What are your thoughts about blogging or threading?
According to King and Cox (2011), hyperlink integration and date stamped blog entries separate the distinction between discussion threads and blogs. Perhaps that was the case when this book was published. However, LMS like Canvas allows links and date stamped threads today. Therefore, I am unsure of the differences between discussion boards and blogging. I consider myself a novice at blogging to make a fair assessment of the technology platform.
However, according to Oravec (2002) “Bloggers offers you instant communication power by letting you post your thoughts to the web whenever the urge strikes” (p.,617). King and Cox (2011) suggest that blogging creates a sense of empowerment for adult learners. The establishment of learning communities inspires learners to share insights freely. Blogging offers the opportunity for a learner’s authentic voice to emerge and build upon peers in the learning environment (King & Cox, 2011). This creates a chance for learners to understand perspectives better because personal connections develop between learners.
However, according to Oravec (2002) “Bloggers offers you instant communication power by letting you post your thoughts to the web whenever the urge strikes” (p.,617). King and Cox (2011) suggest that blogging creates a sense of empowerment for adult learners. The establishment of learning communities inspires learners to share insights freely. Blogging offers the opportunity for a learner’s authentic voice to emerge and build upon peers in the learning environment (King & Cox, 2011). This creates a chance for learners to understand perspectives better because personal connections develop between learners.
The discussion boards allow asynchronous postings from critical reflective thinking supported by credible sources. The structure of blogging and discussion threads may appear the same. However, Learning Management Systems offers privacy standards not applicable to blogging sites.
A few cons regarding blogging are the unintentional use of intellectual property, release of personal preference and copyright infringement (Oravec, 2002). Like discussion boards, blogging does not allow for the emotions as discussed in week two discussion threads.
As for the pros in blogging, it opens the voice of the blogger to share reflective perspectives into a topic (Oravec, 2002; Witte, 2007) which supports the occurrence of learning in social and cultural practices (King & Cox, 2011). This suggests that learners build communities on topics of interest through the building of relationships. I am curious to learn about how to create learning communities in a structured blogging platform. I am interested to learn about other's perspectives on this topic.
A few cons regarding blogging are the unintentional use of intellectual property, release of personal preference and copyright infringement (Oravec, 2002). Like discussion boards, blogging does not allow for the emotions as discussed in week two discussion threads.
As for the pros in blogging, it opens the voice of the blogger to share reflective perspectives into a topic (Oravec, 2002; Witte, 2007) which supports the occurrence of learning in social and cultural practices (King & Cox, 2011). This suggests that learners build communities on topics of interest through the building of relationships. I am curious to learn about how to create learning communities in a structured blogging platform. I am interested to learn about other's perspectives on this topic.
References
King, K. & Cox, T. (2011). The professor’s
guide to taming technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Oravec, J.A.
(2002). Bookmarking the world: Weblog applications in education. Journal of
Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(7), 616-621.
Witte, S.
(2007). That's online writing, not boring school writing: Writing with blogs
and the Talkback Project. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy,
51(2), 92-96.
