{"id":249,"date":"2010-12-15T22:46:33","date_gmt":"2010-12-16T05:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.nwic.edu\/teachinglearning\/?p=249"},"modified":"2010-12-15T22:47:33","modified_gmt":"2010-12-16T05:47:33","slug":"fostering-sharing-and-community-through-blogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nwic.edu\/teachinglearning\/2010\/12\/15\/fostering-sharing-and-community-through-blogs\/","title":{"rendered":"Fostering Sharing and Community Through Blogs"},"content":{"rendered":"

“That\u2019s why I think blogging is potentially different from any writing that we\u2019ve asked students to do, a genre that may have great value in terms of developing all sorts of critical thinking skills, writing skills and information literacy among other things. We teach exposition and research and some other types of analytical writing already, I know. Blogging, however, offers students a chance to a) reflect on what they are writing and thinking as they write and think it, b) carry on writing about a topic over a sustained period of time, maybe a lifetime, c) engage readers and audience in a sustained conversation that then leads to further writing and thinking and d) synthesize disparate learning experiences and understand their collective relationship and relevance. This just seems to me to be closer to the way we learn outside of school, and I see those things sorely lacking anywhere in traditional education.” – Will Richardson, Weblogg-ed<\/a><\/p>\n

“Blogging allows us to think out loud together.” – Scott Rosenberg, “How Blogs Changed Everything”<\/a><\/p>\n

Overview<\/h2>\n

A blog (short for weblog) is typically described as an online journal where entries are displayed in reverse chronological order.\u00a0 A number of services and software platforms have developed that make this process nearly as simple as word processing.\u00a0 As a result, it has become possible for someone without any knowledge of web design or HTML to publish content to the web.\u00a0 While the traditional journaling use of blogs is certainly still common, blogs have evolved into much more than just a place to post journal entries online.\u00a0 They have become, more importantly, personal publishing spaces.\u00a0 What was once the exclusive domain of large media companies–the ability to publish to a mass audience–is now easily accessible to anybody with an internet connection.\u00a0 While this has always been true about the web, the important difference with blogs is that they require very little technical knowledge to use them.\u00a0 This simplicity is important, because as author Clay Shirky points out, “Communications tools don’t get socially interesting until they get technologically boring.”\u00a0 (Here Comes Everybody, 2008<\/a>)\u00a0 The ease of use that blogs bring makes them a useful tool for educators and students to extend teaching and learning into online spaces.\u00a0 They can now focus on the sharing of ideas that can be facilitated and the connections that can be made between people without being distracted by technical details.<\/p>\n

In thinking about blogs as personal publishing platforms, it is important not to confuse the characteristics of blog-based web publishing with publishing in print.\u00a0 Personal publishing through blogs differs in some fundamental ways.\u00a0 Print publishing, along with other traditional forms of media are mostly one way affairs.\u00a0 They follow a broadcast model in which messages are sent out and the majority of people are merely consumers of the information.\u00a0 With blogs, however, people are both consumers and creators of content.\u00a0 It is a participatory medium that engages people as writers as well as readers, and as a result, is much more social in nature.\u00a0 In addition, blogs provide a mechanism for readers to leave comments back to the author, providing a direct communication link between the writer and the reader.\u00a0 The resulting form of communication created through blogs more resembles a conversation than a static printed document.\u00a0 In addition, as people read, write and comment on each others’ blogs, the practice can encourage the formation of community through the shared conversations that emerge.\u00a0 Many groups, including many colleges and universities, have adopted shared blogging platforms (many blogs hosted on the same system).\u00a0 This allows for connections to be more easily fostered and managed between members of the group, in essence, turning the personal publishing platform into a community publishing platform.<\/p>\n

The use of blogs for education is not necessarily a methodology in and of itself, but a form of communication, through which many different methodologies can be applied.\u00a0 Blogs are flexible in their application and therefore lend themselves well to a wide range of creative uses.\u00a0 That being said, there are many use cases that have been well tested and studied.\u00a0 In a review of the literature on using blogs in higher education, Leslie and Murphy (2008)<\/a> identified two major themes that speak to their efficacy 1) the facilitation of social interaction and social presence (including opportunities for group communication and feedback) and 2) the social and collaborative construction of knowledge (providing opportunities for community centered sharing).\u00a0 In addition, other identified benefits of blogging include:<\/p>\n