Christopher D. Sessums :: Blog :: Blogging Questionnaire -- Initial Results

The following post represents the results of a blogging questionnaire I submitted for your consideration. A total of 10 edubloggers responded to the questionnaire wherein the following concepts were represented. Although the number of questionnaires returned was rather small, the following results serve as a starting point for further research and discussion.

In general, the use of social software such as blogs and wikis is determined by the individual user. Respondents report that their institution may provide minimal support (i.e., server space or an occasional workshop) yet nothing on the level of support offered for a learning management system. The bottom line appears to be that, in a majority of cases, educators have a choice as to whether they use blogs and wikis or not.

No institutional incentives are offered for those who adopt technologies such as blogs or wikis. Incentives or compensation plans designed to reward the accomplishment of specific tasks or results are often tied to other professional activities for teachers (e.g., teaching additional courses or attending appropriate workshops), employing blogs or wikis reportedly incurs no additional recognition.

[Question -- Should educators who employ social software to enhance learning and student engagement receive additional compensation?]

Blogs and wikis present a challenge to many educators. There are no hard and fast rules that frame the use of blogs or wikis besides suggested netiquette-type guidelines. It is most likely safe to say that there is limited understanding of their potential. What can a blog or wiki be used for? What is the most effective way to use them? Will time and energy spent using them benefit student achievement? For many professional educators, the issue often boils down to a what’s in it for me? perspective.

[Note: This challenge, i.e., how or why should I use technology to support teaching and learning, is what drew me to distance teaching and learning in the first place. Based on my experience in the classroom, I watched many colleagues doing the same thing year after year. Was what they were doing effective? Were their students engaged? Were educators themselves engaged or on auto-pilot? Distance teaching and learning provided a wonderful opportunity to re-think, to re-vision, teaching and learning on the whole. It isn’t about the technology, I argued. It’s about people discovering new ways to interact and learn from one another. But, I am preaching to the choir.]

One survey respondent, Bill Fitzgerald, put it this way:

Blogs and wikis are not fully understood by many of the faculty members here. Faculty members are open to learning new strategies, but they need to be shown specific uses that are immediately applicable to classroom instruction.

In the Social Life of Information, Brown and Duguid (2002) note that “when information takes center stage and lights dim on the periphery, it’s easy to forget [the]… necessary intermediaries” (p. 6). Similarly, it is easy for me to preach the wonderful possibilities of blogs and wikis for educational and self-discovery purposes, yet there are a number of intermediaries, i.e., individuals, that must be involved for these possibilities to become a reality. The way forward then is not to look for the light at the end of the tunnel, but to look around our selves to see what social resources are available to make our visions realized. Easier said than done, no?

Blogs can serve as a form of professional development. Whether or not such professional development is recognized as valid or sufficient is another question. Jeff Utecht writes about his 25% professional development on his Thinking Stick blog. This idea rubs upon the notion of how informal learning can be just as viable as formal learning.

Blogging among colleagues within an institution is limited. Perhaps the idea of simply getting together is easier or makes more sense. Connecting to and blogging with colleagues at other institutions who hold a similar position is regularly practiced. This notion might explain part of the growth of the blogosphere in general. For many who stumbled onto blogs and were curious (and patient) enough to stick with it, suggest that finding a community online that reflected their thoughts and ideas, a place where they could connect and share, in turn allowed them to grow and learn in an informal setting. This idea of blogging with colleagues fits nicely with the next observation:

Blogging is practical (i.e., useful) for professional educators for a number of reasons. For many educators, blogging serves as both a connective space and a reflective space. Blogs can serve as a place where an educator can reflect on the work they are doing and as a place to discuss how to improve what he or she does in the classroom. As a connective space, blogs can allow educators an increased ability to communicate with their students and their peers. Blogs open channels for many voices to be heard; they plant the seeds of possibilities.

Moreover, participants report that blogging relates specifically to putting ideas into practice. In other words, blogging is often guided by practical experience and observation rather than theory. In this sense, blogs become a place where praxis takes root. Blogging is a complex activity where individuals create culture and society, and can become critically conscious human beings. Praxis comprises a cycle of action-reflection-action that is central to what Freire describes as a liberatory education. Characteristics of praxis include self-determination (as opposed to coercion), intentionality (as opposed to reaction), creativity (as opposed to homogeneity), and rationality (as opposed to chance) [1]. Although, there are many opportunities for chance thoughts and meetings to occur online, a blog can serve as a space to consider the results of chance and reflect logically (or illogically) on them.

Other issues and concerns mentioned by respondents

Clarence Fisher notes that as educator/professional blogging

requires an independent voice not afraid to take criticism from others. Blogging professionally can be a glass house. But it is also a huge opportunity to gain the perspective and the wisdom of others. Blogging with kids requires a lot of lessons about appropriate posts and comments.

In this regard, blogging provides a teachable moment for educators; it serves as a means for delving deeper into critical areas such as media and technology literacy.

Fisher also argues that “[i]t takes a lot of time and effort to build a community and support the learning that happens in it. It is not something that magically happens on its own. It takes time, effort, a change in instructional priorities and an understanding of what you are trying to accomplish.”

In other words, blogging is not for the impatient educator. It requires patience and thoughtfulness wherein time and effort is needed to make lessons and assignments develop appropriately.

Other concerns include privacy and student safety. James F. suggests:

I make sure that I talk about public-ness of blogging. This permits the opportunity to discuss the amazing possibilities of connecting with the whose who [are] of your field/interest but also that "bad guys" can also access your posts so there needs to be a balance of honesty, skepticism, and concern for personal privacy brought to interactions. When I am talking with students I also mention that employers have incorporated person[al] blog content in employment and retention decisions.

This is an important point in terms of consequences of uninformed decisions. A colleague recently shared that she initiated a search of the term “drunk” with her students who have Facebook accounts. The number of students who popped up with references to drunkness on their sites were beyond belief. Thus the notion of discussing what students post to their blog seems worth the effort.

Finally, I want to thank all of you who participated in this survey. I hope the results give educators something meaningful to think about and discuss with others. Those of us who use blogs and wikis to support our own development and the development of others recognize that the many advantages of social software often outweigh the disadvantages. We must therefore be careful in how we carry the message forward. Technology like blogs and wikis can easily create as many problems as they solve. The key is for all of us to pay attention to what we say, do, and create. In this heavily designed world in which we live, Brown and Duguid (2002) suggest that it is important for us to “understand the strengths and the limitations of the designs offered to us. In particular, we all need to be able to deal with the hype that accompanies new technological designs…. We are all, to some extent, designers now. Many questions about design are thus becoming questions for all of us. It is important, then, to understand our own limitations as designers, too, and to know where to look for resources” (p. 4). Therefore, I turn to you for your thoughts and comments.


Off-line reference:

Brown, J.S. and Duguid, P. (2002) The social life of information. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.