According to the Encyclopedia of Educational Technology, as a collaboration tool, blogging has many pros and cons. For instance, although blogs are a more public form of communication than email, students may write more casually than they would for a tradional course and relate private information even though they know there is no confidentiality. In addition, while blogs may be easy to create and publish, comments and posts to the blog must be monitored frequently for the greatest benefit. Furthermore, blogs require the participants to use software, the internet, and keyboarding skills which may be inconvenient for some and intolerable for others. Lastly, because of the time delay, blogs are not the best choice for quick responses, but do allow people to easily communicate asynchronously.The Encyclopedia of Educational Technology lists as a con for blogs that "Not all college courses have content that is appropriate for discussion and opinion essays." However, Web 2.0 and Emerging Learning Technologies/Web 2.0 Tools states that blogs allow people to "share knowledge whenever it is needed and wherever it is located through the web" and where everyone is both a receiver and an editor of content. As a result, every course could include blogs.
3 comments:
Isn't the point of a blog to be casual. That's my favorite part of this assignment, that I don't have to be so formal.
By casual, the authors primarily meant "unguarded." People sometimes forget that there comments in a blog are public -- not a private message between two people. And, as a public message, it should include your ideas clearly, concisely, and invite collaboration.
I could see where having students feel so free and casual about their writing could lead to trouble. Maybe not in the elementary level but as the years
increase I would see potential trouble. Also some students may feel like they can share a lot about themselves and even though outside people might not be able to respond, they could see read it. This might lead to other problems.
Kim
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