Since the start of the Melbourne University Semester I have been using a blog as an online learning tool/space. Through the use of this tool I have discovered that while it can at times be useful it can also be time consuming.
One of the main issues that I had with the blog software that I used for the duration of the assignment was adding links into the blog. Blogger does not offer a very user friendly tool for hosting other pages on the blog and outside sources have to be used to present the pages in a user friendly format. If I was not aware of this issue, or not able to work out the issues on my own I would not have been able to host other pages on my blog in the view that I wanted using other RSS feed software. From viewing other blogging software I have been able to determine that not all sites that host blogging software have as many issues in hosting RSS Feeds and if I was to ever need to create a blog that hosts RSS feeds again I would most likely not use blogger, but find another blogging site that hosts them more efficiently.
Another of the issues that could arise from having an online learning space as a blog is the need to maintain regular posting. For some people this may be any issue; not having the time to continue posting or simply not having much that they would like to blog about. I found this to be the most challenging aspect of the blog.
On the positive side of using blogs as an online learning tool; it allows users to keep track of all that they have added to the blog, as a result information is not as easily lost, and the creator of the blog is always able to view previous posts and link ideas from different posts through the use of tags (tagging).
Bloggers are able to connect with other blogs of a similar type or that they have an interest in, thus allowing for more scope in the level of knowledge and information they can obtain. Blogs also allow for users to blog about anything that they find interesting, and to organise the blog to whatever layout that they find the easiest to navigate.
From my use of the online blog over the past few months I have also thought that it would make a excellent learning tool in schools for enhancing peer-to-peer learning. If students were to use a blog/s to communicate ideas for school projects and finishing assignments they would be able to use it to connect when they were at home or at school if they had a computer with an internet connection. This would mean that they would be able to communicate with their classmates in real time or over a long period of time using comments and blog posts no matter what distance there was between the students. This would also be very helpful to students who are overseas at the time and still need to complete the class assignments.
From Williams and Jacobs (2004) stated that “blogs have the potential, at least, to be a truly transformational technology in that they provide students with a high level of autonomy while simultaneously providing opportunity for greater interaction with peers” This I could see as being a very important way of expanding student learning and increasing students interactions with each other as well as other in an online community. It is thought that through the use of blogs the intellectual quality of the students interactions would increase.
Ferdig and Trammell, 2004 believe that blogs are ideal spaces for students to make meaning and publish their reflections, thoughts and understandings for an authentic audience.
Blogs have become a place for many people to write down their thoughts on particular matters and feel safe about spreading their ideas to the wider community. They enable individuals and students to express their views, opinions and reflect on their work/practices.
Robertson 2011 states that one of the most important advantages of blogs in schools in the emphasis on self-directed learning. Due to the nature of blogs, posting content is all up to the owning individual and while comments can be made, most of the learning is done on an individual basis. It also allows for a greater use of reflective writing which can be referred back to at any time to improve information flow and the reflective process.
As stated in Robertson 2011 “As well as providing opportunities to practise self-directed learning, the blogs enabled students to express their emotional experiences of learning and to exchange social and cognitive support with their peers. The emotional support of peers was valuable to the novice learners in this study and represents a useful strategy for enhancing the experience of first year students. The affordances of educational blogs could also be used for peer coaching of meta-cognitive skills”.
In conclusion, it can be seen that many individuals can see the benefits of using blogs as a personal learning tool/space. From my experience of the past semester I also see the benefits, but believe improvements need to be made along with teachers becoming more aware of the technology before they bring it into use in their classrooms. Self-directed learning is an important skill and if blogging is able to provide an environment in which students can self learn I will support that idea.
References
Ferdig and Trammell, 2004 R.E. Ferdig and K.D. Trammell, Content delivery in the “Blogosphere.”, Technological Horizons in Education Journal (2004) Retrieved from http://www.thejournal.com/magazine/vault/articleprintversion.cfm?aid=4677.
Robertson J, 2011 “The educational affordances of blogs for self-directed learning”, Computers and Education, Vol. 57; Iss. 2; P. 1628-1644
Williams and Jacobs, 2004 J. Williams and J. Jacobs, Exploring the use of blogs as learning spaces in the higher education sector, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology 20 (2) (2004), pp. 232–247.
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