It's likely that the majority of students associate blogging with leisure and their social life rather than academic courses. However, increasingly, blogging is being seen as a way of encouraging writing and it's an inescapable truth that the more you are obliged to marshal your thoughts within the discipline of writing, the better you will be in that skill or should be. In the words of Edward Murrow(1908-1965), the famous American radio broadcaster:
"The newest computer can merely compound at speed, the oldest problem in relations between human beings and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem of what to say and how to say it."
What to say?
This quote heralds in what I want to say next. That is, blogging gives you an opportunity to "confront' what you have learnt and may raise concerns that you ( and other students) were only mildly conscious of before. Consider this quote by John Dewey (1859-1952), the philosopher, educational reformer and psychologist:
"There is more than a verbal tie between the words common, community and communication. Try the experiment of communicating with fullness and accuracy, some experience to another, especially if it is somewhat complicated, and you will find your own attitude towards the experience changing."
Such communication has the added advantage of strengthening ties within your blogging group and everyone knows it's easier to learn in a close, supportive classroom environment than amongst strangers. Communication has to be two ways of course so group members must give feedback and comment on their fellow bloggers publications.
Finally, I hope to get some feedback on your reaction to this course ands also insight into how you are faring.
To end with a quote from Marcel Proust(1871-1922), the novelist: "we are healed of a suffering only by expressing it to the full." Or as we used to say more prosaically back in my home town in Birmingham, England, "a trouble shared is a trouble halved."
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
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