Rationale for educational blogging

I was recently asked to give a rationale for educational blogging. I thought I’d share what I wrote and invite comment.

Blogs are reshaping our environment. They are beginning to emerge in large numbers in the educational field and offer great potential to transform learning and teaching. It is about new literacies appropriate for this time. The quote below comes from Don Leu, to be published soon in a book by the International Reading Association (http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~djleu/newlit.html) I feel it is a very appropriate focus as relates to the new literacies and blogging for educators. Donald Leu of Syracuse University expresses it far better than I ever could.

“The new literacies include the skills, strategies, and insights necessary to successfully exploit the rapidly changing information and communication technologies that continuously emerge in our world. A more precise definition of the new literacies may never be possible to achieve since their most important characteristic is that they regularly change; as new technologies for information and communication continually appear, new literacies emerge (Bruce, 1997; Leu, in press a; Reinking, 1998). Moreover, these changes often take place faster than we are able to completely evaluate them. Regular change is a defining characteristic of the new literacies. 
 
This simple observation has profound consequences for literacy and literacy education. The continuously changing technologies of literacy mean that we must help children learn how to learn new technologies of literacy. In fact, the ability to learn continuously changing technologies for literacy may be a more critical target than learning any particular technology of literacy itself.” 

There are many skills and concepts that need to be addressed to effectively help teachers learn to use blogs throughout their curriculum to foster these new literacies. It is not just a matter of transferring classroom writing into digital spaces. Teachers need to address writing for a public audience, how to cite and link and why, how to use the comment tool in pedagogical ways, how to read web materials more efficiently as well as explore other ways to consider pedagogical uses of blogs. Blogging requires us to teach students to critically engage media. Students need instruction on how to become efficient navigators in these digital spaces where they will be obtaining a majority of their information.
Blogging is educationally sound for teaching students because:

  • Blogs provide a space for sharing opinions and learning in order to grow communities of discourse and knowledge — a space where students and teachers can learn from each other.
  • Blogs help learners to see knowledge as interconnected as opposed to a set of discrete facts.
  • Blogs can give students a totally new perspective on the meaning of voice. As students explore their own learning and thinking and their distinctive voices emerge. Student voices are essential to the conversations we need to have about learning.
  • Blogs foster ownership and choice. They help lead us away from students trying to find what the teacher wants in terms of an answer.
  • The worldwide audience provides recognition for students that can be quite profound. Students feel more compelled to write when they believe many others may read and respond. It gives them motivation to excel. Students need to be taught skills to foster a contributing audience on their blog.
  • The archive feature of blogging records ongoing learning. It facilitates reflection and evaluation. One student told me that he could easily find his thoughts on a matter and he could see how his thinking had changed and why.
  • The opportunity for collective and collaborative learning is enormous. Students have the opportunity to read their classmates’ blogs and those of others. This is not possible in a regular classroom setting.
  • Blogging provides the possibility of connecting with experts on the topic students are writing.
  • The interactive nature of blogging creates enthusiasm for writing and communication.
  • Blogging engages students in conversation and learning.
  • Blogging encourages global conversations about learning–conversations not previously possible in our classrooms.
  • Blogging provides the opportunity for our students to learn to write for life-long learning.
  • Blogging affords us the opportunity to teach responsible public writing. Students can learn about the power of the published word and the responsibilities involved with public writing.

236 thoughts on “Rationale for educational blogging

  1. David Jakes

    Wow. Simply outstanding. My favorite quote: “It is not just a matter of transferring classroom writing into digital spaces” which is the comment I encounter all the time.

    This should be required reading for all high school English teachers who have kids write for the refrigerator.

    Thanks.

    Reply
  2. Mark Ahlness

    Anne,
    Fantastic! Those of us who have been doing this for a while in the classroom know these things to be very true. I personally get a little tired of having to spell out over and over the “why”. So I send you a BIG thank you for a very comprehensive list – one that I will reference often! I’d add to your archive point that blogging provides an opportunity for an ongoing writing portfolio – with a worldwide audience! When in history was that ever possible? I have opened the doors to my students from last year – and they are back in the blogosphere again. Thanks – Mark

    Reply
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  4. Emma

    David said:
    This should be required reading for all high school English teachers who have kids write for the refrigerator.
    I’d add to that anyone teaching – at any level. The list that you’ve given, Anne, is so applicable to any age of student – from Kindergarten to Post Graduate.
    The points that I found particularly relevant for the teaching that I’m doing were:
    Blogs help learners to see knowledge as interconnected as opposed to a set of discrete facts.
    Blogs foster ownership and choice. They help lead us away from students trying to find what the teacher wants in terms of an answer.

    Reply
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  7. Pat Aroune

    The thing that I value most about blogging, is the manner in which it empowers me as a participant in idea development. I have never before had the opportunity, nor motivation, to refine my thoughts and ideas, as I do now that I am blogging.

    Reply
  8. Dick Dalton

    Wow! That *is* good! I think blogging has the ability to give a voice to many who wouldn’t have a voice any other way. And the opportunity to publish and have such a brood audience has really lit a flame into my own writing, for sure.

    Your list nicely makes the case why we need more blogging instead of having it banned, blocked and seen as a disruptive avctivity in schools.

    dick

    Reply
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  10. Slodog

    Admittedly the list is very convincing, but what about the negatives?
    - Many children have much more knowledge that their parents regarding computers. How do you educate both the students AND their parents?
    -the advantages / rationale for educational blogging are many, but I worry about online predators
    -How is one assurred that students will exercise good judgement?
    -Where does the responsibility lie in protecting students from harming their futures
    I know these questions have been asked before, I just wonder what your thoughts are.
    Thanks

    Reply
  11. Lisa

    Response to the comment from Slodog:

    As an educator in an elementary school, a PhD student, and a mother of an eight year old, I feel responsible to teach my students how to interact safely on the Internet. Yes, many parents are unsure or ill-prepared, but those of us who are prepared owe it to our kids to provide them with safe opportunities and explicit instruction on how to behave responsibly on the Internet. Educational blogging is an ideal way to begin to teach these important skills.

    Reply
  12. Neil

    Anne- I so enjoy your posts and this one I made sure all of my teachers had an opportunity to read. So many people are still afraid the we will “lose the power of the pen” when I truly believe that it has the ability to create better, more creative and critical writers.

    Reply
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  47. DS Thing 4 Post

    Great list! I like the comment about how a student can retrace their own learning from earlier thoughts and comments. What a powerful message for students! To see one’s own learning journey in progress!

    Reply
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  64. Mrs.C

    Thanks for so many great reasons to blog! I am just beginning to think about blogs for my students and am very excited about what we can do!

    Reply
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  71. tgidinski

    Thanks for this post! I used part of this post in my cover letter to parents this year as I’m starting to use blogging with my students. I’ve also included some links in my article benefits to blogging

    An additional benefit is that students who are unable to connect orally with other students for any reason can communicate with their peers in this written format.

    Reply
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  79. John

    I have not, yet, got into blogging for educational purposes. As a teacher of chemistry and IT I have begun to use Wikis and other web 2.0 tools but the ways in which I can use blogging in my subjects are not immediately apparent to me. I can see general support issues with selected students being one avenue to explore with blogs but I wander how this particular tool is being used by anyone else teaching my subjects. http://bskelearning.edublogs.org/

    Reply
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  81. Deborah Shultz

    Yes, blogs may be a great way to communicate and get students to engage their perspective in a new way, but it also seems to me that this new way of getting out what you always wanted to say can lead to real problems. Many kids still thing if you read it is must be true. I think blogging is similar to a personal journal, but not personal. Maybe that is the problem I am having?

    Reply
  82. Thing #4 Blogging Begins with Reading :Jan Hall

    Blog reading and writing is sitting down with a group of people and having a discussion about a given topic. Only it is written down. And the people aren’t all sitting down at the same place or at the same time. It provides a way for people to converse who will never have the chance to meet face to face. It broadens the conversation because anyone who has an interest in the topic can contribute. It’s not limited to a like-minded peer group. Some blogs are written formally but many are less formal, more relaxed. You get the sense that people just want to share their thoughts and have others share in return. Blogging facilitates learning by giving us the opportunity to connect with a wide group of people who have something to say about our topic of interest.

    I appreciated Anne’s list of ways of reasons why blogging is useful for teaching. Her quote of David Leu was right on target. “…as new technologies for information and communication continually appear, new literacies emerge.” Blogging literacy must be taught. I agree that blogging gives students a voice and a reason for expressing themselves well when they know a large audience may be reading their writing. It allows them to learn from each other as well as experts on their topic. As it takes them to contributors outside the classroom it helps them realize that learning isn’t just for school. It’s for everyone everywhere.

    Reply
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  87. Janet

    Thanks Anne,

    You have provided some rationale for some of the blogs that I have tried with my students in the past!

    Reply
  88. Anna Disher

    After I read the blog by Annd Davis, I set up a blog for my 5th grade classroom. I think it has given a voice to all of my students. I think it is going to be a useful teaching tool.

    Reply
  89. Anna Disher

    Thing 4
    After I read the blog by Anne Davis, I set up a blog for my 5th grade classroom. It has given my students a voice. I think it is going to be a useful teaching tool.

    Reply
  90. Robyn

    What a wonderful list of positives for blogging. I see proper use of grammar, use of keyboarding skills, collaboration between parties, individual responses, critical thinking, proper internet etiquette, individual responsibility, unlimited interaction, brainstorming, creative interaction, time for reflection and incubation of thoughts, chance to go back and add to an original idea or thought…the list goes on.

    Reply
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  92. Thing4: ARobb

    Great outline of the role of blogs within eduction – the potential of blogs for sharing and learning as well as the responsibility of teaching students how to write for an audience.

    Reply
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  98. stace leza

    really great points for the pros on blogging. at my school although access is blocked students are more into facebook
    so we have just introduced them to what is a blog and it is certainly more a reflective process as they learn to organise their experiences compared to the immediacy of facebook which for many of them encourages a knee jerk reaction to put everything out there.
    teaching digital world responsiblity goes hand in hand with the technolgy

    Reply
  99. Sasi

    Couldn’t agree with you more on your positive reasoning for using blogging as a means of encouraging student collaboration and participation.
    Blogging presents a ‘more’ acceptable method of creating student portfolios along with giving ‘student voice’.
    Great article, will definitley use this in my teaching….

    Reply
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  101. Caroline F.

    I never thought about bringing blogs into the classroom. There are some really great points in this piece that make me want to consider bringing blogging into my math class.

    Reply
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  108. Annie W.

    I’m sitting in a wikkis and blogs class right now. We are a group of teachers having an in-depth discussion about the uses for blogs in the classroom. This website helped launch a great discussion concerning the use of blogs in the classroom.

    Reply
  109. John

    Thinking in any form is an excellent skill.
    Regrettably, there can be negative consequences for wrong choices made by others.(See the Titanic)
    So, we have to be vigilant and continue to give tomorrows thinkers(which all of us are) opportunities to think!
    Blogging is a great opportunity. Kind of reminds me when I went from pencils to ink in elementary school. What a growth experience!
    When I was allowed to use ball point, I knew I had made it!

    Reply
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  114. Greg H-D

    Blogs provide a space for exchange of ideas across time and space. I’m reading and responding from China in 2009. Thanks Anne for your insights and brevity.

    Reply
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  116. Gina R

    Thank you for pointing out that teachers need to teach some skills and not just let students blog away! Teaching students 2.0 responsibility and critical thinking skills are essential!

    Reply
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  119. scott austin

    Anne,

    I now am using blogging on our wiki page as part of thier history test. The blog is added to their essay section of their test. Kids love to blog it is kind of like texting. High school students are addictied to that.

    Scott

    Reply
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  127. Kate Strong

    O.K., I get it! EduBlog Insights seems to be on target as to what Blogs can do for learning. Blogging does need to become a literacy, and we all know we must constantly learn changing technologies. I do wonder about any research studies that might provide us with some idea of where tech comes in to student lives?

    Reply
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  134. Sherri

    Thanks for the comprehensive list of the educational benefits of blogging. I believe there is room for students to blog, but they do need to learn how to manage the digital world as well as the components of publish worthy work. Many of the comments come from high school teachers. Is there room for blogging in the elementary school? I was also wondering if blogging would be just as effective if the blog was limited to our school district? I know my district has some concerns over publishing on sites that provide access all over the world and the safety of our students.

    Reply
  135. Newtoblogging

    I truly enjoyed reading these insights. I knew about blogging but never thought of the numerous impacts it could have on our curriculum. In response to “Sherri” I believe this could be effective for elementary students. It’s a chance for them to begin thinking and typing at the same time. So often we have them draft on paper and then write. But in the work world, most of the thinking happens as we write. It is a shift in how we think and we need to prepare them for that transistion as well. Thank you to the writer because this provided great rationale for blogging in education.

    Reply
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  137. Susan Davis

    Wow. You can add another item to your list. This conversation has gone on for 2 years! The ability to build a conversation over time — what a remarkable thing! This reminds me of the wonderful way artists, writers, and thinkers have used letter writing in the past to develop, test, and share their ideas. This makes me feel like I’m part of something huge and historical.

    Reply
  138. Dr. Cassandra Holfield

    I’m a virgin to the new blogging era and I’m amazed at how much I’ve missed out on. This blog has turned on a light bulb for me as to all the possibilities of using blogging in the classroom. What a wonderful way to differentiate instruction for all students, but particular students with learning and behavioral problems to get them motivated and actively engaged in learning. I’m so thankful that I’m now a part of the Edublog world now.

    Reply
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  140. Griffin Bohen-Meissner

    The readings for my class are very intriguing because they tell the story of someone’s life that we might not know about. The stories provide an insight about someone’s beliefs, values, language, religious traditions. It makes me wonder what else is going on in the world that we have not discovered yet. Before this class I did not realize of much, my society in America, is such a small part of a greater world. My professor really knows how to get his students to keep asking for more and find modern tools today that can teach us how things are happened many years ago.

    Reply
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  146. Eric T.

    I love all of the points listed. I hope I am not restating anything but one of my reasons for working with Blogs and other 2.0 resources is simply to define the web as an interactive learning tool. Many kids see it as only a social networking and gaming device, which are fantastic uses by the way, but they do need to see what a powerful tool it can become.

    Reply
  147. Leaping Forward

    New to the world of edublogs, but they are fascinating as to the world they open up to students and teachers alike. Still a student, but am very excited to learn about this community of teacher and student collaborators and look forward to the journey as I jump on ship.

    Reply
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  151. Stacy Brown

    I appreciate the comment that blogging encourages writing for life long learning. Regardless of your profession, life long learning is a key component to thriving in the digital world. Blogging allows for an open forum that allows different people with different learning experiences to collaborate and share in an effort to continue one’s education. There is a creative component to blogging as well, which keeps it interesting.

    Reply
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  153. annette

    I made a copy of “Blogging is educationally sound for teaching students because:”.. I think you’ve captured the positive aspects of blogging as an educational tool.
    As I read this blog and others about ever changing fast paced influence technology I can’t help but think what we need to be doing with students is we learning philosophy and ethics, so now matter the change in the technology the student’s thinking is filtered through a critical and moral framework.

    Reply
  154. Lucia Carneiro

    Anne, this is very insightful. I admit that when I started a blog with my class I hadn’t any idea about all the positive aspects that it would provide my students with. I tried it because somebody told me it was “trendy, and I was in desperate need of suggestions to take my students off their apathy. Getting to know these advantages made my decision to continue doing it even stronger. Thanks!

    Reply
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  171. mliles

    I enjoyed reading the article. I found myself reading it again as well and taking notes. I agree with the comment that students feel more compelled to write when they believe others may read and respond to them. I’m excited about learning and getting my first graders involved in blogging. Students at this age love the computer so their motivation would be there to share this learning experience.

    Reply
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  182. mike

    The rationale for blogging was very vague. In fact, it reminded me a lot of the school lunch programs in the 80′s and 90′s. Let’s serve the students hot dogs and chicken nuggets – and we can count ketchup as a veggie. At least the kids are eating. It will create enthusiasm for school lunches. We can even connect kids with experts like McDonald’s and Burger King in the cafeteria. I could continue. Basically, the evidence is weak and anecdotal. Is blogging for the mind any different than a hot dog for the body?

    Looking at the other comments, it is very scary how many jump on the bandwagon with thought or foresight. Clearly too many have not learned to distinguish between fact (useful information) and opinion. Looks like a bunch of bloggers standing around patting each other on the back (opinion).

    Reply
  183. Tricia

    As a “newbie” to blogging, I have been struggling with how to incorporate it into my biology classroom. I finally realized that the struggle came out of not knowing the answer to “Why blog at all?” This site has given me great food for thought and has enabled me to begin to plot a direction for my classroom.

    Reply
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  189. Tracey Mizelle

    Yes it would be awesome if all schools had that available for everyone!

    Mine school has an entire online blogging database.. they call it “d2l” though, thankfully,
    but have a good day everyone!
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    Reply
  190. Pingback: Blogs-ploration | Learning 20/Breda White

  191. Bill Jake

    It might come a bit hard for teachers who are not accustomed to blogging. Students will surely enjoy this way of study and might be a step ahead of teachers in working online.

    Reply
  192. Kadidia Doumbia

    This is sucha wonderful article. Benefits of blogging are clearly stated. It is a real andpositive argument that I intend to use to convince the administration of the school to let me use blogging in my classroom.

    Reply
  193. Pingback: Thing 4: Blogs for Learning (Teacher and Student) | Exploring and Learning about Web 2.0

  194. Sheryl

    Never realized the power of blogging. Thanks for your comprehensive list of reasons why blogging has such power in a classroom.

    Reply
  195. Pingback: Thing 4: Blogging Begins with Reading | loveto teach

  196. Craig Green

    I found your blog post to be very informative. This is a good idea to use blogging in school. I thought I knew the importance of blogging until I read this article but from your blog I know the real value of blogging. I think all the school teachers should use a blogging in their classrooms.

    Reply
  197. James Clarque

    100% agree that blogging has a place in education. Not only does it do wonders to help students refine their communication skills it also provides an opportunity for them to create and participate in a community.

    Reply
  198. RickyH

    I think not only does blogging have its place in education, but it is really a requirement. Our lives are online now and our kids need to know how to be social both in life and online. Business is conducted online as well as personal live routine stuff. It is only going to be more important.

    Reply
  199. Pingback: M.A. Wittick Grade 3/4 » Blog Archive » Why Use Blogs In Education?

  200. Pingback: Why Blog? « A True North

  201. Pingback: Understanding the Uses of Blogs in the Classroom | Blogging for the Classroom 101

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  203. Pingback: Understanding The Uses of Blogs in The Classroom « bloggingfortheclassroom101

  204. Pingback: Good practice and advice from other educationalists « QE Students Blogging

  205. Lyn McLennan

    » Blogging provides the opportunity for our students to learn to write for life-long learning.

    Blogging is certainly a tool these days for lifelong learning. It’s potential in the classroom for all subjects is exciting … highly motivational for students of all abilities.

    Reply
  206. Pingback: My Students as Bloggers « English corner

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  208. Pingback: Thing #4 – Voices in the Blogosphere | UBUNTU

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  215. Pingback: Implementing Blogging in the Classroom: State of our School Address | Langwitches Blog

  216. Pingback: Implementing Blogging in the Classroom | Langwitches Blog

  217. Pingback: Week 8: Blogging in K-12 Classroom | Creative Education Garden

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