BP1_2009111_The Purpose of Educational Blogs? Yes.

Ten years ago, if I wanted my students and I to collaborate with other student journalists and advisors, I had to do a fundraiser to pay for all the travel expenses necessary to fly or drive to the national conference site, to stay in a hotel, and to keep the students fed.  Most of the time, students and their families ended up picking up a significant portion of the cost.


Today, from conferences to conference calls, and from class-specific discussion boards to public blogs, teachers and students can participate in learning communities that span the globe.  As in the image to the right, taken in my classroom, students can increase their participation in learning, and share their knowledge and insights with any who choose to monitor their blog spaces.

Just after breakfast this morning, on a cool, sunny, fall morning in Northern Michigan, I “attended” a conference in Xi Hu, China by way of Wesley Fryer’s blog Moving at the Speed of Creativity. Here, Fryer has posted his notes and reflections on Carl Owens’s presentation “Collaborations between the Teacher Education Technology Programs and Rural K-12 Schools” as well as on the other sessions he has attended to day.  The conference continues another two days.  Owens is an Apple Distinguished Educator and Director of Technology at Tennessee Technological University.

Another blog I visited during lunch today took me all across the country, linking to and commenting on stories posted on other blogs from California to Pennsylvania.  On Joanne Jacob’s blog, the author collects and comments on several topics, but seems to focus on charter schools, Teach for America schools, and related content.  Two of the first components one finds on the page are ads for the book she has written.   Even so, the information available both within her own comments and through the posts from other sites provide a wider insight into the state of education in the nation.

Steve Dembo, one of the premier presenters at technology in education conferences around the country, offers his own content, links to news items related to technology in education (including connections to his own previous posts related to these news items), and methods of connecting to him and to those other bloggers whose opinions and expertise he values most.  His blog, which I perused over a few pieces of my daughter’s Halloween candy, Teach42, can be graphically overwhelming to those who have Attention Surplus/Sedentary Disorder, who need to be able to focus on only a limited number of elements.  “Normal” learners will appreciate the graphical variety and the multiple entry points into the blog.

In fairness, not all educators appreciate the opportunities available within the blogosphere.  William W. Savage, Jr. (2006) wrote that “blogging is akin to vanity publishing” and that bloggers “may write about whatever one pleases, without fear of vetting, editing, or anything else destructive of one's ego.”  I wonder if Savage ever actually visited a blog.  He might be surprised to find that for many blogs, the comment section for an article can run longer than the original article itself; that within the comment section, other interested parties offer not only their own perspectives, but offer additional references to news, other blogs, or even research; that those who post comments often ask for clarification of ideas, terms, or data in order to better understand what is presented. 

Savage ends his diatribe against blogging with the following observations: “the medium seems to exist to encourage nitwits and crackpots to believe that somebody out there truly cares about their opinion” and “I support blogging for the professoriate, simply because so many of its members produce caca de toro under the rubric of scholarship, and that material should be consigned to the oblivion that I deem cyberspace to be.”  I guess he’s got us all pegged.

So, what is the purpose of blogs in education?  Yes.  The purpose of blogging in education is to blog about education.  The blogger may be student, researcher, teacher, administrator, parent, or outside observer.  The audience may be no one, or the audience may be anyone--and that, to paraphrase Robert Frost, can make all the difference. 

References

Noller, D. (Photographer). (2009). Student bloggers [photograph]. Original work.

Savage Jr., W. (2006). You can't spill mustard on a blog. Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 38(1), 47-51. http://search.ebscohost.com