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Student Blogging: Classroom without Borders

Humbly apologize for the week-long content drought here. I had to seek other avenues to earn some monies via some side projects I am currently doing. This is one of them. A colleague of mine is going to put some sort of student zine in a university he works for. This piece is going to come out - I think - by next month. Will keep you posted. Comments? Feel free to hang around and read. Violent reactions are welcome.

Student Blogging: Classroom without Borders

Being a well-rounded student on-the-go obliges you to juggle many lives: a badminton player, a movie-going fan, a bookworm, a culinary expert in your own right, a part-time nanny to your younger brother/sister, a nature-loving trekker, or a blogger. Wait. A blogger, you say? Well, yes. Blogging has gone mainstream—thanks to the ‘global village’ the internet has provided us. And this phenomenon has been used not only to chronicle our personal lives, but added more dimension in learning at school as students, as well. Basically, learning has gone online—and FUN at the same time.

But first, a short refresher course. Our friends from Wikipedia defines a blog as, “A weblog (usually shortened to blog, but occasionally spelled web log or weblog) is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles, most often in reverse chronological order.” They are online journals or diaries, used either for public or private purposes. Nature may be personal, work-related, for social interaction or just for the heck of it. Through blogging, you could write basically anything, from how your crush winked at you while bumping into him/her at the corridor to whining how the government sucks up to this day. But how did blogging become a window of opportunity for improving the quality of education? Shouldn’t it be that learning be constricted to the confines of the four corners of the classroom?

Well, that would be true—ten years ago, that is. Accessibility to blogging has reached the fingertips of the students and teachers, alike—wherever, whenever. The convenience, the innovation, the interaction and the fun part while learning – these are but a few perks to enjoy along the way. This is the certain point where students and teachers meet up to engage in a virtual, free-flowing exchange of ideas. Here are but some of the fringe benefits.

Writing

Whether it’s in English or other languages, blogging is a venue for student to flex their writing muscle. While seeing their words published online, they would be motivated even more to write, write and write. Being aware that there is a reading audience aside from the teacher, the student writes carefully, accurately and credibly. Thus, the craft is being improved.

Democratization

As students see what their classmates are posting, they can respond to their work through their comments. This also stimulates discussions freely. It is virtual stage to publicly stage or present a student’s thoughts and opinions.

Building Community

With constant interactions via feedbacks and comments, it is inevitable to build relationships among the group. Friendships arise, at most times. While love flourishes at some point (for those love struck ones). This encourages teamwork and camaraderie, eventually. And with this imparting of experiences and opinions to the outside world, this ‘classroom’ is able to reach out to other members of the community.

Accessibility

No matter where you are or what time you are online, you are able to access or turn in assignments. Yes, you can participate in this kind of classroom discussion even with your pajamas on at 2 in the morning.

Creativity

Of course, you need to stand out from the rest and develop your own identity with that signature ‘voice’ in blogging. This platform gives students that kind of freedom.

Of teacher-student blogs

It is at this juncture that people in the education sector start embracing this learning alternative. Embarking on such initiative is so simple: just set up a blog site, let your pupils join in, post assignments or other topics for discussions and voila! Let the exchange of ideas begin. Realizing that students start to lose interest in the “old school” way of studying, Martin Benedict Perez used blogging as a way to bring back the students’ enthusiasm towards learning in school. As a social studies teacher at the Philippine Science High School and the blogger behind AkoMismo, he shared his love of blogging to his class to realize its benefits while bonding with them at the same time. In his featured interview at PinoyBlogero, he used blogging to connect with his students in three levels, namely: 1) to use the blog to publish announcements, requirements and presentation, for which the blog is an online repository of the material they use in class; 2) to use the blog to explore and discuss issues about the lessons the class takes up. “Since we don’t have the time to explore everything completely, the blog is there for me to hold informal discussions with links to online resources”; and 3) “to use the blog to connect with my students”. He added that blogging “is a great exercise in understanding the responsibility that comes with free speech in a democracy”.

Digital Divide: A Stumbling Block

However, there are some concerns on why blogging hasn’t been utilized by the academe in full gear, accounting to its mistaken notion that is very complicated. This entails apprehension to would-be users. Blogging is deemed “high-tech” and uncomfortable to adapt to. Perez stressed that teachers should embrace the technology with loyalty and dedication to make the method work. Lastly, economic shortfalls somehow veer the students (and teachers, alike) away from getting online. They couldn’t access online since they lack the resources and government funding to experience the exploits this long-overdue technology.

And just like what a student blogger learns, Perez has benefitted more than what he asked for. “Blogging has given me a sense of scale and proportion. It taught me that my words and works can reach many people who I can affect in ways I never imagined. But at the same time, I was taught how to present myself in ways for others to understand me and discover exactly what I’m made of”.

So the next time blogging goes into mind, don’t think twice. Go ahead. Take the plunge. You don’t know what you are missing. You can write it all here: how many badminton games you played the night before, the last movie you watched, the newest good-read book to come out off the bookstore, or your harrowing experience during that recent climb at Mt. Apo. But the best thing about blogging is that you learn a lot in school while having fun—and you get high grades, too!

SOURCES

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/techtorial/techtorial037print.shtml
http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3010.pdf
http://www.pinoyblogero.com/sir-martin-perez-bringing-blogging-classroom/2008/10/04/
http://www.adrianbruce.com/blogging/why_blog/why_blog_with_students.htm
http://supportblogging.com/Educational+Blogging

© 2008 Blournalist.