Weblogs...

This article is in response to an article published in On the Horizon by Jill Walker from the University of Bergen  in Norway called Weblogs: Learning in Public.

In this new technology-based era, I believe it is important to teach digital media in schools.  Not just your typical computer science or keyboarding class, but really getting into what out there on the web for us to learn from and how we can learn from each other.  Walker's class at the University of Bergen is a great start for teaching digital media in the classroom.  Her weblog class uncovered hidden talents for the students, taught how easily we can be linked to others, and showed practice of a great mental exercise that students can do with to get their ideas in order and really understand more about ourselves. 

It's important to teach this because there still is a lot of learning about the Internet that needs to happen.  Writing online is different because it’s more than just words to consider. Understanding how to use a blog, linking other sites and using HTML is something that has often been self-taught and therefore students that aren't really interested in it may not grasp all the concepts behind blogging or keeping an electronic portfolio and may not have a positive reaction to it.   

As a freshman at Clemson University we were told that we had to keep an ePortfolio documenting our work through out all our classes at Clemson, showing that we have completed the General Education requirements and that we understand the values and concepts being taught at the school.  Unfortunately, there weren't any guide lines or any instruction on how to do so except for one tutorial form BlackBoard that just left us confused.  For two years we (the entire class of 3,000+ students) got emails from the University reminding us that we had a to do this ePortfolio or we could not graduate, but the professors weren't relaying this message and we were left in the clouds and wondering what do we need to include, how do we organize it, and how do we even do this!  Finally the spring semester of my junior year, the Clemson admitted that there was a lack of communication between the professors, students and the University and that we were not required to complete the ePortfolio before graduation.  However, the freshman for the upcoming year were going to be required to make one but there were going to have a BlackBoard 101 session at orientation and a class that they could take for 1 credit teaching BlackBoard, ePortfolio, html and other topics about forming a website and learning about the internet.  This real life experience shows the gap between technology in the real world application and the lack of knowledge to use it effectively.

Other point that I thought was of importance to teach was that blogging is not a game.  Anyone can read the information you put out there, just like you can read about anything from anyone. It's importance to know and understand this before you take part either writing a blog or leaving a comment.  Also, I feel that bloggers have a hard time taking criticism. They tend to get overly upset by good criticism by writing back arrogantly or delete the post completely.  On the other hand, some comments can be tedious and irrelevant to the blog and can cause a completely different conversation at the bottom of an important blog.  However annoying commenter’s can be for blog authors, its all in response to the original blog so I believe that whether its a good or bad comment it's all about the conversation and sharing or ideas over the web. 

Technology is continually changing and that is why it is sometimes difficult to teach this subject in schools because next year it might be out of date, but never the less it is important and should be taught.  The weblog community is a great avenue for teachers to get their students writing and sharing their knowledge with others and I believe it is our job as educators to teach how to use this information technology to our advantage as we move toward the future.