One thing that’s been intriguing me lately is the use of blogging in education. Not just in traditional ‘classroom’ situations, but also for online and offline tutors.- the use of blogs to spark discussion, reinforce lessons and extend on topics that there wasn’t time to extend on in situ.

The past decade has brought so much of our world and our daily lives online. The world wide web and good ole’ fashioned reality collide in these days of social media and Google searches. One of the newest forms of online communication and expression is blogging. This platform can be used in several different ways, with some opting to utilize it as a publicized online journal and others using it to voice their opinions. Blogs can be informative, enticing, entertaining and occasionally… well, boring.

With much of the rest of our existence taking place online it was always a matter of time before we began to ponder online education platforms. These days students respond more to their Facebook status updates than to their teacher’s droning lecture (not that students were ever more apt to pay attention to a teacher than the not-so-private lives of their friends). As students become more stimulated by online media and platforms, some educators are reaching outside their classroom boxes and stretching their muscles online. But can blogging be an educational tool?

Blogging and other online educational tools could have what I call the “cool effect”. Students tend to respond better to technology that they know and use when outside of the classroom. It’s similar to the effect of rolling a television into a classroom: it may just be an educational film, but students are more likely to be engaged by it than a traditional lecture. Watching TV and blogging are “cool” for use in their free time, so utilizing it when they’re at school feels less like conforming to antiquated learning methods and more like learning on their own terms. Much like other forms of online education blogging makes it possible for students to interact with other peers across the globe, a feature that could be immensely useful for cultural or foreign language studies. Most blogs can also be pretty well controlled by an administrator (or teacher), even to the standard that comments cannot be published on the blog until approved by them. Blogging could also be highly effective in spurring discussion about topics that may even continue after school hours.

So outside of the possibility for foul play on the blog (which can be very well managed with platforms such as WordPress), it seems that educational blogging could provide a stimulating and modern way for students to gain, share and expand on their knowledge. If utilized correctly I believe that blogging could open up a whole new world of resources for educators and young minds alike.