As I go about researching social software in teacher education, a few questions have popped up that I was hoping to get your perspective on. If you are a teacher your response is invaluable. If you know one that blogs, please pass this post along.
There are no correct answers. Your thoughts are what's important. Please consider the following:
Where and when do you blog?
How much time do you spend blogging?
Do you read other blogs? If so, do you leave comments and return to see what others have said?
In what ways has blogging helped you?
What are the benefits or rewards you receive from blogging?
Please feel free to leave your response in the comments section below or if you prefer, drop me a line privately (csessums@gmail.com).
And thank you for taking the time to respond. 
Photo credits:
Because by evetsggod. Retrieved 15 January 2007 from www.flickr.com/photos/evetsggod/102846157/.
la gabbianella e il gatto by ezra rhesus. Retrieved 15 January 2007 from www.flickr.com/photos/ezrarhesus/218270700/.
Comments
Where and when do you blog?
At home amd at work, sporadically depending on time available an if there are activities in my teaching which require analysis and reflection, or demonstration of usage of ICT with other teachers.
How much time do you spend blogging?
Very little- perhaps 2 or 3 minutes a week
Do you read other blogs? If so, do you leave comments and return to see what others have said?
Ah yes - perhaps a lot more time reading around things -probably 5 - 10 minutes a working day. I leave a few comments.
In what ways has blogging helped you?
2 ways - 1 it helps in clarification of my own thinking, 2 when there is a convergence of ideas or information aound a particular subject I can produce my own viewpoint
What are the benefits or rewards you receive from blogging?
Its easy to do, easy to use with students, not really interested in external feedback -.
Where and when do you blog?
Anywhere, whenever. A lot of time, between tasks, more often when I am inspired. I get up in the middle of the night to blog if I think it's a worthwhile post. And worthwhile to me means two things: thoughts I need a home for when I need to come back to them, or thoughts that will benefit others. Often this suits the same purpose.
How much time do you spend blogging?
Hard to measure, especially when I see that blogging is made up of both reading, synthesizing and then writing. The actual posting time is tiny ... the rest takes up the majority of the time.
Do you read other blogs? If so, do you leave comments and return to see what others have said?
I ready hundreds of blogs ... this is obvious if I have stumbled upon this post. I return comments, and sometimes I return. It's easier when there is a service involved (email updates, for instance). I appreciate that.
In what ways has blogging helped you?
Blogging has been the best professional development opportunity of my life. It has greatly affected my view of pedagogy, media, schooling and society in general. It has been a huge catalyst for my own education.
What are the benefits or rewards you receive from blogging?
Connections to a greater, remote, distributed, educational community. It helps me sees views of education globally. It also helps my work become more exposed to others.
Let me know if you have other questions. By the way, if this is a (bigger) research project you are working on, I'd suggest using a survey tool like researchmonkey.com ... I use it often and absolutely love it.
Alec Couros, PhD
ICT Coordinator
FACULTY OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF REGINA
http://www.educationaltechnology.ca/couros
Where and when do you blog?
Both at home at and school.
How much time do you spend blogging?
At this point, maybe an hour a day writing. I often start a blog at home in the evening, sleep on it, and finish it off in the morning and post it before classes begin.
Do you read other blogs? If so, do you leave comments and return to see what others have said?
Yes, and yes.
In what ways has blogging helped you?
The writing part—I've been trying to post an entry daily—keeps me thinking and examining my teaching practice. I've now got a lot of ideas about how I am going to start using blogs an wikis with my classes. I knew nothing about either six months ago. I also really value the feedback and the ideas that I am getting from other teacher-bloggers.
What are the benefits or rewards you receive from blogging?
The chance to learn from others, the chance to share good ideas and good teaching practices, the benefit of knowing how to use the technology so that I use it to enhance the learning environment in my classroom.
I teach at the Open University of Catalonia and you can find some more about me at http://www.ictlogy.net/aboutme.php (just for you to draw a profile of mine)
Where and when do you blog?
I usually blog from my workplace or "live / on site" when attending some event.
How much time do you spend blogging?
I blog once or twice a week (sometimes more often, sometimes even less) but when I do I try and spend some time writing and rewriting. Say, one to a couple of hours per post.
Do you read other blogs? If so, do you leave comments and return to see what others have said?
My bloglines says I'm subscribed to 210 feeds, among blogs and other RSS feeds such as news, del.icio.us accounts/tags, etc.
In what ways has blogging helped you?
What are the benefits or rewards you receive from blogging?
I guess these two can be answered together.
I have benefited so much from blogging that I have even written and talked about it in several seminars. You can access the materials from two of them here:
http://www.ictlogy.net/bibciter/reports/projects.php?idp=264
http://www.ictlogy.net/bibciter/reports/projects.php?idp=265
Keeping it short:
Hope it helped!
I'm new. I blog from home, sometimes from a coffee shop where I work. I'm usually too busy at school.
I don't budget my blogging time but it falls on the priority list somewhere after getting paid work done but before most other leisure activities. A one-off post about some article I saw somewhere 'round the 'net might take me five minutes. However, <a href="http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=47">most</a> <a href="http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=41">posts</a> go through several drafts before I hit submit, sometimes taking up an hour of my day. This happens at least three times a week. I love blogging.
That's because I love writing and love communication. If I didn't blog about teaching, I'd blog elsewhere about god-knows. My teaching blog is just an extension of my teaching practice. I know very little about this job, but I've accrued some great experience in <a href="http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=9">some niché areas</a> that I know can help other teachers.
I read, maybe, 10 other edu-blogs. For all their verbal communication skills, I don't find teachers, as a generalization, to be altogether well-written. I leave comments much more since I found <a href="http://co.mments.com/">Co.mments</a>, which is a where-have-you-been-all-my-life? kinda tool.
I enjoy the give-and-take. I enjoy having my practice challenged in here so I can better defend my methods Out There. I've blogged for an audience for under two months now and the experience has been far more rewarding than I anticipated.
I have many different blogs I use in conjunction with my online courses, but probably the most important is my CLASS ANNOUNCEMENTS blog.
I blog one set of announcements every day, and the students can see the blog at the course website (via javascript), in Bloglines feed reader (they all use Bloglines for their class blogs), inside Desire2Learn (our course management system - I use javascript to make the announcements display there), or by email (I use Feedburner which allows students to subscribe to the announcements by email if they prefer - some students, especially older students, rely on email a lot).
So I update the daily announcements every day in ONE place, and the students can encounter the announcements in FOUR different places: this really works! my students actually know what's going on as a result. plus I can include links, images, etc. I always include at least one image to make the announcements fun and/or nice to look at.
here is the raw blog: http://bestmoodle.net/b2/index.php
here it is displayed at the course website: http://www.mythfolklore.net/3043mythfolklore/
How much time do you spend blogging? class announcements take about 15-30 minutes to write each day; I accumulate raw materials using the Clippings feature in Bloglines. I have several other blogs that I publish as well, but those are less directly related to actual teaching activities - they are more for research, reflection, other kinds of writing for which my students are not the main audience (although it's nice that they have an easy way to see what I do with my spare time... of which there is too little! ha ha)
Do you read other blogs? I read many blogs on educational technology; comment only rarely. this blog is a favorite of mine! because I read blogs via RSS I rarely see others' comments, unless the blog author responds to comments in later posts or updates the actual post to incorporate user comments.
In what ways has blogging helped you? keeping in touch with my students is a REAL challenge in fully online courses - but now with the Announcements blog, overall communciation has greatly improved. plus the students all have their own blogs now too -Bloglines is so easy to use that I have them blog, in addition to building websites for their class project. that way I can subscribe to my students' blogs and keep up with them, being aware of what they are publishing, in a medium that is much more fun than email.
Laura Gibbs, Univ. of Oklahoma
Where and when do you blog?
Typically, I blog in the evening, after I finish the tasks of the day and before I read and go to sleep. It is usually done at home, in my bed
How much time do you spend blogging?
twenty to thirty minutes, two or three times a week,
Do you read other blogs? If so, do you leave comments and return to see what others have said?
I do leave comments and try to return to see what other have said.
In what ways has blogging helped you?
It has allowed me to write through to conclusions. When writing in high school and college, and even now, I need to write to organize my thoughts. Once I am done, I take my conclusion and make it my introduction, because it isn't until the end that I narrow the focus to the important points.
What are the benefits or rewards you receive from blogging?
It has allowed me to connect with other and show just how small the world is.
Where and when do you blog?
Mainly with my classes as a tool for communicating with them online.
How much time do you spend blogging?
Less than I would like...
Do you read other blogs? If so, do you leave comments and return to see what others have said?
Occasionally, but mostly just lurk.
In what ways has blogging helped you?
Given me an online presence with my students.
What are the benefits or rewards you receive from blogging?
Same as above.
Where and when do you blog?
My students blog and I have a personal and school-related blog.
How much time do you spend blogging?
The students blog weekly. We also participated in a blogging experiment with pre-service teachers at UF. I post to my personal blog as time permits, sometimes weekly, sometimes 2-3 times per week.
Do you read other blogs? If so, do you leave comments and return to see what others have said?
I subscribe to a number of blogs, most of which are hobby-related. I definitely read them daily, and I'm interested in what is going on in the community of bloggers.
In what ways has blogging helped you?
My students benefit from the opportunity to share feelings and publish writing for others to read. I enjoy the chance to communicate with people with whom I would never otherwise have the chance. Blogging has also broadened my view and understanding of many topics.
What are the benefits or rewards you receive from blogging?
I've learned about resources for my classroom, references for my graduate research, patterns for my knitting, and the political views of those with whom I agree and disagree. Blogging definitely enriches my life. I hope to explore it further with my students, as well.
How much time do you spend blogging?
Do you read other blogs? If so, do you leave comments and return to see what others have said?
In what ways has blogging helped you?
What are the benefits or rewards you receive from blogging?
Physical location: At home mostly, I read blogs at school but cannot put the energy into writing at school. Web location: Here at elgg with my 'Pair-a-Dimes for Thoughts', and on Wordpress with my 'Practic-all'.
How much time do you spend blogging?
Too much recently. Actually I blog in fits and spurts, and it is hard to measure since right now I have 2 solid ideas for posts and it will be the end of the week before I start putting ink on the screen for one of them. The act of writing would be 0-6 hours in a week, but the hours of reading edu-blogs, and formulating/synthesizing ideas goes well beyond that!
Do you read other blogs? If so, do you leave comments and return to see what others have said?
I will leave comments when I feel I have value to add. I end up putting more comments into one time visits than I do to blogs I return to time and again. When I do comment on one of my blogroll sites I will return and follow along.
In what ways has blogging helped you?
It is cathartic! It allows me to reflect as well as "Synthesize and Add Meaning" to ideas that I have and things that I have read.
What are the benefits or rewards you receive from blogging?
Basically the same answer as above. It let's me have a 'conversation' about education whenever I please. I've always been reflective, but blogging has added a new dimension to how I reflect. It is more creative, interactive, and perhaps metacognitive.
Where and when do you blog?
- Usually at nights, at home. Sometimes at work or at the library. I also use to write in a notepad to put after online.
How much time do you spend blogging?
- 2 hours a day (writing and reading)
Do you read other blogs? If so, do you leave comments and return to see what others have said?
- Of course! we have to maintain the blogosphere! I think that is the interesting and interactive part.
In what ways has blogging helped you?
First of all to improve my blogging knowldge (how to blog, etc.) but also
- I learn new points of view about using technology in education every day, in every blog, in every comment...
What are the benefits or rewards you receive from blogging?
- mmm... Ii'm not sure... for the moment I'm getting informed about using blogs in education to develop a reseacrh about it. It is my aim.
Where and when do you blog?
Usually late at night when my own kids are in bed or at other times during the evening while my kids are doing homework or watching a movie.
How much time do you spend blogging?
For each blog post, I usually try to spend no more than a half hour - If I spend more time than that, it ends up being too "wordy" and I'm afraid that nobody will want to spend the time reading it.
Do you read other blogs? If so, do you leave comments and return to see what others have said?
I read quite a few blogs, but have to admit, I am not very good about leaving responses - which I think is helpful to the writer - it gives them purpose for their writing. I am usually very curious though, and do read the comments that others leave.
In what ways has blogging helped you?
Blogging helps me to reflect on things that I have done, ways that I have taught, methods I have used that have worked or have not worked. It helps me to document successes and then return to those things the following year, when I'm teaching and I get into a tough spot, and don't remember what I have done to remedy the situation before, I usually go back to my blog and see what I was doing the year before and it all comes back to me.
What are the benefits or rewards you receive from blogging?
Blogging is almost therapeutic for me. It really helps me to be able to think through and process the decisions that I make instructionally and professionally. It's sort of my quality control.
Chris,
This is a really fascinating set of comments, a valuable little piece of research. I would be ever so grateful if you were to share a summary of your findings on your blog, which I do enjoy reading.
Hi,
i teach 5th grade in the great state of Michigan.
1. I have a class blog and blog everyday.
2. I am hooked on blogging. I spend at least 45-60 minutes a day writing mine and reading others.
3. I am in the middle of redesigning my class and how I teach. It's been great being able to read ideas of other like minded people from all around the world. I am not very articulate so I was never one to share my thoughts for fear of embarrassing myself. But just recently, I read in a blog, someone suggesting that if you are a blogger you need to start commenting on other blogs, as a way to grow so I am starting here.
Blogging has help me in a variety of ways. It has given me a great vehicle to connect with not only my students but with their parents. I was amazed at all the positive feedback I received at parent teacher conferences. Its also allowed me to try lots of different things in the classroom I wouldn't have been able to do without it. The kids love it and comment on what I and they write all the time. I have recently started podcasting with my students and that's working out really well too.
I enjoy the creativity it allows me. I can try things through it that were never possible before. I feel I've gotten to know my students better thought their participation in the blog and I am excited about all the things I haven't thought of yet to try.
Where and when do you blog?
Pretty much anywhere that I can find the time and connectivity.
How much time do you spend blogging?
Hard to say - at least 5-10 hours a week.
Do you read other blogs? If so, do you leave comments and return to see what others have said?
Yes, constantly - my feeds are humming and I do return.
In what ways has blogging helped you?
Networking - I have met so many outstanding educators through blogging.
What are the benefits or rewards you receive from blogging?
Personal validation; a wide voice; feedback from the world.
Where and when do you blog?
I blog at home, in my study on my iBook, usually one or two mornings a week, and sometimes late at night.
How much time do you spend blogging?
It depends. When I am in throes of teaching, I need to blog to sort out and reflect on what is happening with my class. Yet that's also when my time is most restricted.
When I'm thinking and figuring out how to do something, I like to "think online". I did that once a couple of years ago about a course I was designing and got very helpful feedback.
Do you read other blogs? If so, do you leave comments and return to see what others have said?
My Bloglines list is WAY too long. I do leave some comments, but I'm not very good at going back to check them out. I like the way Elgg can be set up to automatically alert me about comments.
In what ways has blogging helped you?
As mentioned before, it's a space to think and reflect, much like a journal, but with a sense of audience! I think the social aspect is very important, and sometimes the very specific suggestions in comments can be a great help.
What are the benefits or rewards you receive from blogging?
The sense of community. When I look at my Elgg Friends, from many parts of the world, or the Google Analytics map of my readers for my other blog, WebToolsForLearners, I'm thrilled that I have these connections. The same with the blogs I link to and read. Someone in Florida names and describes something that helps me understand my world here in (now) snowy Ontario! Wonderful!!
Where and when do you blog?
Where there is a wireless conncection giving me Internet access. When? Depends - varies...
How much time do you spend blogging?
Reading or writing? Reading - an hour a day? Writing? Hard to say - I do it as a part of my work as a teacher
Do you read other blogs? If so, do you leave comments and return to see what others have said?
Yes - I read many blogs regurarly - using Bloglines to help me keep track. Yes like now I often comment
In what ways has blogging helped you?
It is a way of spreading and getting ideas.
What are the benefits or rewards you receive from blogging?
I like to share - I believe in sharing!