As I read the two articles, ‘C’ themes begin to wander in my mind – change, culture, communication, and community.
At the root of both articles, ‘The Social Media Release as a Corporate Communications Tool for Bloggers’ and ‘Learning With Weblogs: Enhancing Cognitive and Knowledge Construction’, the authors revolved around blogs and technology. The first article examined the use and impact of Social Media Release (SMR) on bloggers and the other article discussed use of blogs in academia and the correlation to business.
The following video from the CNW Group was helpful in navigating this new SMR technology.
The authors Defren and Solis go on to coin, ‘SMRs are a starting point for the socialization of news.’ This alternative to the traditional mediums is an encompassing change to how one communicates. This socialization is another source of providing feedback from our peers and providing a sense of community in the blog format. The socialization offers conversation and provides an arena for change. (‘The Future of Social Media is in Your Hands’ - http://www.briansolis.com/2007/10/future-of-social-media-release-is-in/)
The ‘Learning With Weblogs’ article goes on to examine the impact of blogging in business and the impact of this communication vehicle and education - specifically online learning. Again, the blog was used to facilitate communication and create a sense of community. This sense of community, specifically online, makes the blogs so powerful and a critical component. This sense of community, gives a participant and individual and group voice. There seems to be a shift in the culture of the course and success of the participants.
The following video does an amazing job of clearly showcasing blogs as an educational tool, but specifically highlights the bloggers role not as an individual journal, but ‘a bigger picture a community of online learners.’
The articles and videos seemed to categorize blogs as personal, professional, and educational. The above video reinforced the educational blog as a community not an individual journal. This is difficult for this author, because the blog process seems so personal. However, to get the impact of this educational blog setting one must be willing to put him/her self out there for reviews and comments of the posts. It can be overwhelming and frightening at times, yet, powerful!
I would leave with these thoughts. For the instructors, will you incorporate a blog into your next face-to-face or online classes? And for those taking more classes, would you like to see more blogs?
Great use of video to help illustrate your point!
ReplyDeleteAs a student, I'd like to see blogs utilized where they can. Twitter would also work to encourage continuous dialogue.
Amy, I also liked your use of video to convey your message! And I also liked how you referred to blogging as creating a "community." I had never really thought of it this way, but it makes perfect sense. I think blogging will become more and more mainstream, particularly within the realm of academia, in the next few years.
ReplyDeleteAmy, I really enjoyed reading your post about educational blogs being a community. As a teacher, I'm always trying new techniques in the classroom to bring the students together in discussion. I'm willing to give it a try and see where it goes.
ReplyDeleteJust as I noted in your first post, I really like your use of questions. I think that inspires your peers to comment.
ReplyDeleteMy first experience as a grad student blogger was a great one and I immediately wanted to bring them into my freshman composition courses, for all the reasons your video mentions. When I did require them, however, our Composition Program had such a rigid calendar, it didn't allow students to freely write in any "authentic" or "meaningful" way, which is why I saw the blogs "die" the second the class was finished.
Now that I have more freedom to design my syllabi, I hope to continue asking students to write in these public spaces because I feel it's the best way to promote reflection.