Collaborative software is software intended to help people participating in a shared project to accomplish their purpose. Blogging has the dual capability of supporting maintaining growth by the sharing of ideas as well as causing division in organizations.
The many benefits of blogging in various sector of society are gaining significance as it becomes more acceptable by individuals. Blogging can promote critical and analytical thinking among its users as they share experiences and ideas. Its features makes it capable of promoting exceptional and insightful thinking when it is being used as brainstorming tool, as a resource for sharing group ideas and commenting on these ideas. It can also encourage figure of speech in explaining ones thinking since it is less restrictive in its use of sentence structure and verbal communication. There is also a greater chance for increase in access and exposure to quality information due to the fact that individual may rather use this informal means to share thoughts. Blogging can facilitate both isolated and social interaction among individuals. In a classroom setting blogging can allow learners to self-regulate their time and place of learning. The users of blogs are expected to be active participants in a sharing environment and requiring each participant to focus on the topic of discussion. Hence in the classroom setting, there is likely to be a frequent active exchange of ideas between each member of the class. Blogs also provide a convenient way to help students improve their writing skills, and develop ways of expressing their thoughts in an informal setting. This collaborative tool provides a means for remote individual to share ideas thus changing level of correspondence to include a wider section of a group of people. Users of blogs can communicate at a low cost thereby supporting ongoing exploration of ideas and creation of new thoughts.
Some disadvantages of blogging include the fact that articles published publicly can be viewed by many bloggers and it may be difficult to change your expressed view. Unsuspecting users may be at risk of encountering devious and cruel individuals who my take disadvantage of their correspondence. This may result in inappropriate display of graphics or comments that may cause someone hurt. An individual may be isolate or lose some opportunities because of their expression of an idea in a blog. Some organizations may be opposed to the sharing of sensitive information relating to the running of the organization in blogs. Also, many individual find it difficult to identify something interesting to share and even when they do, they have unable to express themselves in a clear and convincing manner. Some individuals may be interested in blogging but cannot find the time to update their blogs due to time constraint.
Pros:
ReplyDeleteWeblogs are easily created, publishers can update and publish instantly; it serves as a great venue for collaborative work where the reader becomes part of the writing and learning process which is an important 21st century skill (www.21stcenturyskills.org) Retrieved 2/6/10 ; and blogging can be used across the curriculum in that writing can be infused into all discipline. According to our text entitled Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Webtools for the Classroom (Rchardson, 2009), "...students are learning to read more critically, think about that reading more analytically, and write more clearly. And, they are building relationships with peers, teachers, mentors, and professionals within the Weblog environment (p.20)".
Weblogs are truly a constructivist tool for learning where students, and other contributors construct new knowledge based on prior knowledge and knowledge acquired. Weblogs transcend the walls of the classroom and allows various forms of reflection and analysis. Visit NCTE/IRA Standards for English Language Arts (www.ncte.org/standards)Retrieved 2/15/10. They support different forms of learning and aid in the development of expertise in a particular subject.
According to the 21st CenturySkills MILE Guide 2009 (www.21stcenturyskills.org), "Today’s life and work environments require far more than thinking skills and content
knowledge. The ability to navigate the complex life and work environments in the globally
competitive information age requires students to pay rigorous attention to developing
adequate life and career skills, such as:
Flexibility and Adaptability, Initiative and Self-Direction, Social and Cross-Cultural Skills,
Productivity and Accountability,Leadership and Responsibility(p.9)".
Cons:
Keeping students, and contributors safe from contributors that submit inappropriate content; potential for contributors expressing irresponsibility, inappropriateness; insuring that personal information is not reflected in the blog so that this information cannot be misused; stimulate collaboration by posing questions.
I believe that providing guidance in this area of concerns will be most beneficial. Weblogging benefits far outweigh their disadvantages thus far. I think that coupling blogging and a classroom website would be benefit for both student and teacher alike.
Isabel
Lorna - I always enjoy reading things that you post. You do such a great job at expressing your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteAs one of your listed benefits you wrote, "develop ways of expressing their thoughts in an informal setting" which is something I hadn't thought of. It is so important for students to understand that there are different times for different types of writing. It is hard for some students to differentiate between formal and informal writing and having a blog would be a good way to help reinforce when it is appropriate for each type.
Since I am a fairly new user of blogs I am only just learning from this class the pro's and con's of blogs. In my experience it would seem the pro's are the very easy way it is to create and participate in blogs. My last experience with a blog was with some close friends that lived throughout the US and we seldom were able to get together like we would like to discuss our favorite books, hangout places and just anything that came up, like world events. So one of them decided we should all participate in a blog. It was a great idea and it lasted for about a year and half. We started out talking about a book that she was reading about Zora Neale Hurston. Well that of course lead to a major discussion about one of my favorite topics the Harlem Renaissance.
ReplyDeleteJust as Lorna was expressing in her comments as one of the benefits we were able to express our thoughts freely in our homes which is an informal setting. Unlike many of our past settings as educators, executives, attorneys and business owners. We were able to feel relaxed and free to say what ever we wanted to say. I enjoyed the time spent with my friends in discussion and I hope to have the same amount of time of enjoyment during this class discussion.
The con's in this discussion would always lead to the dangers on the internet. It is always an issue for children when they are using the internet the present of inappropriate users is always present and not always easy to avoid. But making students aware of the dangers is imperative for their safety. Keeping personal information out of the blog is important as Isabel has stated and teacher should keep a watchful eye on all that is discussed in the blogs.
Sarah, thanks for your kind comments. I am happy to know that you are enjoying my posts. I do make the effort to make my posts worthwhile in order to maintain an audience and to generate meaningful responses.
ReplyDeleteI guess we are all getting the blog working for group members to participate. As Lisa implied, let's make this our meeting place where we can share our ideas and plan for our assignments.
Lorna