Upon introducing myself to my peers in an online course, I discussed my new use of a personal blog and the reasons for me beginning such an endeavor. Our instructor questioned in one posting by asking “…have you found that blogs can be applied as an instructional tool to “…facilitate the acquisition of knowledge” (Palloff and Pratt, p. xv).”
This indeed was one of my initial reasons for starting a blog. A presenter at a recent conference spoke to the fact that he believed he had learned more in a year of blogging then in his academic career (Brent Schlenker). His enthusiasm for the method was contagious and inspired several conference attendees to venture into the blogosphere as well.
The blogosphere (by wiki.com definition) is extremely important in that it explains the robust collaborative, social, and cultural network that develops between individual blogs. Most authors of blogs tend to read, comment, and link to other blog postings. In essence they build upon one another’s thoughts, expanding ideas and concepts as each new author posts to their blog. Often authors present questions to one another as well as on ideas that they have generated or to concepts that they are investigating.
A blog certainly can act as a great repository for the information that I come across and collect. Frequently I search around the internet looking at websites, reviewing RSS feeds and reading other bloggers postings. In doing this I am seeking out new elearning tools, concepts and developments that may of be of interest to myself. These items I can then summarize or link to for future reference. In finding several key blog authors I have also been able to utilize them almost as libraries of information for items that they have found significant and interesting.
References
Blogosphere. (2007, April 30). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:38, May 15, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blogosphere&oldid=127017030
Palloff, R.M. & Pratt, K. (2003). The Virtual Student. A Profile and Guide to Working with Online Learners. San Francisco: Jossey Bass
Schlenker, Brent. Corporate eLearning Strategies and Development. Phoenix, Arizona. http://elearndev.blogspot.com/