The Pros and Cons of Using Blogs in Adult Education
In the article” Content
Delivery in the 'Blogosphere'” (http://ejite.isu.edu/Volume5/Brescia.pdf),
Brescia and Miller (2004) outline four benefits of student blogging:
1. The
use of blogs helps students become subject-matter experts.
2. The
use of blogs increases student interest and ownership in learning.
3. The
use of blogs gives students legitimate chances to participate.
4. The
use of blogs provides opportunities for diverse perspectives, both within and
outside of the classroom.
While this is my
first venture into blogging, I have realized each of the benefits above
throughout my adult education journey. I see the blog as a combination between
journaling and discussion post activities which I have had the opportunity to
use in online classes. I can certainly
see the advantages of the blog as it incorporates the interaction of the
discussion post with the reflection aspect of the journal. My favorite part of all my online classes is
the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas with my fellow classmates and to
learn from their unique perspectives.
Teresa Carter mentions
several challenges related to blogging in this week’s reading. From the instructor’s
perspective, the task of reading all of the students’ blogs is daunting if not
managed well (2011, pg. 93).
Additionally, the development of blogs may not be intuitive to students,
thus creating the need for “how-to” instruction as needed (pg. 95). I will add one additional challenge that
I personally am struggling with and that I am sure there are others who share
my feelings. I have resisted diving into
the social media “pool”, so the idea of posting my thoughts in a very public
forum is actually a little scary. I am
very interested in hearing if there are others out there who have resisted
diving in, or am I the final hold out?
Ferdig, R. E., &
Trammell, K. D. (2004). Content delivery
in the ‘blogosphere’. THE Journal, 31(7), 4-20.
Carter, T. J. (2011).
Blogging as reflective practice in the graduate classroom. In K. King & T.
Cox (Eds.), Teaching with digital media: Best practices and innovations in
higher education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publications.
Gary,
ReplyDeleteYour post this week is very concise and reflective…I like it! You reflect that the blog can be a combination of journaling and discussion post activities, which is so true. We are answering questions, but in a more organized, journal-like way, while also getting a chance to discuss the content as well.
I have also resisted “diving in” to the social media pool. I have not had Facebook or blogged, or anything like that. I don’t even text. I did feel a struggle with this initial post. With the “theme” of the post I basically felt like I was writing a small paper and not really making it very personal as I would think a journal should be. (Although, if I kept a journal I think I would have to work hard to keep it organized and not be a bunch of ramblings.) To me, since this is an educational blog, it almost loses that personal/journal feel automatically. I am hoping as we blog in the coming weeks I can move past this a little bit and make it more personal.
Thanks Janel! I am really glad that I was not the only social media hold out. I'm not sure about you, but I can't even say that the water even looked all that good, but here we are anyway.
ReplyDeleteI can certainly see the benefits of using blogs in adult ed, but I also recognize that the instructor will certainly need to place "sideboards" on activities. Thus I appreciated that Dr. K set the theme for this week. It gave me the springboard from which I was able to take the plunge. I am sure we will all become more comfortable in the blog environment and thus the sharing of information, experiences, personal views, etc.
Gary:
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely not the only one with the social media fear! I was not a Facebook user until about a year ago and I am a younger adult! I still really only post pictures of my children for our scattered family. I have not used it to teach with, as I have yet to see the benefit. I have also not done a blog at all! I tried to set one up once for uploading my lectures, but the platform was cumbersome and I am a technical person so I just quit! This experience has been way different in that the setup was very easy. To circumvent the "con" aspect of integration with adult ed, this has to be the case. After reading our text book and starting my own out last night, I discussed with a colleague of mine the opportunity to teach our Education class "Instructional Technology" how to do this and to let them setup a "class blog" for their future elementary or secondary classrooms!! I am excited to play more with blogging and do more things with it for the rest of the course!
Talk about diving right in, looks like there will be no turning back for you at this point! That is just awesome and like you I am really starting to see the potential. I think that the format of the blog was relatively straight forward and I can certainly see how it could serve as an effective platform for instructional material and learning activities. An obvious drawback is that everything you put out there is open for the world to see. It that is ok, then I say it's a great tool.
DeleteThank you for sharing how you will be incorporating this technology right away!
Gary
Hi Gary,
ReplyDeleteThough I have dabbled in technology a bit, including social media and Google+, I am far from comfortable with it. I have many concerns with the online environment, the first being security. I am informed at every turn that I have to protect my identity, personal information, and that I am being tracked and monitored by government and advertisers, and that this data is up for sale. I simply don’t trust it.
However, it is a fact of life that the use of digital platforms is necessary for business, education, and communication. I have learned that recently as I researched into my eventual transition out of the Army when I retire. Resumes are online, personal branding is essential, and social media is where employers turn to most for posting jobs and finding applicants.
My blog is linked to Google + through the “About Me” link where you can see the wiki and blog I created for another class (hasn’t been active since), my LinkedIn page, and some picture and videos I want to share that are selected to reinforce my LinkedIn profile and my online resume using Wix.com, all in an effort to coordinate a personal brand that is evident regardless of where I may pop up online. A daunting task to say the least.
Michael,
DeleteTrust me; you have gone farther than I have in "putting myself out there". I share your concerns with security and safeguarding my identity. I've tried to instill at least a fair amount of caution about such things to my kids, but they seem like open books compared to what I have online.
I am not sure I will ever become completely comfortable with the amount of information I have online, I will simply continue to be selective what I post.
Gary