Web 2.0 for Learning Professionals

Week 3: Blogs

Background

Blogging is Learning

Jay Cross, CEO of Internet Time Group and author of Informal Learning, likens a blog to a camera. It puts the world in a new perspective. Everything that the user encounters becomes a potential picture, or in the case of a blog, a potential post.

Bloggers continually search for interesting information they can post. When they post information, they must synthesize that information, formulate additional questions, contrast and make sense of differing viewpoints, and identify patterns and trends. Karyn Romeis, a learning solutions designer at Capita, a British professional services company, has been blogging for two years and finds that she gets tremendous value from it. “I’ve learned more from blogging in the past year than I learned in several years using other approaches,” she says.

Tracy Hamilton, an education assistant of organizational development at Southlake Regional Center in Newmarket, Canada, started blogging as the result of a conference a few months ago. She has a similar perspective. “Blogging is my main source of learning,” she says.

Part of the impact comes from the fact that a blog is public. It raises the stakes much like having to do a presentation at a meeting or teaching in a classroom. In fact, many of the same attributes of preparing and giving a classroom presentation apply to blogging. Mark Oehlert, a well-known blogger who recently became the emerging technologies lead for Defense Acquisition University, “There is something that happens to a person when they hit that ‘publish’ button - you cross a threshold - you move from consumer to producer - you put your intellectual neck on the line and I really think that you aren't the same person after that.”

Blogging is Networking

Blogs also act as a type of social networking tool. Most people are familiar with social networking tools such as MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn. These tools aim to help people to connect and interact in a variety of ways, often based on a profile and personal communication.

Blogging also causes interaction and connection, but in a different and possibly more natural way. Each time a blogger leaves a comment or links to another blogger’s post, they are having a conversation. Over time, as the conversations continue, this leads to recognition and deeper relationships between the bloggers. This is similar to content-based social networking that occurs in del.icio.us and Flickr, but blogging is based on a more open, fluid type of content and conversations. Generally blogs also provide a more robust picture of the blogger through their continuous posts and conversation. Using emerging tools such as MyBlogLog, bloggers can get to know who is visiting their blogs and who is in their community.

Once bloggers become connected, they often reach out to get help on a particular topic. Karyn Romeis tells us, “It is amazing how unselfish bloggers are with what they know. I am so convinced of the value of social networking that I am writing a dissertation on how it has transformed my professional practice. Social networking has blurred the boundaries between work, play and learning, between corporate and academic, between formal and informal.”

This kind of help from a social network is invaluable. Many workplace learning professionals find that building this network and having this sustained discussion allows them to discuss significant issues they face at their work in a way that’s not easy to duplicate through other avenues including face-to-face interaction. Wendy Wickham, a medical applications trainer at George Washington University and a blogger since September 2006, started her blog because of several important projects, including an LMS implementation and some application upgrades. Wendy says, “The folks in the learning blog space, including highly respected eLearning specialists and educators, have been incredibly supportive and provide valuable feedback. When you are in the thick of the day-to-day - tight deadlines, resource constraints, and unsupportive environments - you can feel very isolated from what is happening with others. Being involved with folks grappling with the same issues you are helps ease that isolation.” Because of her blogging, Wendy was recently been invited to speak at a major conference.

It takes time to build up a social network using a blog, but it occurs naturally as part of the conversation. Tracy Hamilton tells us, “You have to work at communicating with other people, asking questions, and responding to questions, but it is very much worth the effort. The one thing I have really noticed and experienced about the blogging community is that everyone is extremely friendly, open and willing to share ideas and be mentors to one another.” The process of connecting can be sped up by posting interesting questions, linking to other blogger’s posts, participating in activities such as the Learning Circuit Blog’s Big Question. Of course, it’s also a good idea to get together with other bloggers at industry events. There are rumors that bloggers like beer.

More Reading

I have my personal favorites on this topic such as (October 2006 Big Question - Should All Learning Professionals Be Blogging - (summary post) Top Ten Reasons to Blog and Not to Blog), but a great source is going to what people in this course have collected via social bookmarking:

RECORDING OF BLOGGING AND REFLECTIVE PRACTICE WEBINAR If you weren't able to attend the webinar on blogging and reflective practice with Work Literacy member Paul Lowe, you can access the recorded webinar here. Just click on the link and then log in as a participant without a password and it should start playing. Some great stuff here, so when you get the chance, check it out!

Activities

Here's what we suggest for each of the different levels of participation.

Spectators--

1. Read through the Forums, read some of the articles, visit some of the blog posts created by others as part of this activity

2. Attend the webinar on using blogs for reflective practice.

Joiners/Collectors--

Do the Spectator activities, plus

1. Comment on blog posts created by others

2. Add your thoughts in the Forums.

Creators

Do the Spectator and Joiner/Collector activitities, plus

1. Start A Blog (skip if you already have one that relates to this topic).

If you don't have one already, start your own blog. If you have your own blog, try one of the the activities in the personal learning and/or the formal learning forums and post about it on your blog with a link to your post in the appropriate forum. Post in the forums on your own experiences in using blogs for personal and formal learning.

2. Create a blog post on any topic related to this subject such as

2A. Using Blogs for Personal Learning

2B. Using Blogs as Part of Formal Learning

2C. Blogs vs. Social Networks for Personal Learning

2D. Blogs vs. Threaded Discussions

2E. Your thoughts on this learning experience

etc.

(Bonus points for linking to other blog posts from participants as part of your blog post.)

3. Add a link to your blog post in the appropriate Forum so we can easily find your post.

We've created the following Forums to be used as part of the above activities:

Starting Your Own Blog - go here to get help on creating your own blog.

Blogging for Personal Learning - discuss and add links to your blog posts here