… is that the question?
Perhaps Shakespeare’s Hamlet poses it better in the affirmative: “To be, or not to be: that is the question”
Like Hamlet, I have reflected on existence, but in my case the existence of something I use for online communication, teaching, and learning: my blog (and blogging in general). And I am left with a soliloquy – reflecting on its meaning and purpose, but without taking action. Perhaps it is still too early in its (educational) application to see what can evolve from this form of online journaling.
With varying or waning interest in comments outside of the classroom session or the truckload of spam that I have to filter out, I have begun to wonder about its existence (for more thoughts on this, see the discussion here on the specter of moderation).
And unlike many bloggers who enjoy more regular posting of their thoughts, I am more interested in the educational nature and value of comments, so I try to keep my blog entries more like discussion starters.
I have compared its educational use against other online software tools, such as discussion forums, wikis, chat, etc. Each one seems to have its own set of learning “affordances” and outcomes (both positive and negative), so I am hesitant to dismiss it outright.
Into this soliloquy, I stumbled upon a refreshing view about the relative value of blogging for educational purposes in an online article by Kara Dawson in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
My reading of it propels me again to consider action – to consider how I have been using this blog and it may need to be situated among the preferences of learners and more in the context of learning interaction (such as linking to this blog from within discussion posts or other sections of my Web site for extended reading and discussion, as in the Palimpsest Idea Post).
It’s too early to say how I will further act upon it, but the wheels are turning again, just as they did when I launched this blog and let the discussion forum and chat (on my home page) take a back seat in educational communications. Now it’s time to consider how a wider palette of online communications can be more selectively used to extend and enhance learning onsite or in the virtual classroom of course management systems.
I welcome your comments in reply,
Doc
I think that there is a place for blogging in the educational realm. Depending on the platform used, they are absurdly easy to set up and get going, thus allowing just about anyone to share their experiences and knowledge with a broad audience.
At their fundamental core they are digital journals. The study of journal contents have long provided scholars with a window into the past, affording contemporary scholars with insights into the thoughts, attitudes and social patterns of previous lives. If that does not serve a valuable educational goal, I don’t know what does. Hopefully, this current incarnation of journaling will be preserved for the future as well.
Thanks Jill for your thought-provoking reply. Besides the ease of use in creating and using blogs, they are also “cognitive artifacts” from which scholars and researchers can “mine” insights into the nature of communication and learning within this application.
I enjoy reading blogs because I have found other people’s opinions and experiences useful. I recently visted a blog that discussed chid custody cases. This blog helped me understand what other individuals had been through in a custody battle and how they coped with the stress. Blogs can be very useful.