Blogs: Not Just an Online Diary

By Ashley Bowles
Rotunda ReporterWith over 50 million people blogging, blogs are becoming increasingly more popular in our society. They have moved from a simple online diary to an educational tool. A blog, or "Web log" is an online collection of entries by a person. Blogs range from personal diaries to a space to publish editorials on any topic; they are also an alternative to media publications.

Within education, faculty members are able to use blogs to promote dialogue between students and as an instructional tool much like the Discussion Board in Blackboard. With all the snow Longwood has gotten in the past week, and classes and professors having been thrown a curve ball, online work could have helped keep the class on track more compared to missing almost an entire week of class. Blogs act like discussion boards in that they can be used as a virtual classroom, which comes in handy when classes are delayed or canceled left and right or if the teacher has to cancel class. They take the place of a classroom discussion; all the teacher has to do is post a topic and have the students discuss it through comments, or replies, instead of an in-class discussion.

Andrew Brovey, director of instructional technology services, said, "Blogs are basically web pages, so if you can browse web pages, you can easily navigate most blogs." Sites such as Blogger.com, Posterous.com, Livejournal.com and Wordpress.com are popular blog sites that can be used for any use. "Blogs may also be used as a substitute for course management tools such as Blackboard. The course blog acts as the central means of communication with links to the syllabus, schedule, posts for assignments and handouts. Thanks to the efforts of our Longwood library staff and faculty, we have several examples of Longwood blogs based on Wordpress, a popular blogging tool," explained Brovey.

Dr. Pamela Tracy, associate professor of communication studies, uses a course blog in her Media Criticism class, where students reply to her posts that range from Super Bowl ads to commenting on required events on campus. Students were required to analyze a commercial from the Super Bowl and deconstruct it; students commented on each other's posts and offered their own interpretation. "Most often you simply click on a "comments" button or link and then type your reply to the post using the built-in editing tool of the blog.making your own post either requires you to be the blog owner or to be approved by the blog owner as a contributor or collaborator," said Brovey.

Blogs are not limited, however, to just communication classes. English teachers would be able to have students post their writings on a site, link them to a class blog and have each student comment on the work via the blog. In this way, students will not have to wait until the next class period to get feedback on their work. Art students can use a blog in the same way, by taking pictures of their work and uploading them to a photo-sharing site such as photobucket.com. They could then link those pictures to a class blog, where other students would comment on the work and the artist could get feedback more quickly, compared to waiting until the next class.

Blogs can also be used for group projects. Instead of hunting down every member's email address, the entire group could have a single blog and share their ideas and exchange information through the blog. One project Tracy is doing requires each group to have their own "team blog" and to use that as their place to keep or exchange information.