Why academic blogging?

This semester “English for Research” course challenged us with academic blogging. Computer technology is winning its place within teaching methods engaging students and challenging faculty to adapt to new learning environment. Surprisingly, researchers are seriously concerned with the usage of the blogs as a teaching method giving both its positive sides and challenges. Although, my personal doubts on full inclusion of the blogs in the class environment are still valid.   

Blogs could be different depending on how to use them. Previously, blogs felt always a waste of time and personal promotion for me. It was clear they were utilized by the public people to share their personal experiences and market themselves. When academic blogging became a part of the assignments it was unexpected because I have never experienced writing my blogs and had to learn. As students started writing I could spot some advantages: (a) it stimulates to start relaxed flow of ideas which helps in learning a foreign language (Warschauer, 1997, p.471); (b) motivates students to apply their writing skills to produce a good piece of paper seen by their peers (Montgomery, 2015, p.2); (c) encourages students to do some research on other topics of interest (even those off-topic ideas cost them time and efforts to write). It is also useful to speak about limitations before giving any recommendations and personal ideas on the improvement.  

Some limitations: (a) too narrow or specific topic with only a few people familiar with the theme and no discussion as a result; (b) irrelevant to the academic environment with some blogs completely off the topic and (c) not safe to publish since once it is shared publicly no one guarantees its ownership (Lai & Chen, 2011, p.950). Now, when both pros and cons were listed recommendations could be given.             

            My personal opinion might be biased and based only on my internal perceptions. Thus, if I were to use blogging I would give students a choice to write traditional academic essays or start blogging because a student could be shy to expose his/her ideas publicly. I think using blogging would be more appropriate for senior students confident to share their personal beliefs and able to support them [ideas] with pertinent academic sources. I would have applied blogging as an additional way to develop students’ writing skills because blogging language is more simplified. Using blog writing in the context of online learning might be beneficial because face-to-face communication seems to be less. In case I utilized blogging I would disaggregate the fields into narrower topics (for example, higher education: internationalization, finance, national case studies etc.).  

In conclusion, it is reasonable to admit current use of technologies is creeping into our everyday life and bringing them to class might be challenging. Fortunately, teachers are human beings able to convert every minus into plus and take the best of it. No wonder, adaptation will require some time and effort until then it is necessary to apply technology opportunities wisely and creatively without a complete reliance on them.

References

Lai, H. M., & Chen, C. P. (2011). Factors influencing secondary school teachers’ adoption of

teaching blogs. Computers & Education, 56(4), 948-960.

Montgomery, D.P. (2015, April). Did you read my new post?: Improving autonomy, English and

engagement through class blogs. Paper presented at The International Conference for

Building Cultural Bridges, Suleyman Demirel University. Kaskelen, Kazakhstan:

ICBCB.

Warschauer, M. (1997). Computer-mediated collaborative learning: Theory and practice. The

Modern Language Journal, 81(4), Special Issue: Interaction, Collaboration, and

Cooperation: Learning Languages and Preparing Language Teachers, 470-481. Wiley.