Blogs and
discussion boards are similar but there are marked differences. In the field of
adult education, both blogs and discussion boards give the learner an
opportunity to make an original post and then comment or enter into a
discussion on another learner’s post, thus exchanging information and learning
in a facilitative and collaborative way. That is really where the similarities
end. On a discussion board, all posts are on one page and it can get confusing
and jumbled with so many different conversations going on at once. There is not
a way to change the layout of it (at least that I have found) and it is set the
way it was designed. On the other hand, a discussion board can be a universal
tool in that it is most likely going to be the same layout for each class an
adult learner has in a particular program. This may lead to less confusion for
the learner. On a blog, the creator of said blog has ownership of it; he/she
can create it as he/she likes and add information the creator has deemed worthy
of including.
Blogging has
both pros and cons for adult learners. Blogging gives the adult learner more of
a voice (Oravec, 2002). The learner can let his/her personality come through
more in way of how it is designed and written. Depending on the blog and the
reason for it, the learner can write anything he/she deems fit. Another pro I
see with blogging is the opportunity for the adult learner to market
him/herself. He/she can get his/her name out there in the field and make
connections, which may lead to employment opportunities down the road, which
Zhang (2013) refers to as an “underused strategy” (p. 268). Also, the learner
is exposed to a larger audience that extends past classmates and the instructor
for the course. Another benefit of blogging for the adult learner is that it
can increase “satisfaction in both traditional and online courses” (Top, Yukselturk,
& Inan, 2010, p. 214) by allowing the learner to become as active as he/she
wants to be and by exchanging information in a meaningful way.
Blogging can be
seen as being similar to a reflective type of journal, not unlike what we kept
in the Characteristics of the Adult Learner class, which is made public. I
think that is where a con perhaps comes in. Because the blog is public, more
people have access to it. I think this can make learners uneasy knowing that
what was written is out there for the world to see. In my opinion, this could
do a couple of different things; either make the author more timid and tone
down his/her writing, advance the writing, or make no remarkable change, which
probably sounds obvious but think it depends a lot on the individual. Another
con I see, more so in the eyes of the instructor, is that it is possible to
read other classmate blogs before the learner writes his/her own regarding
assigned topics. On the discussion board, it can be set up for the learner to
make a post before seeing other classmates’ posts, thus maybe a learner might
look for help in how to write his/her post.
References:
Oravec, J. (2002). Bookmarking the world: Weblog
applications in education. Journal of
Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(7), 616-621.
Top, E., Yukselturk, E., & Inan, F. A. (2010).
Reconsidering usage of blogging in preservice teacher education courses. The Internet and Higher Education,
13(4), 214-217.
Zhang, S. (2013). An empirical study of the factors
affecting weblog success in higher education. Journal of Information Systems Education, 24(4).
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ReplyDeleteI agree that discussion boards can become confusing as the discussion threads just continue to grow as people continue to comment. As they are growing, the comments sometimes do not line up directly under the person in which you are replying as someone may have already commented. If you are looking for your or a particular post, this task can be daunting since you have to scroll through the entire listing of comments in order to find it. Blogs seem to be the answer for this problem as they are usually set-up by individual students or a group of students so varied conversations are not an issue. Blogs enable the students to control/facilitate their discussions and also add their own personal touch to the material and the design of the board.
ReplyDeleteVery true! One thing I did notice doing the assignment this week is that with a discussion board everything is in one place. With the blogs, we have to navigate to each person's blog.
DeleteThe navigation is a little annoying when trying to do the assignment and definitely wouldn't work if Dr. Kang didn't have specific guidelines setup to make sure we know where to find the blogs. It's also important that he required us to post a certain number of times. That encourages our participation and makes sure we are getting enough out of the assignment.
DeleteJennifer,
ReplyDeleteI've never really thought about the potential of blogs being used as part of networking that can assist one in finding a job, but it certainly makes sense. It might be interesting to find out how many people get jobs this way nowadays. Though, with that said, I'm sure the opposite is also true and that people's ability to post anything may have cost them prospective positions as well. Like anything, I guess you just have to be responsible about what you post and the way you present yourself to others.
Brandon,
DeleteI definitely agree about how it could cost a person an employment opportunity. I have heard several stories of people being fired for what is posted online. Where I work before someone is hired, the person doing the hiring will check the potential hire's Facebook page and do an Internet search for anything bad.
Jennifer and Brandon,
DeleteHow true this is. Some people just post too much on social media sites that end up catching up with them in their professional lives. I agree with your job executing a social search on potential hires as people can be looked at as a direct representation of the companies in which they work and depending on the field of work can become a liability for them.
yes educators a have responsibility to bring this to the attention of the students before assigning the blogging assignment Oracec mentions this on p 618 of our reading
DeleteJennifer,
ReplyDeleteI liked that you pointed out that people can see posts of others before they post their own blog as I haven't seen that in the other posts I've read up to this point. As a teacher in a younger grade, I like for students to see what other students are posting to give them a baseline and some guidance to create their own. Even if they do take a little from others, my goal is that they are learning from the students who do understand more. I can see how in some cases that would be a problem though. When designing your assignment that is certainly a point to consider. Do you want students to share their assignment first, or do you want to structure it so that they can see examples to help them write their own response?
DeAnna,
DeletePersonally if I taught a class, I am not sure how I would feel about whether or not I wanted students to do their assignments first or look at other examples. I can certainly see both sides. Perhaps for the students that are struggling a little it could be a good thing to see how other students are structuring their responses. I am going to have to ponder that, but that is an interesting point.
Your observation of blogs as a reflective journal can be a con instead of a pro. Initially I had seen it as a pro, because reflection is a positive action in learning. However, having reviewed your blog post I am now giving it further consideration. I do agree that the fact that the whole world could read your blog, there would be some reticence in how much reflection you really place in the blog. So the journaling may very well be somewhat artificial. I also note your comment about using blogs for marketing oneself. This is yet another reason why some people (like me) would feel somewhat daunted in making post; because so many people can read and possibly scrutinizing my writing, the way I present my thoughts and simply the way I think. Despite these concerns, I am convinced that blogs can be a great tool in education, especially adult education.
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