Exploring educational use of blogs

In Wang’s paper (2008), he gives a brief introduction of the origin and development of Blogs, also about the advantages and disadvantages. EduBlogs is introduced here about its usage, and some examples used in US classroom education.

Comparing with other internet tools, a blog has some common features: first of all, it is simple for any users to create. One can create his own weblog without any knowledge about HTML or RSS and can publish instantly to websites. It is easily kept up by oneself and this cost nothing but time. As well, one can give comments on others or receive others’ response through the “commenting” function on most blogs. Besides, the “linking” function is one of the distinguishing characteristics through which one can share songs, video and any other published works on net. In spite of its obvious advantage in engaging people in sharing information as well as knowledge and also in giving reflection, blogs also have some downsides, such as inaccuracy of information, intellectual property issues, and the volatile nature .
With the development of blog, it is now being widely used in a variety of ways ranging from journalism and publishing, to personal and the educational use of blogs.
According to Wang’s research, the cooperative learning through blogs do increase learners’ confidence and gain positive interdependence from the group project, and most can benefit from instant peer feedback and support. Also, social skills have been improved from working effectively with others. On the other hand, learners indicate that face-to-face interaction contributes more in promoting their success.

Here are some examples in US K-12 education:

using blogs in scholarship in higher education (http://teachable.org/blog) in which some news is provided about research findings, tools, and other interesting items about online teaching and learning;

Using blogs in instruction like some professors' blogs as a teaching and learning resource, from which students can get the latest news about the professor's experience and research program, also can get the electronic format of the lectures and share with others.