Formal and Informal Education Blogs

A blog about blogs: how terribly meta.

The readings this week really interested me because I’ve always thought about blogging as a viable outlet for me, both privately and professionally.  Sometimes it seems like every librarian in the world has a blog these days.  I’ve been held up by the thought that it would probably be more likely to get me in trouble than to help me.  I have a tendency to be honest to a fault, and some principals are not huge fans of people who are willing to disagree with them.  The result is that I have so far avoided blogging, but that fact is a disappointment to me.  It’s something that I could easily see changing at some point.  I just have to rewire how I think a bit.  Reading the teacher and educator blogs this week reminded me that people can dissent against the dominant power structure, and it isn’t always a dangerous thing.  That’s sometimes a little hard for me to realize because of my work and life background.  I grew up in a very conservative and religious Southern town where popularity was decided by which church you attended.  Speaking out against the norm could get you into real trouble.  Most people I know would consider me to be very outspoken, and it would probably shock them that I even worry about the impact of what I could say.  Informal blogs about education issues and classroom experiences are pretty common now, and so maybe that has shifted things a little more in our favor, freedom of speech wise, but Ferlazzo’s post including the teacher who got in trouble for her blog post hit home with me because I once was called in by an assistant principal because she heard some other teachers discussing something in the teachers’ lounge that I had posted on my private Facebook.  In a work environment that relies so much on hearsay, it is unsurprising that I might worry about how my personal, informal blog might hurt my job chances.

Taking the other option for educational blogging and considering classroom use of blogs by students, I worry about district privacy policies and other such bureaucratic annoyances, but I definitely see the value of using blogs with students.  “The Community of Voices” article as well as the posts from Mr. Borges’ “Blog Squad” and the study abroad posts really show how student learning can be showcased and critical thinking can be encouraged through blogging.  “Blogging affords students the valuable opportunity to create and recreate their own educational experience. As part of a collective learning environment, community blogs encourage students to extend themselves into the information universe in search of new ideas that may alter the trajectory of the course” (Bartholomew, Jones, & Glassman, 2012, p. 19).  By allowing students to lead discussions that are flexible enough to gather their own momentum, educators can use those discussions as a balance to the planned curriculum.  Depending on how integrated the blog experience is with the classroom environment, there could be either two parallel learning options that double the amount of content covered in the course, or there could be one large on-going circuit of learning that is taking place both laterally and vertically within the same context.  It is important to plan well beforehand what requirements are there for the student blogging community and to make sure that those requirements stay consistent and easy to understand.  Blogging can be intimidating to people who feel like they don’t have anything to add to the discussion, but by pacing our students and giving them many different options we can encourage them to engage with new technologies in smart and meaningful ways.

7 thoughts on “Formal and Informal Education Blogs

  1. Rachel H Tan

    “Blogging can be intimidating to people who feel like they don’t have anything to add to the discussion” – that was exactly how I felt at the beginning when I read all the blog post in this class. Actually by the time I read the BP it was Monday and I didn’t even know that I had missed the deadline. For two weeks I wondered why we get our grades so soon on Tuesday. Thankfully my experience with American teachers is that they are not out to fail the students. I also want to thank this class for making it a safe place to learn. There is no putting anyone down, students offering a lot of encouraging comments that spurs one on.

  2. Eunsung Amii

    Wow.. I am so surprised that so many educators are scared about blogging. I was thinking that I was the only one here from other country where people are so conservative. And my country is one of the most homogeneous country in the world! I don’t know if it is okay to say that I am relieved and happy that I am not alone feeling intimidated sometimes. I am so glad that here are many people who are feeling same with me! So thankful this course to let us sharing all these feelings.

    I often felt really uncomfortable with blogging at the beginning of this course. I was overwhelmed. Honesty,even now. However, I am feeling like I am getting used to sharing in public and like I have real freedom of speech. But also I have been learning that I should responsible for my postings. It is really good experience to me. So it is my opinion that blogging will help students in many ways even thought there are many possible side effects all mentioned above.

  3. Karen Yarbrough Post author

    Honestly, I’m really glad that I’m not the only one concerned about any possible negative effects. One thing that I meant to mention in my post is a concern about disclosure policies. At my last school, an administrator had to read my media center newsletter e-mail before I could send it out to the other teachers, and the media center didn’t even have a website so I wasn’t allowed to contact the outside world. No one was. Blogging and social media were definitely out. Corporate’s media relations office handled all that, of course. When I hear about cool things other educators are able to do with technology, I get a little jealous.

  4. Cheryl Burris

    Like you, I too grew up in a small Southern, conservative town where my dad was one of the preachers. As such, I have been hesitant to blog (and still am) because of how my words impact others and not really thinking what I had to say was all that important to someone else. Yet, I find much help and assistance from reading the words and thoughts of others. Additionally, I really did not have a good example of what a professional blog should look like so reading the “Blog Squad” really assisted me in that aspect. Thank you for sharing your thoughts for I find a lot of food for my own thoughts in them.

  5. Melissa Glenn

    I have many of the same concerns as you regarding how maintaining a blog could affect my professional life. In my p ersonal life, I do not have many facebook friends and only a couple from work with whom I am very close. I must look unpopular, but I am just careful with whom I want to share my personal photos and stories. In teaching, I think I like using discussion forums within an lms like ANGEL as these are closed spaces.

  6. cnb135

    I feel like we are in the same boat Karen!
    I’ve always wanted a way to write down my thoughts but putting them in a PUBLIC FORUM! yikes!
    It’s a great way to engage students and interact with new technologies but I’ve always been afraid of what I might say and who I might offend… usually my tactfulness is lacking.

    It was nice to hear you say that blogging can be intimidating. For those who feel they have nothing to say, it can be forced upon them. However, it can give some people a voice who wouldn’t normally speak in the everyday classroom. I’ll be interested to start taking a look at more educational blogs now that I am familiar with their styles!

Comments are closed.