As stated in “Bookmarking the world: Weblog applications in education”, blogging is like an online diary. (Oravec. 2002) Blogging can be used for all different topics, personal to professional. Blogging is a way to provide distant learning opportunities for a wide range of topics, as well as for personal and professional use.
(Santos-2011) stated how blogging was like Facebook, for the new generation of students. Who would have though, that Facebook was blogging?! But, here we are, talking about our day, our events, and our feelings, things we have learned or not learned. Sharing our heartwarming or our heartbreaking, and having those in our “circle” comment and support us. Facebook does have privacy features, where you can share within your circle of friends, and friends of friends, and not be out in the public eye for everything.
So, what are the pros and cons for “Blogging for the Adult Learning?” As I have learned about blogging, I hope to provide some information regarding the similarities and differences between blogging and online discussion boards. Discussion boards and blogs allow for users to talk about topics, share ideas and network. Blogs are set up to allow for anyone, anywhere to read and comment about your topics. Classmates, co-workers or just someone who came across your blog from an online search! They can contribute to your learning by adding more information, additional resources and additional thoughts to discuss. Blogging allows for others to learn about topics and networking in a different way than your traditional classroom and online course community, and still give you some of the comforts of not being put on the spot in front of a classroom of peers. Blogs can allow for a blogger to link additional webpages and resources right within the blog for people to access without additional searches.
All pretty great right?!
So how are discussion board different than blogs? Well first, a discussion board is typically associated with an online course. So, you must have a login name and password to get to the discussion. These discussions are limited to those who are in the course with you. Discussions are topics that are set by the instructor or professor of the course. Discussion boards are already set up within an online learning system, where blogging is done by setting up accounts and following quite a few steps just to get started, so could be hard for someone with limited technology experiences and comforts.
So, I have learned that even with similarities and differences, they can be a value to many different audiences and can be a different way of communication and sharing ideas with others.
So let’s return to my questions, is Blogging in Today’s technology for every adult? Probably not. But just because as person chooses not to blog themselves, does not meant that they cannot learn nor contribute to a blog with information or questions.
Is blogging for me, as an adult learner in technology? Yes, I think it would be something that I would want to do. For me, I would use a blog to share my experiences in my professional. Sharing resources to others in my chosen career and encouraging and supporting in another way of networking and learning from not only those in our community, but to share and learn from those across the world.
So, do you have enough information to decide if blogging is for you? Let me know your thoughts!!
References
Oravec, J.A.(2002). Bookmarking
the world: Weblog applications in education. Journal of Adolescent & Adult
Literacy, 45:7, 616-621
King
& Cox: The Professors Guide to Taming Technology Ch. 6. 89-104
Santos,
A.. (2011). Blogs As A Learning Space: Creating Text Of Talks. Contemporary Issues in Education
Research, 4(6), 15-19.
