[Air-l] Blogging basics?

[Alex Halavais]

I think there are reasons blogs *can* be progressive (leaving aside
any grand "progress" narratives). In their most innocuous application,
they merely provide a way for students to hand in work electronically
-- i.e., as a replacement for email. But when they incorporate some of
the values often found among bloggers, I think they can lead to
progressive uses:

1. They allow a person to orient her own learning and better set the
agenda of that learning, rather than centering it on the prof, the
class-time, or the class-place.

2. They make the university and academic communication among faculty,
students, and the public more transparent, potentially drawing in a
more diverse set of opinions, experiences, and objectives.

3. They encourage not only engagement in the university by a wider
community, but engagement in the community by students. When students
recognize their work is serving more than just the professor
(including their peers and others), they take a more active role in
participating in those wider groups.

Sure, these ideals are not always (or even often) actualized, but
blogs at least invite the possibility.

Alex


--
//
// Alexander Halavais
// Graduate Director of Informatics
// University at Buffalo School of Informatics
// http://alex.halavais.net
//