To Blog or Not to Blog…That’s Educations’ Question

(This blog seems quite approriate as I'm currently attending a Blackboard Users' conference.)

Blogging caught on pretty fast. People use it in place of online journals. Marketers use it to spread the news of their product or service. Businesses use it to counteract bad things that are said about them on other blogs and to get a step up on their competition. Traditional media uses it to keep up with online competition, even hiring bloggers to write for their traditional media publications. Educators use it for…well, what do educators use it for? Is there any real reason to use blogging as an educational tool? Does it provide a better education for students than any of its predecessors, such as websites, email, or online journals? What is the blogs’ role in education?

According to some bloggers, there are plenty of ways educators should not use blogs. For example, James Farmer is creating a “what not to do when using blogs in education” list. Farmer is a consultant, writer, technologist, and teacher living in Australia. He believes blogs should not be used to replace other tools that have found effective educational niches for themselves, including “discussion boards, listservs, or learning management systems” (http://blogsavvy.net/how-not-to-use-blogs-in-education). So, if blogs aren’t a replacement for other online technologies, how can they best be used in education, online or classroom?

Through your comments, I’d like to share with the readers some of the best blog sites that are educational in nature. Here’s one that I’ve found. The author’s information on digital storytelling and blogs is quite interesting. Feel free to post links to other blogs related to education that you particularly like when you post a comment to this blog.