Blogs as educational tools

Deng and Yuen (2010) proposed a four dimensional framework for blog use: “self-expression, self-reflection, social-interaction, and reflective dialogue.”

In the adult learner classroom, blogs would work well because adult students have experience and expertise to share on various topics. They are more confident to communicate and want to share what they know. They have an emotional investment into their experiences. The content would be focused on educational leadership: leaders as teachers and teachers as leaders. The Army currently uses threaded discussions to train leader/educators. Non-commissioned officers are the primary educators for Soldiers. I would have my students blog about ways that adults serve as both leader and teacher within the community, in private and public industry, and other areas outside of the military. What are the implications of being a leader/teacher in the larger context of society? How can we shape the community through mentoring others? The capstone project would be to develop a leader/teacher program to train adults in the community sector. The blog would allow the students to post their ideas of various elements of their plan.

De Almeida Soares (2008) stated obstacles to blogs included “lack of free time at home” or other “technical issues” and suggested creating a blogging tutorial to give at the beginning of the class. Most adult learners will have a learning curve unless they are technologists already. I too would create a tutorial to blogging. Currently the first two courses Army online learners take are “Introduction to Blackboard” and “Introduction to the Army Leader Graphical User Interface.” We make sure they know what all the buttons do before releasing them on the system.

To address the issue of “lack of free time at home” I would recommend that students use their smart phones to read blogs during down times such as waiting in line. (Blackboard threaded discussions would make this a painful experience.)

Blogs are unique in their ability for personalization and expression of identity, thoughts, and feelings. This allows for a deeper investment of thought and time. Threaded discussions belong to Blackboard or another learning management system, blogs are personally owned (for free). Threaded discussions are only available for a semester; blogs are permanent (Richardson, 2010). Threaded discussions are limited in the content that can be attached; blogs are Web 2.0 standards compliant (means freedom to express with multimedia).

Blog reading is important for personal confirmation (“am I on the right track?”) as well as gaining new ideas from peers instead of emotionally distant, journal articles.

Deng and Yuen (2010) identified weak comments (less in-depth) to blog posts. Threaded discussions usually reap deeper responses because of how the rules are structured. I would apply similar guidelines to commenting on blogs as well as teach blog owners to probe the “I liked your post” commenters by instructing them to ask “why” or “what specifically resonated with you.”

Richardson (2010) states that blogging is continued conversation and synthesis; it requires evaluation of blog posts for accuracy and trustworthiness as well as self-evaluation. This puts blogging on the highest level of Bloom’s (1956) Taxonomy and Anderson and Krathwohl (2000) Taxonomy if done right. Blogging can improve critical thinking as well as broaden the minds of teacher/leaders. Students recognize connections to content and will increase their understanding of networking and collaboration (Richardson, 2010).

I think blogging would work well; it would also give teacher/leaders a technical skill to teach to others in the community.