Today’s educators have access to hundreds of educational technology tools. The choices of which to use when and why can become overwhelming. As we decide which to use, it is essential to factor in a tool’s ability to transform education rather than simply replace a traditional activity. One Web 2.0 tool that has the potential to empower students to engage in “...participatory culture, to emphasize collaborative learning and peer to peer interaction, to promote active participation and interactive multi-way communication, and to engage learner knowledge creation activities…” (Ching & Hsu, 2011, p. 794) is blogs. Here are four research-based arguments for why your students should start a blog today.
1 To Improve Writing
Writing is a fundamental academic and life skill that schools are charged with teaching. It is vital to an individual’s ability to express themselves and to “slow down the process of thinking” (Petko et al., 2014). Having the ability to process thoughts thoroughly and share them effectively takes practice. Research indicates that with quality prompts, feedback, and opportunities for revisions improve students’ writing abilities (Carver & Todd, 2016). While blogs aren’t the only avenue for students to compose and share their writing, they do provide specific benefits that traditional writing formats do not. Blogs provide writers with the freedom to be more creative. Creativity with the format, text elements, images and gifs, tables, charts, and many other enhancing features. Additionally, the reach of the Internet gives writers’ work more of an impact. This can give students a more authentic, relevant writing experience and a higher level of motivation.
2 To Center Collaboration and Co-Creation
Co-creation in education is defined as “knowledge generation with students, in which students and teachers interact and engage to jointly create ideas and agreements that add value to the teaching and learning model” (Medero et al., 2022, p.3). Blogging can be used as a collaborative tool that promotes co-creation, reflection, critical thinking, and varied ideas about a given topic (Medero et al., 2022). With well-thought-out assignments, activities, and projects educators can leverage blogging to encourage collaboration by interacting with students by sharing and commenting on their blogs and blog posts. This process actively involves students in the construction and sharing of their learning. This interaction can also result in knowledge building that isn’t necessarily possible with traditional pen-and-paper tasks.
3 To Shift from Individual to Collective Impacts
The process of interacting and learning with and through blogs is inherently more democratic and collaborative. With blogs, there is a shift from individual mastery and achievement to collective and social sharing, building, and creating. This collective purpose does not invalidate individual mastery, it relies on it. When individuals bring their understandings and perspectives together, they can collaborate to develop new and more nuanced understandings. When we shift our expectations as educators higher than just being the best individually, we ask students for more. We increase the rigor while emphasizing the importance of collective knowledge.
4 To Transform Roles
Emphasizing the importance of collective knowledge, cooperation, collaboration, and knowledge sharing transforms education and the roles of students and educators. Blogs, therefore, are an avenue to truly student-centered learning and teaching. Blogging can shift the learner’s role and identity from passive consumer of information to active creator, sharer, and distributor of knowledge. Blogging allows students to interact with content, teacher, peers, and the world at large. It exposes students to diverse perspectives, some of which they may never have come across in a traditional discussion or lecture.
References
Carver, L. B., & Todd, C. (2016). Using blogging software to provide additional writing instruction. The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education TOJDE, https://doi.org/10.17718/tojde.53394
Ching, Y., & Hsu, Y. (2011). Design-grounded assessment : A framework and a case study of web 2.0 practices in higher education. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 27(5), 781-797. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.931
Petko, D., Egger, N., & Graber, M. (2014). Supporting learning with weblogs in science education: A comparison of blogging and hand-written reflective writing with and without prompts.https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-170314
Sanchez Medero, G., Pastor Albaladejo, G., Medina, P. M., & Garcia Solana, M. J. (2022). Blogging as an instrument of co-creation and collaborative learning in university education. Contemporary Educational Technology, 14(4), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/12555
Images: Pixel True
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