My mind is swimming with thoughts about blogging and when or if it should be used in the adult education arena. My instinctual reaction is overwhelmingly 'yes'- blogging is a powerful tool. The second part is then to look at how a blog is different from a traditional discussion board. Here are a few point worthy of discussion: specific features, use cases, and research about blogs.
Blog Features
A blog is a public, searchable website housing a series of entries created by an author for which readers can comment, resulting in further dialogue (King & Cox, 2011). Blogs are generally considered as a source of 'how-to' references, information/news, or connecting with others interested in similar topics. One thing is very clear, blogs are not private discussion boards. Because a blog may be accessed by the public, precautions should be made to ensure security and privacy of the authors. Witte (2007) shared the challenges of using blogs in the middle school classroom when a student innocently referred to neighborhood where he lived only to have the program pulled citing students' safety as a concern. This is a great example of a situation where a blog may not have been the best tools and a private discussion board should have been utilized.
As learning tools, blogs are meant to encourage learners to explore their own beliefs and develop more analytical analysis' of their thought processes (Oravec, 2002). In reading and responding to peers blogs, learners are also challenged to consider how they feel about what their peers wrote and formulate a reflective response.
Use Cases for Blogs
When focusing on formal learning, blogs are a great solution when an educator needs to teach critical thinking about learning content. This format allows for an informal, free-flowing approach to understanding what the learners are hearing and taking away from the course. Oravec (2002) specifically indicates distance learning as benefitting from a blogging approach.
Formal education is great, but I was interested in other use cases that could help develop students or employees. Fyock (2018) suggested using a blog to articulate a personal brand, thought leadership, increase visibility, and share insights leading to elevating your career. Writing, whether about your career or your learning, you're required to analyze your beliefs and articulate them clearly so that your readers will stay engaged and interested. I would encourage leaders to use blogging with teammates looking for career development guidance. Imagine teammates blogging about experiences shadowing other job roles, planning meetings, or running a workgroup. There may be times, however, that a discussion board will be more appropriate if the work is more sensitive or confidential in nature.
The final use case I'd like to explore today is blogging as a part of the trainer's tool box. Tipton (2014) listed blogging as her number one recommendation to corporate trainers to spice up their training. Blogging allows the learners to get inside the thought process used to navigate a topics. The commenting feature allows the trainer to see how the learner is responding and digesting the information. I'm currently using blogging on a SharePoint site to post important communications sent to the team for documentation purposes. These blogs have a search feature allowing the learner to navigate quickly to the content they are looking for. One of the disadvantages is that blog posts may become outdated and actually sabotage the learner.
Research about Blogs
The speed at which technology has evolved does not allow for adequate time for the research to stay relevant. While the features, benefits, and challenges of blogging in education are much the same now as then, the difference is more in the user's comfort and ease in using technology to learn. King and Cox (2011) express valid concerns about the 'digital divide'. In the 8 years since this book was published, the technology has advanced tremendously. Smart phone usage, wi-fi availability, and user friendly apps have been developed at a rapid pace. While I won't go so far as to say that I think the digital divide lack's relevancy, I believe the divide has changed. How can we really keep up with much more than case studies in this rapidly changing arena?
Final Thoughts
I whole heartedly feel that bloggings has the potential to develop stronger personal and professional convictions for any learner that engages in blogging. The risks of publicly posting sensitive information can be avoided by using one of the many cheap or free discussion board apps to secure that information. I don't believe that the selection to use blogging over discussion boards will impact the learners results in any measurable way. In fact, correctly selection the right platform will liberate the users to write more freely in an appropriate context. As educators, we should proceed confidently but with caution. Good luck everyone and happy blogging!
Fyock, C. (2018, February). Get started with career-minded blogging. TD Magazine. 65-67.
King, K. & Cox, T. (2011). The professor’s guide to taming technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Oravec, J.A. (2002). Bookmarking the world: Weblog applications in education. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(7), 616-621.
Tipton, S. (2014, July 21). The New and Improved Trainer Toolbox: Part 1. [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.td.org/insights/the-new-and-improved-trainer-toolbox-part-1
Witte, S. (2007). That's online writing, not boring school writing: Writing with blogs and the Talkback Project. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 51(2), 92-96.
Hi! Thanks for the Tipton reference--I've bookmarked it to look into. As a professional development trainer, I see a lot of opportunity in blogging. I see less opportunity in training technical skills. I am mulling that over--I welcome any insights you have.
ReplyDeleteI wonder about your observation on the digital divide, though. My own perspective is that it's wider than ever. I think a smart phone or even a tablet is a nice accessory to a desktop (or even laptop) computer, but I find the access from these tools to be very different. Additionally, I think the change in digital divide in the last decade has been due to access--or, more precisely, the lack of access. While the FCC says 25 million Americans lack broadband access, Microsoft believes the number is almost 163 million (Lohr, 2018). Other access problems stem from the inability to afford equipment or internet access, and the difference between the haves and have-nots seems to be growing (Fang, et. al., 2019). Do you think eventually we'll be able to close the divide caused by differences in socio-economic statuses?
Best
--Les
Fang, M. L., Canham, S. L., Battersby, L., Sixsmith, J., Wada, M., & Sixsmith, A. (2019). Exploring Privilege in the Digital Divide: Implications for Theory, Policy, and Practice. The Gerontologist, 59(1), e1–e15. https://doi-org.er.lib.k-state.edu/10.1093/geront/gny037
Lohr, S. (2018, December 4). Digital divide is wider than we think, study says. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/04/technology/digital-divide-us-fcc-microsoft.html
Les,
DeleteAs always, training technical skills is tedious and time consuming. There is so much teach, review, repeat when it come to learning to recall the information. If we could get the learners onboard, I believe the knowledge sharing could be amazing.
I do want to explore more about the 'digital divide'. I appreciate your reference to Lohr (2018) and found the article and comments intriguing. First, this article is speaking only to Broadband internet access, which while I agree is imperative, I would challenge this is not the only consideration to weigh when considering the divide. I'd like to take a deeper look at why we are considering this divide to be growing when Broadband is only getting more coverage and technology is getting cheaper? Fang et.al. (2019) does address some of the other factors I think are easy to ignore and can be harder to measure such as confidence, self-efficacy, access to public services, limited income, or knowledge of ICT's. I think of the 'digital divide' as change management struggle. Technology costs money, it can be intimidating to learn. What part does personal motivation play in this divide?
Carli, thank you for considering my answer. I suggest that personal motivation is a necessary but not sufficient component for overcoming the divide. As long as we have systemic barriers that limit access, motivation on its own won't be enough. Only when barriers are removed can motivation be actualized.
DeleteLes - what a great conversation! You've helped me to arrive at the crux of my dissonance about the digital divide. You make the point that "Only when barriers are removed can motivation be actualized." Is it realistic to think that all barriers can be removed? Literacy in the US is a great example of an issue that we are working hard to eliminate barriers but there are so many influences that we can only really strive to provide the best education and support possible to close the literacy gap. I see the integration of technology in adult education as an amazing way to bring learning to a new group of learners that can't get to a f2f class due to distance or resources.
DeleteMy point being, can we realistically expect that all barriers will be removed for all people who want to engage with learning technology? Do we stop advancing learning technology until the digital divide is closed?
At the end of the day, my 'beef' probably isn't about the digital divide. While it's important that I remember there are users of technology that struggle with access, I'm not in the business of building broadband infrastructure. I'm in the business of developing a variety educational options to meet my learners where they are today. For some, I will meet them on the web. For others, I will meet them in 'lunch and learns' or small group seminars.
Thank you for this valuable conversation. I appreciate your thorough comments.
Your section titled “Research about Blogs” interested me. It is challenging for
ReplyDeleteresearch to keep pace with rapidly evolving technology devices, connections,
and spaces. The comfort and ease which you refer to is an interesting point.
This brings into question the evolution of the technology user. Privacy was an
expected commodity in pre-personal technology era. In juxtaposition, living life
without privacy, especially for the native generation, is not only expected, but
sought after. Reality television, self-created youtube videos, and influencer
platforms have all made privacy almost archaic. Not only is our technology
changing, but the humans running the technology are changing. In referencing
the digital divide, there may be somewhat of a lesser concern in the digital
divide of the haves and the have nots; but, the second level digital divide of
the can dos and the cannot dos has been planted and is growing (Hargittai,
2002; Reinhart, Thomas, & Toriskie, 2011). More people may have devices
and accesses, but if you don’t know how to run your technological vehicle,
you still aren't; going very far.
Hargittai, E. (2002). Second-level digital divide: Differences in people's
online skills. First Monday, 7(4).
Reinhart, J. M., Thomas, E., & Toriskie, J. M. (2011). K-12 teachers:
Technology use and the second level digital divide. Journal of
Instructional Psychology, 38(3), 181-193.
@Technology Integration Specialist - great points. I'm specifically drawn to 'Not only is our technology
Deletechanging, but the humans running the technology are changing.' Is the divide growing because of new generations and new technology? There are segments of the older generations that don't see a point in learning or investing the technology. They have a way that works for them. How does that play into these measure?
Your point about the can dos and the cannot dos reinforces my personal opinion that having multiple platforms to educate the public is important. For those who can't get away from home/work to attend a f2f class, online tutorials or webinars are great. For others, without technology or who prefer f2f learning, meetings and traditional courses are a necessity.
In shifting my current focus at work from internal employees to external customers, my first concern is assessing how my learners want to engage with the content. From there, I'll have a better idea of what needs I can meet. How does that sit with you?
Yes @ Carli Jacobson! That's very attentive to the participant/customer needs. As we walk through this technology neighborhood, a wandering is developing in my thinking. How do introverts compare to extroverts when learning in social environments such as blogging? I've started the research process, but have not found enough information to make form an opinion yet.
DeleteBrookfield (2015) speaks to this indicating that the online learning environment does a great job or providing a safe space for introverts, students intimidated by speaking in large classrooms, students with language barriers, or students needing additional time to process information. I'd go out on a limb and suggest that introverts have no less opinionated thoughts than extroverts, but it's not as likely we would get to hear their opinions in a f2f environment. You're right however, that is probably not quite enough research to solidify a solid opinion. Thanks for the comments!
DeleteBrookfield, S. D. (2015). The Skillful Teacher. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog post. I like your idea of having leaders blog with teammates to discuss career development guidelines. I also liked the idea of blogging about experiences shadowing other job roles, planning meetings, or running a workgroup. This is such a great aspect to blogging, it can be very specific and specialized. Your ideas remind me of many Facebook Groups that I am apart of. These groups are a great community for people wanting to learn more about their area of study or chat with people that are in the same career. Blogging is very similar. With the use of tags you can quickly find blogs that might highlight a specific interest you have or something you want to study farther.
I also agree with your comments on the speed of technology changing. It seems nearly impossible to keep up with all the technology platforms and changing relevance of each site. I'm not sure how we as educators stay on top of all the changes and still expertly incorporate technology into our classrooms. We must constantly be learning along with our students.
Thanks,
Cassie
Cassie - I'm so glad that my example hit home for you. I couldn't agree more with you about the power of a great Facebook Group. What a wonderful way to collectively share knowledge and capture solutions. This similar style of information sharing really needs to be harnessed in many workplaces. Our organization is looking a decently sized group that will be retiring in the next five years and leadership is concerned with the lost expertise when these teammates leave. Finding a way to harness the power of blogging to document questions they are being asked would be amazing. Thanks! Carli
DeleteCarli, I wonder if wiki would be an effective way to capture and transfer knowledge of those impending retirees....
DeleteBest
--Les
Les - I've thought about that as well. My concern with Wiki use is that it typically takes admin rights to the site to publish a post. We're looking at a large number or retirement age loan officers who have not used a wiki page as part of their job role. I know how challenged it can be to get a wiki to look the way I want, I think I would lose them before I even explain how to do it.
DeleteI'm leaning towards a discussion board being the better option. Our organization uses Yammer, which teammates have adopted at a decent rate. Yammer wouldn't take any additional access or editing rights to posts to. Have you used any other discussion board formats that we should consider?
I can't say I have, Carli. Sorry I can't be more help.
DeleteBTW, Carli, I really liked your layout in this post: Features/Use Cases/Research/Conclusion. Especially the Use Cases. I really liked that.
ReplyDeleteBest
--Les
Thanks Les! I appreciate the feedback. :)
ReplyDelete