"Using Weblogs in Scholarship and Teaching"

This article, by Trey Martindale and David A. Wiley, gave a brief history of blogs that I found really interesting and helpful. It also provided information about blogging and the different types of blogs that exist. It listed some of the functions of blogs especially those helpful in using blogs as a teaching tool. The article explained how set up a blog, for example they provided the web address for Blogger.com where “creating a weblog [is] both free and simple” (56). Blogs have become popular because they are easy to set up and use. For this reason they are also a functional teaching tool. As the article points out, “the user (or “blogger”) does not have to do any programming, or even formatting to create a technically sophisticated, visually impressive website” (56). The accessibility, even for people with little to know experience in computers can easily participate in blogging. Blogs are basically on going discussions that are highly organized as a result of the many beneficial functions of the software. Some of the helpful functions of a blog (especially for teachers) are that it updates and achieves information and posts, making it easy to search.

There are various types of blogs available on the Internet. Professional blogging and syndication, though not the focus of my studies is something to consider. Since blogs can be used to search for information, news, and data they are a great research tool for students. The way that type of search is done is through “RSS which stands either for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary” (56). What happens with this type of search is that an “aggregator” collects “RSS feeds” and displays the information. So basically this process is a really quick and easy way to search for, collect and sort data. “By using as aggregator a reader can quickly survey the blog landscape and receive notices of new content from a collection of blogs, as well as from a wide variety of sources like online newspapers and other periodicals”(57). This function would be particularly helpful and useful for students because it is highly organized and time saving. Being that it works with periodicals blogging is also a great way to see what is going on in the world, and an opportunity for students to participate in ongoing discussions about current events. The Internet has made the world smaller and students even have the opportunity to have “cross-cultural” discussions, where they can talk people from all over the world.

Martindale discusses his experience implementing blogging in a graduate course at East Carolina University, for further evidence about the usefulness of blogging. The students had two main assignments Martindale explores how that blog experience affected the students work. He states, “The blogs were key tools in improving the quality of student work on both assignments. Students used the blogs to post their ideas on proposed article topics, and they posted links to relevant research and web resources along with their own commentary” (58). The quality of work is definitely a concern when using an informal setting such as a blog. This idea hearkens back to the debate over formal versus informal writing style.

Martindale highlights another feature; blogs are a superior forum for discussion because they are so accessible. He points out that with other learning sites you have access because you class has subscribed to the site (for example Blackboard.com) but, when the class is over the students no longer have access to that information. With the use of a blog, students can still communicate and access information long after the class is over.

When considering the actual quality of the work the students are producing it seems the most important factor was audience. The atmosphere is what is crucial. As long as a certain standard is set and maintained, there is no real reason to think students would not post quality work. Martindale found that students began to post longer and in some cases extra assignments. Clearly this article demonstrates that Blogs can be an effective learning tool that students may even enjoy using!