Life through Digital Play

Blogging in an educational context

The phenomenon of blogging is constantly growing and has evolved into a multi-dimensional tool which bloggers casually use to post rants, gossip, present political views for debate, use as a daily diary and share information. Although this list is not exhaustive, blogging also serves to combine a variety of modes (such as sound, video, image, text) which aid in presenting information to others, communicating views and making meaning. Blogging now provides an informal platform for anybody to communicate anything to anyone, a personal space for bloggers to present their innermost thoughts, ask questions about social issues or comment on cultural practices whilst simultaneously inviting a response from others.

However blogs are beginning to serve a new purpose…

Blogging is currently being used in educational institutions as a teaching resource and a way for tutors to assess the learning of students. According to Ann Bartlett-Bragg (2003), blogging in an educational context is a ‘five-stage process’ which leads to self-directed ‘deep learning’ as opposed to minimal engagement suggested by ‘surface learning’. The first stage in the process is ‘establishment’ where students set up their blogs to record their studies as learning events and invite comments from their classmates. This then leads into ‘introspection’ where students become more emotionally involved with their writings, they become aware of the anonymous reader and begin to evaluate their learning with the aid of focused questions posted by their teacher. Students then begin to use their blogs as ‘reflective monologues’ becoming more involved in the blogging process by questioning and challenging their entries and therefore considering their learning experiences through their postings. After which, blogs serve to represent ‘reflective dialogue’ in which students become more aware of how they write and who their intended audience are. The final stage in the process is the point at which the blog stands as a ‘knowledge artefact’ and therefore represents a site of knowledge which reflects on learning rather than simply a space which houses published information. This five-stage process is offered as a tried and tested pedagogical tool for use within almost any curriculum area, thus expressing the blog as an educational resource with endless learning possibilities. Educators are able to set tasks and assess the responses of their students in an informal relaxed online environment thus providing the students with cultural autonomy yet responsibility when considering how or what thoughts to convey or “perform” to their audience.

When researching blogging as a classroom resource in both Canadian and American educational institutions, Stephen Downes (2004) has also revealed blogs to be a revolutionary virtual learning tool enabling students to support each other and reflect on their learning. Tutors are able to post timetables, relevant readings or links to pages which provide useful information for topics on the course. Students can post group reading summaries or thoughts on readings and organise class discussions through their entries as well as comment on one another’s views. Blogs used in an educational context also stand as way of equalising classroom dynamics as both the dominant speaker and quiet student in class discussions each have an equal space to voice their opinions. But what of the wider picture? Does blogging in the learning environment run the risk of becoming contrived in terms of being limited by the topic at hand?

This alerts us to themes of censorship where restrictions are made on students due to the regulatory forces of the particular school or institution. An example of this comes at the point of ‘introspection’ where students may write in their blogs personal thoughts or feelings about their fellow classmates, teachers, school or other organisations which may be construed as personal or libellous attacks. For this reason educational institutions regulate their blog-o-sphere as a site solely dedicated to topic learning and therefore monitor students’ blogs for potential conflict. But what does this mean in terms of reflective learning on everyday life, i.e. topics not involved in course or subject learning? Does this mean students should be encouraged to stratify their blogs in terms of its content and create one blog for their studies and another for their other interests? Is it fair to suggest to students that whilst in the midst of reflective learning they must stop, switch blog accounts and proceed recording their different thoughts elsewhere?

We must then consider through what function blogs are being pitched to students. Are they a free space to reflect on life and record thoughts or simply an educational space regulated and monitored by the tutor? Although risks are involved, the value of using blogs in an educational context can encourage students to engage with their studies and participate in different ways then they would normally in the classroom. However there is the possibility that the emphasis on ‘blogging to learn’ may lose its appeal for some students due to posed restrictions, causing the pursuit of critical enquiry to be replaced with trivia postings such as information about the current series of Lost or the gossip in Eastenders.

Although mixing education with blogging becomes an exciting fusion of the formal and the informal, this synthesis blurs the boundaries between writing for assessment and writing for pleasure. There are many who may disagree with this statement and comment that whatever the circumstance blogs are a way to encourage students to continue writing. This may be true but surely educators will have in mind an acceptable style of writing within a student’s educational blog. How formal is the blog to be when blogging to learn? Is it okay to use colloquialisms or maybe “txt spk” or must an academic conscious remain on the shoulder of the student at all times?