All Hail the Blogger (Blogging in Education: Concerns {Part 1})

Blogging in Education: Concerns

Despite all of the potential benefits that blogging can bring to the learning environment, there are still numerous concerns revolving around the use of this technology in educational settings. When self-reflecting on his use of blogging with his students at the university level, Walatka (2012) states, “I do not bring in technology for its own sake and the appeal that it may have for students is not central.” The technology is a means to an end, a tool to reach the learning goal. One must ask the question, “For what purpose do I want to integrate blogging into the learning environment and what will the academic benefit be for my students?”

            There have been numerous issues brought forth with regards to blogging in higher education institutions. In the literature review for the 2007 article Exploring Students’ Understandings of How Blogs and Blogging can Support Distance Learning in Higher Education, Lucinda Kerawalla, Shailey Minocha, Grainne Conole, Gill Kirkup, Matt Schencks, and Niall Sclater point out several of these concerns. These include minimal communication between students, poor quality reflections upon course materials, poor compliance, plagiarism, and difficulty managing the tension between publishing private thoughts in a public space. Kerawalla et al conclude that these findings suggest that students are often task-focused and outcome oriented, that often they find it difficult to understand the rationale behind the requirement to blog, and that they are unable to recognise how blogging could enhance pre-existing practices.

            When introducing blogging to students, Walatka (2012) points out that teachers often seem more enthusiastic about blogging than students who frequently view maintaining a blog as just another form of work. The medium of blogging may have some intrinsic appeal to students, but this does not go very far once they realize that they are being asked to do serious academic work. It should be conveyed to students that blogging is another form of work; it is simply an effective form of work. Thus, it is important not to start with the idea that students are going to love blogging because it is blogging; rather, one should choose blogging if it will help one’s students reach central learning goals. One way to increase commitment from students is to explain frankly to them why they will be blogging and how the blogs fit into the structure of the class as a whole. The more students understand the logic behind their blogging and see the way in which their work is directly contributing to the class as a whole, the more buy-in one is likely to get from students.

            Walatka (2012) paper, Hub-and-Spoke Blogging and Advantaged for Classroom Discussion, showed how student blogging can be a powerful tool for supporting one’s efforts to develop and maintain a student and discussion-centered classroom. However, blogging on its own, of course, does not do this. Walatka regularly employed a mixture of discussion, think-pair-share activities, one-minute papers, peer-instruction, and group work in order to promote higher level learning. His ability to do this is strengthened by the use of blogs, but blogging alone does not bring this about. One must have an ongoing commitment to integrating discussion as a central part of one’s pedagogy in addition to using blogs.

            Although the above concerns with blogging can apply to any educational institution, the greatest concern of all is for the safety of those students blogging at the primary / elementary and secondary levels. Due to the accessibility of blogs, it is important that student safety is a priority. Students should be taught Internet safety so they do not inadvertently put themselves at risk from predators. Many school districts do not allow blogs through their firewalls as it is almost impossible to screen blogs for content. Many schools have students write their blogs anonymously, however, this devalues the whole personal experience of blogging. Some blog providers have recognized this problem and found ways to work around it by giving teachers a way to preview work and comments before they are published (Wilson and Barbara, 2008).