Blogs in the classroom

In the classroom, blogs can serve for a variety of purposes. As the instructor it can allow for communication with the students in regards to upcoming assignments or general announcements concerning the class. For the student, it could provide a forum for discussion, collaboration and support of assignments beyond the classroom setting; encouraging peer-to-peer learning. It may simply provide a “typical” blog space for journaling.

Issues however, could potentially arise from allowing students to blog for a particular class. Obviously, appropriateness of discussion and/or material added to the blogs could become a problem. Because student responses are not face to face, there is a potential for harmful comments to be made to one another that are not related to the task at hand. Boundaries would certainly need to be laid out in advance.

Blogs may provide advantages over traditional forms of instruction in several ways. It may provide a voice for those students who may otherwise feel to shy or embarrassed to participate in a typical classroom setting. Additionally, it could allow for more collaboration among peers as well as more independently working students.