Last updated: May 18, 2013 at 15:21 pm
Blogging
Blogging has been around for 10 years or more. A blog is essentially a website that allows a user to present his or her writings in chronological order. It is generally used to produce some form of personal online diary or journal, although nowadays blogging (or writing a blog) is an activity with a range of uses. Furthermore it is not just a one-way broadcast mechanism, it also supports commenting and hence discussion with readers.
Blogging and professional development
Blogging is a valuable personal activity; people can blog about any topic that interests them – there is nothing to stop anyone publishing their own blog. In fact, as Dorie Clark, points out, in If You’re Serious About Ideas, Get Serious About Blogging (HBR Blog Network, 21 December 2012) ..
“Writing is still the clearest and most definitive medium for demonstrating expertise on the web.”
Harold Jarche writes about the importance of blogging for him, in how blogging changed my life for the better.
Blogging is also a particular useful activity in professional development, since it provides a space for reflection on what has been learned and what it means for the individual.
- Chris Dixon writes in Blogging-to-learn how he sees blogging “as part of a continuous learning process”.
- Andrew has been keeping a learning log for over 25 years – here are his 50 tips for keeping a learning log – reflections after the first 25 years
- Tom Sherrington offers his tips and guidance for getting into blogging - Top 10 don’ts for wannabe teacher bloggers
For many their blogs have evolved into a type of professional learning portfolio (PLP) – i.e. one that doesn’t just document their learning but also their goals and their achievements. To the right is an image that shows the elements of a PLP.- Showcase – information about yourself and your achievements, ie, profile, CV/resume,
- Learning Log – continuous series of posts that shows your goals, learning and reflection
- Media store – of digital assets
- RSS feed – for others to subscribe to it
- Social networks – where others can connect with you
Blogging in education and training
In a similar way to the use of blogging for professional development, students can be encouraged to start a learning log, or even a learning portfolio. Even though these are usually used as a means of assessment on a course or programme, they can begin the process for continuous life-long learning.
- What are learning logs? explains the purpose of use of learning logs in the classroom and their overlap with learning portfolios.
Here are a few further resources about blogging in the classroom:
- Blogging in the classroom: a 4-step guide (infographic) - Edudemic, 24 December 2012
- Blogging in the classroom: why your students should write online - Guardian, 17 July 2012
- The top 34 classroom blogs for 2012 - Educational Technology & Mobile Learning, December 2012
- Blog ideas, TeachersFirst – provides some ideas for the primary classroom
- Develop and Implement a Course Blog – Gradhacker, 2o June 2012
- Colleges Consider Using Blogs Instead of Blackboard – The Chronicle, 28 May 2009
Blogging in the enterprise
A blog can also be a key way of sharing links, ideas or experiences with others in a team, for groups to share their ideas across the organisation, as well of course to communicate with others outside the organisation. Blogging is therefore a fairly simple way of supporting a collaborative approach to working and learning.
Blogging also provides an easy way to disseminate to employees, information and insights relating to the organisation itself, news, business intelligence, reports about projects etc. And in organisations where the CEO blogs (both internally and externally), this can provide the impetus for a cultural shift in knowledge sharing.
- Blogging in the workplace, Suite 101, 11 July 2009
Tools to set up a blog
There are 4 blogging tools on the Top 100 Tools list, which are discussed in this Quick Guide: WordPress, Edublogs, Blogger and Tumblr.
The choice of blogging tool will depend upon a number of factors, e.g.
- Cost – free, open source, commercial
- Availability – in the cloud, behind the firewall
- Use – for personal or organisational (enterprise/educational) use
- User friendliness – simple blogging or sophisticated functionality
Here’s a table that compares the tools covered here
| . | Cost | Availability | Use | User friendliness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | Free Open source |
WordPress.com in the cloud Wordpress.org self-hosted |
Personal Educational Enterprise |
Sophisticated/ complex |
| Edublogs | Free | in the cloud | Educational | Sophisticated/ complex |
| Blogger | Free | in the cloud | Personal Educational |
Sophisticated/ complex |
| Tumblr | Free | in the cloud | Personal Educational |
Simple |
© C4LPT.co.uk, 2013
Use the comment box below to ask and answer any questions about blogging, as well as to share your own experiences blogging.
Thanks for the wealth of information and the useful links. Lots to think about.
I’ve been blogging for about six years across a number of platforms and for varied reasons. In my experience “free” is NOT always the cheapest if the blogging tool doesn’t provide needed and timely customer support, frustrates the user, or limits what the user is ready to do. I hope this week to read all the links in your excellent Quick Guide and visit each of the blogging tools you have introduced. Across the years I have created an account for each.
David
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