This is my first blog post on Landing @ Athabasca. As a student, I like blogging for three reasons. First, it “forces” me to summarize what I have learned and helps me to better organize the ideas. Second, it helps me to think about how new information relates to my prior knowledge. This reflection helps me to incorporate the new information into my knowledge base, making it more meaningful and personal. Finally, I like the informal and continuous nature of blogging.  I can express my thoughts more freely and I can always go back to edit my posts during the learning process.

As a teacher, however, I tend to use discussion forums more than blogging. Perhaps, I have difficulty letting go of the control teachers have, in terms of framing the discussions, so I tend to steer towards discussion boards. Finally, it’s hard to assign grades to blog posts, as it’s hard to provide objective criteria to assess personal reflections. If learners don’t see the point in writing the blogs, then using grades to force them to write seems to defeat the purpose. One of the rules of blogging outlined by WordPress is that bloggers should only blog when they truly have something to say. Otherwise, it’s a pain for the reader. The final reason of not using blogs is, perhaps, laziness. Because I already spend a lot of time reading online, I don’t want to spend more time reading on my computer screen.

For more on educational blogging, read this article written by Stephen Downes in 2004 (a bit old, but still relevant): http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume39/EducationalBlogging/157920