Last week, Mark Cockrell wrote a very nice article on his views of blogging in education, entitled "I don't want to be a blogger". There are many points he makes about blogging that I might be forced to agree with (and especially with some points made in the comments). However, Mark's idea seems to pigeon hole everyone that calls themselves a blogger into a realm that they are something less than a writer - especially if they endorse utilizing blogging with students as a form of writing. To me blogging is not about the writing, it's about the sharing of ideas, the creation of discussion with other people interested in the same things as me. Of course people come to my blog to read - even read things that I have written, but even those boring peer-reviewed academic journals utilize charts and graphs to clarify points and show information. To me, blogging is a form of writing that utilizes the abilities of modern technology to incorporate video, pictures, charts, graphs, and yes even text...text that is written...by a blogger.
Should blogging be the only method of teaching writing to students? NO! Of course not, that would be foolish, but to not expose students to as many different types of writing as possible would be as equally foolish. In essence, Mark takes offense to the term blogger because it seems to depict something less than what bloggers really are, which are writers. In my mind, blogging is more than writing - it is conveying information through every possible channel available by the current technologies in an ongoing discussion with peers (i.e., no teachers, no students, everyone is a learner). It doesn't matter whether that information is text, video, or graphics.
Mark, my brother, I will accept your epithet of writer, but I will still call myself a blogger.
Should blogging be the only method of teaching writing to students? NO! Of course not, that would be foolish, but to not expose students to as many different types of writing as possible would be as equally foolish. In essence, Mark takes offense to the term blogger because it seems to depict something less than what bloggers really are, which are writers. In my mind, blogging is more than writing - it is conveying information through every possible channel available by the current technologies in an ongoing discussion with peers (i.e., no teachers, no students, everyone is a learner). It doesn't matter whether that information is text, video, or graphics.
Mark, my brother, I will accept your epithet of writer, but I will still call myself a blogger.
4 comments:
Agree, in some ways I feel like blogging is a more authentic form of writing because it does invite conversation. What we write is not static, it is constantly changing and evolving based on what others add to it. I am a blogger.
Hey, Brian.
Obviously I have no problem with the blog itself, as I use one often. It's a great productivity tool. I just want to caution people to not reduce art to the level of using a tool. Perhaps a better title for the post would have been, "I don't want to be merely a blogger." My hope is that we'll be very careful in the realm of education to teach the art of writing and use the blog as a publication method, rather than to assume that the ability to publish equates to the ability to write.
Mark, thanks for clarifying! This is exactly what I love most about blogging - the ongoing discussion of ideas among people separated by distance and time, but that share a passion for the same topics, ideals, and concepts.
I agree that we should make sure teachers understand (let me steal from my superintendent here) that blogging "is just another tool in their instructional tool belt. If a teacher only has a hammer in his/her tool belt, then every student gets treated like a nail, even if they aren't."
I am a blogger ... and this blogger really agrees with this statement from your post: "To me blogging is not about the writing, it's about the sharing of ideas, the creation of discussion with other people interested in the same things as me."
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