Educational Blogging- by Stephen Downes

Educational Blogging: by Stephen Downes: I have mixed feelings after reading this article. It is certainly up to date and relevant to our society. It is what in happening out there now in cyberspace. No doubt about it. The youth of our society seem to be quite capable of performing the art of 'blogging.' It is certain that the numbers are high and, as the article claims, "impressive."  To have this "creative arm"  of the internet used for educational purposes might defeat the whole reason why blogging is popular, to quote the article itself. I agreed with Will Richardson to this point. The reason that blogging has become popular with our youth is the unrestrictedness of the concept. Changing that "freedom" (such as it is), has it's limiting factor. It's like putting a speed limiter on a car. No matter how fast you would like to go (i.e no matter what you would really like to say or frame your question or opinion), there is a limit to how far you can go, just like real life. That's if you don't mind living with the fallout. Richard Long, Prof,at St. Louis Community College causes me to wonder if blogging is really blogging at all. Why not call it "expressive writing," "your opinion," "daily devotional.". In most cases expressions are given about whatever is served up, either as an appetizer or the main course. If real life is anything like I view it every day with young people being the major ingredient, I believe too, that most of the "stuff" they write about is trivia. (Criticism of blogs taken from the article.) I question why blogging would enable students develop, like Richardson says, "all sorts of critical thinking skills, writing (typing?) skills, and informational literacy." If, for instance, the student can't read, write, spell, how is blogging going to assist them there? To me, there are a host of over stating what blogging can do. Once blogging becomes a "part" of the curriculum, I feel as does Richardson, and I'll phrase it my way. "Students will drop blogging like a bag of wet cement." It will become bah humbug!! Oh yes, and for all the hype about blogging, there were other "wonders of education" that were supposed to be the panacea of education and ended up in the proverbial "file thirteen." Such hits as, semestering, destreaming, whole language, rubrics, strands, standardized testing, transition years, life skills, cooperative learning, credit recovery, process over product, professional learning committees, TAP—the list seems endless ( Forum Magazine - Left Out In The Cold by Jon Cowans, 2007). For any teacher over forty, most of us can well remember the list above with fear and intripidation. This might be a long shot, ok? But, because blogging was not instigated by the "experts," it might just work. Clyde