blog fail and fade away. When you take something organic like the natural fluidity of a blog, and force unnatural structure into it, it loses the very essence of what made it what it was in the first place. I think that phenomenon happens far too often in the world of ed-tech, and it’s an issue we as a group need to work at to resolve as effectively as we can.

From: http://ideasandthoughts.org/2008/07/17/student-and-teacher-blogging-that-succeeds/

As you can see blogging in an educational environment has a great deal of potential if it is done properly. I personally think the first step to utilizing blogging is to determine the availability of technology (computer and intenet access) for the students outside of our classrooms, as it is very likely that most of their interaction will occur outside of class. If students have ready access then we can proceed. If they have limited access to technology outside of the classroom we will need to come up with a creative solution to allow them to participate. As for what that solution is, I’m not sure. Any ideas? Another key to successful educational blogging is to teach the students what is acceptable before they start blogging and then see where it goes from there.