Blogs

Blogs can be examined against several learning theories: Bandura (1977) social learning theory; Paulsen (1993) theory of cooperative freedom, and Kraft and Sakof (1988) reflective learning theory. Social learning theory, as proposed by Bandura, focuses on learning from our observations and modeling on others coupled with the internalization process involving reflection on what we have observed and modeled. From a different perspective, Paulsen’s theory of cooperative freedom focuses on giving students the freedom to express themselves in ways that are meaningful to them. Reflective learning, as discussed by Kraft and Sakof, is all about growing from your experiences through self reflection. This reflection should strengthen your learning and provide you with insight into your areas of strengths and weaknesses.

Cultural practices have historically been such that personal reflection has been a private and personal exercise, however, with technologies such as blogs, these personal reflections can now be open to scrutiny and comment from the world, if you so choose. Blogs can give students a voice where they might not otherwise have one and, when joined by one or more others, they can also become an educational dialogue. Lefever (2003, blog entry, http://www.leelefever.com/archives/000143.html) states that, “… social software links people to the inner workings of each others’ thoughts, feelings and opinions” (¶ 3). In this light, blogs are seen in the tradition of reflective learning (Naslund and Giustini, 2008). Borsheim, Merritt and Reid (2008) suggest that the incorporation of blogs into learning offers students an experience in multi-literacy that extends beyond the classroom. The longer we can keep students engaged around a topic, the more learning they should acquire from it; this makes blogs suitable for achieving this outcome. (Marhan (2006) suggests, tools such as blogs supports “connectivity, knowledge sharing, collaboration, and sociability” (p. 209). Leslie and Murphy (2008) in their study of Post-Secondary Students noted that student blogs were used primarily for social purposes such as “self-disclosure” and “sharing emotional responses to learning” rather than for “ instructional purposes” (p. 1).

A couple of good examples of blogs are, Downes (http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/) and Siemens (http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/). Anderson (2006) suggests that when learners are allowed to engage in a type of learning relationship with other learners, such as one that may occur through a blog; they may meet their need for freedom of relationship. This is in keeping with Paulsen’s theory of cooperative freedom where students should feel free to express themselves in ways that are meaningful to them.

Links

http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/ Stephen Downes Daily Blog
http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/ George Seimens Blog
http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/check-out-these-class-blogs/ Links to samples of blog types you could use with your class
http://www.colecamplese.com/2009/02/our-boom-de-yada/ I think this illustrates the simple power of the new social interaction

References

Anderson, T. (2006). Theory and Practice of Online Learning, Second Edition. Retrieved 13 February 13, 2009, from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/99Z_Anderson_2008-Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_Learning.pdf

Bandura, A. (1977) Social Learning theory. Retrieved 13 February 2009, from http://tip.psychology.org/bandura.html

Borsheim, C., Merrit, K., and Reed, D. (2008). Beyond Technology for Technology‘s sake: Advancing Multiliteracies in the Twenty-First Century. The Clearing House. 82(2), 87-90.

Caverly, D., et al. (2008). Techtalk: Web 2.0, Blogs and Developmental Education. Journal of Developmental Education. 32(1), 34-35.

Hirsch, J. (2006). Is Student Blogging the New Social Disease? The School Administrator.

Kraft, D., & Sakofs, M. (Eds.). (1988). The theory of experiential education. Boulder, CO: Association for Experiential Education. Retrieved in .pdf format February 13, 2009, from http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/29/b1/9e.pdf

Lefever, L. (2003) Blog Entry, Retrieved from Internet February 13, 2008 from, http://www.leelefever.com/archives/000143.html

Leslie, P. and Murphy, E. (2008). Post-Secondary Students’ Purposes for Blogging. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 9(3). Retrieved January 22, 2009, from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/560/1140

Marhan, A. (2006). Connectivism: Concepts and Principles for Emerging Learning Networks, The1st International Conference on Virtual Learning, 209-216.

Naslund, J. and Giustini, D. (2008). Towards School Library 2.0: An Introduction to Social Software Tools for Teacher Librarians. School Libraries Worldwide. 14(2) 55-67.

Paulsen, M. (1993). The Hexagon Of Cooperative Freedom: A Distance Education Theory Attuned to Computer Conferencing. Retrieved February 13, 2009, from http://nettskolen.nki.no/forskning/21/hexagon.html

Joe