Overview of Blogging

Using Blogs in the Classroom Overview Blogging can improve students’ writing skills and build their confidence as writers. By blogging, students can take ownership of their writing, become better observers of others’ writing, and develop a more immediate and powerful understanding of audience. Blogs encourage experimenting and risk-taking, seriousness and play, and they foster an increased awareness of private and public writing. Blogging blends both the freeing aspect of short pieces that can be written in a relatively low-stakes environment with the sense of claiming one’s own voice and learning how to develop analysis and articulate ideas to a larger public. Guided by clear expectations of what is required in a class blog, students can see their writing develop over the course of the term. This handout describes strategies for using blogs as a writing tool in the classroom.

General Considerations

Although at first it may seem somewhat daunting when considering the perceived technical skills involved, using blogs in the classroom can be very rewarding. The learning curve is not as steep as you may imagine, and many resources for instructors exist on campus. Also, some students when learning to navigate the platform initially may resist blogging. But most students change their minds as they begin to blog

Empowering Students

Students are used to writing and communicating in the digital landscape whether it be Twitter, FaceBook, Tumblr, or email. While reading their fellow students’ blogs and comments, and responding online with their own comments, students recognize the value of clarity and what makes for strong and engaging posts. Students have the opportunity to practice writing and analytical skills in their own blogs that will transfer into essays and other writing endeavors. Students are able to see their own writing as something “real” with a practical application. Creating a blog can be a bridge for students between the familiar digital world and what is being asked of them in academic essays, projects and other university-based assignments. Blogging can be seen as a gateway experience for students who will likely be using digital technologies and media in their future endeavors regardless of their discipline.

Possible Uses for Instructors

You may use blogging for: •

 communicating announcements and assignments in a format that students may perceive to be more “friendly” than CTools

• sharing instructor-generated exercises or prompt

• community building

 • creating a public place where student work can be “published”

Possible Uses for Student

 Students may use blogging for:

 • responding to readings

• maintaining a writer’s notebook or journal

 • posting personal, reflective, exploratory, or open entries (campus observations, “where I’m from,” pictures from home, or favorite book or piece of writing)

 • sharing student-generated research or links to class-related articles

 • exploring visual rhetoric

 • practicing writing o developing voice o working on titles, conciseness o considering tone o brainstorming, drafting, facilitating peer review

• creating a showcase for final projects

 • crafting an on-line image or presence