Blogging

I have had several experiences with blogging before coming to MET.  I started my own blog about my take on things I encountered in China.  My husband loved it and encouraged me, but unfortunately up until this time, I haven’t been diligent enough to keep consistently writing and there are only a few entries.  Time is one factor, but the other is lack of interaction. I know that if there were real tangible viewers that I would be more motivated to write.  I’m also not one to promote myself so beyond family members I haven’t pointed anyone to the site.

In MET I have been required to set up two ePortfolios with blogging so far, and participate in a community blog in one course. The two ePortfolios were very different experiences. In the first, no one looked at it that I know of and there were no responses.  I was pleasantly surprised this semester when John replied to each blogging entry. I found that it motivated me to continue to write and put my ideas out there. I have mixed feelings about the community blog.  For one thing it has a large number of participants so that there is just too much to read.  It is a place for us to upload our assignments and make connections.  I find that it is harder to navigate and more artificial.  In my own blog, I am notified when someone responds and so I can respond back but in the larger blog, you really have to dig to see where those comments are located.  It feels more like an assignment than an organic blog.

Through the readings and hearing about other people’s experiences, I believe that blogs are an excellent tool for learning.  The interactive affordance provides motivation to continue writing.  The sense of an audience can also inspire a more careful check of writing techniques.  Blogs are easy (ease of use) to edit and update (Bates & Poole, 2003; Downes, 2004), requiring very little time other than the writing component.  The interface is pleasant and it is easy to add images, videos, or sound making the entries more appealing.

Blogging is something that I plan to continue to explore.  I will definitely be implementing it in my classroom in the future. One thing I will seriously be considering though is how to make the integration of this tool more authentic, rather than a forced assignment (Fisch, 2007).

 Resources

Bates A. W. & Poole, G. (2003).A Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In A.W. Bates & G. Poole, Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education (pp. 75-108). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 4.

Downes, S. (2004).  Educational Blogging.  Educause Review, 39(5, September/October), 14-26. Accessed online 25 March 2009.