A brief reflection on blogging

At Weblogg-ed 'real' blogging is described as writing that has “Links with analysis and synthesis that articulates a deeper understanding or relationship to the content being linked [to] and written [about] with potential audience response in mind.” In other words, blogging is about reading or researching, referencing, reflecting, synthesizing and recording for future reference, with some potential audience in mind. Some educational uses of blogs therefore come closer to this ideal use of blogs than others, as summarized in an earlier post in the same blog.

At one end of this scale is 'Posting assignments' which is not considered to be blogging. At the other end of the scale is 'Extended analysis and synthesis over a longer period of time that builds on previous posts, links and comments' which is considered to be complex blogging. My feeling is that the read and response task that we are doing at present offers some potential for more 'complex blogging', but that to some degree you need to think about what that is before you can engage in it. As we keep doing this activity over the course of the semester, it would be interesting to think about how you could motivate your own students to engage in this kind of blogging, as Venus asks. Let me know your thoughts.