Journal 4

Journal 4

In the online article “Moderating and Ethics for the Classroom Instructional Blog”, Patricia Deubel outlines some key factors in creating a successful instructional blog. While blogs may seem like yet another unnecessary novelty in the educational sphere, the authors would seem to indicate otherwise. Educators see blogs as an opportunity for students to participate in class discussions without having to be in a classroom. For those students who “might have something truly relevant to say but are too shy to do so”, the blogs can be a great way to incorporate a broader range of views without the trammels of classroom teacher-student discourse and the typical “few who dominate discussion”.

The authors agree that in order for a blog to be effective, it must be bound by rules and guided by goals. Students, in order to standardize and regulate postings, will have word count/content requirements and will also abide by a mandatory code of conduct that will keep them abreast of ethical considerations pertaining to computer/internet use and well versed in standard netiquette. They also agree that student commentary should be top priority and that individual learning will take place most effectively when the students’ own ideas are allowed to come out and when they are active participants in their own education process.

1. Couldn’t an effectively monitored/guided classroom discussion be just as effective as this?

Public speaking isn’t that big of a problem for students, so in a sense, yes, a classroom could be effective. But blogs are unique because of just how open the responses can be in setting and in format. So students can not just reply how they want to, but when. Students may learn more because they will not just be reading class material, but will also be able to read other students’ responses and think about others’ ideas before responding themselves. Blogs don’t solve the problem of classroom participation in learning, but they do offer some very handy solutions.

2. Could this be a novelty concept, like the MUVEs?

Blogs are fairly straight-forward in their function and use, and they require very little technological expertise to operate or at least post. There are no elaborate avatars, economies, designed environments. It is simply classroom dialogue placed in a new setting that many students may find much more approachable than direct in-class participation. It makes the job of the teacher and the student much easier and requires very little computer knowledge on both their parts. Blogs may be here to stay.