As a 2005 high school graduate, I spent a lot of my teenage years exploring the burgeoning world of social media.
I experimented with HTML on my MySpace page and posted angsty things on Xanga and LiveJournal. Facebook was in its early stages when I received my Winona State University email address and was able to create an account.
I even currently (attempt to) maintain my own blog regarding my endocrine disorder and failed attempts at weight loss.
However, I have never spent much time considering how blogs could be used to help adult learners synthesize material. Sure, I have friends who teach at the middle and high school level who have used blogs to help their students learn how to write better, but this felt more like what King & Cox referred to as "skills-based" blogging - giving people a set of guidelines to practice their writing, but not focusing on the content (King & Cox, 2011).
My first Master's degree - an MBA I earned in 2014 - was completed 100% online. I became well-versed in posting in discussion forums and knowing how to write a brief but thorough post that fit in with several other students' posts. Replying to their posts required me to be calculated - affirmative but slightly critical, not too vague but not too specific, and posing a question to allow the discussion to continue.
This method may be slightly confining for the typical adult learner. As Knowles said, adults need to be self-directed in how they learn (King & Cox, 2011). Discussion forums give learners a very specific item to address, while giving a general blog topic not only gives the learner the ability to use their own voice a bit more, but also creating a personal space that reflects individuality. By reading others blogs, "students can obtain a sense of how others digest and make sense of Internet materials" as well (Oravec, 2002). Discussion forums are social by nature, but blogs are social by definition. Learning with a blog is "in situ" or socially situated in context (King & Cox, 2011).
Despite the obvious benefits of blogging, adult learners may run into a "digital disconnect" that requires individuals to not only learn the material, but overcome and learn the technical piece in which they may not be well-versed (King & Cox, 2011). Just in writing this initial post, I had to recall some of my HTML knowledge to format things correctly. If I didn't have this previous knowledge, I may have been confused or frustrated. In order to effectively use blogging, students "must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities" (Santos, 2011). Without the comfort level or buy-in, this engagement may be lost.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteAs usual you never cease to amaze me with your technology abilities/experiences.
I agree, discussion boards are confining but blogs allows for personalization and creativity. You mentioned that you once attempted to use a blog for personal endeavors, do you plan on trying again?
Yes, I do! I just need to get rolling on my weight loss journey again - and then I'll feel OK about writing about it. :-)
DeleteMaybe you can recruit a friend to keep you motivated. I just started meal prepping it really helps...
DeleteGood luck!
Maybe you can recruit a friend to keep you motivated. I just started meal prepping it really helps...
DeleteGood luck!
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteYour mention of giving learners more opportunity to “use their voice” and create a “personal space that reflects individuality” is a good description of my personal experience creating the blog for this course. In addition to having the ability to design our own blog page, I think Dr. Kang’s choice of blog topic added to the “freedom.” The topic itself is non-threatening, and lends itself to speaking freely and stating our personal opinions while integrating the course content and expanding our learning.
Your blog also made me envious of your comfort level with using technology! As a learner who is much more comfortable talking in a F2F environment, I continually find myself a bit frustrated and overwhelmed with the amount of time it takes me to write a post. And…..even when it’s done, I don’t feel I’ve expressed myself as well as I would have in- person. “Meeting the requirements for an assignment is always a priority for motivated adult learners and the technical overlay caused a few some angst” (King & Cox, 2011, p.95), describes me well. I’d much rather use my hands to knit than to type, so online learning remains a bit of a challenge for me:)
Reference
Cox T. & King, K. (2011). The professor’s guide to taming technology: Leveraging digital media,
Web 2.0, and more for learning. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteYou make a very good point when you mentioned a “digital disconnect”. While working on a previous response, I had to rewrite the comment twice because I did not understand which button to press immediately. I also commented on the same person’s blog that I commented on two days ago and ended up having to delete my comment. The more we work with technology, like anything else, the more comfortable we become with the product. I consider myself to be descent with technology, but I still find areas where I struggle because I don’t always use it as much as someone that is passionate about using technology. Blogging is apparently something that I need to use more often to be comfortable!
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteYour example of using blogging to share your struggle with your medical condition is a great example of the benefits of blogging in adult education. Informal adult learning is the most prevalent form of adult learning and is characterized as spontaneous, unstructured learning that occurs in everyday life and through various forms of mass media (Coombs, 1985).
I had a friend who was a total “car geek.” He was very knowledgeable on new car technology and was better than most formally trained mechanics. He taught himself by reading and engaging in blogs. This week’s assignment also reminded me of that movie, “Julie and Julia.” The main character attempts to complete all of the recipes in the Art of Cooking while blogging about it in the meantime. Although I prefer discussion boards to blogging in a formal on-line classroom, blogging is a great forum for informal adult learning.
Thanks for sharing!
Jenny
Coombs, P.H. (1985). The world crisis in education: a view from the eighties. New York: Oxford Press.
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ReplyDeleteI totally relate to this: I graduated high school in 2004, and Xanga, MySpace, and LiveJournal definitely bring back some memories.
ReplyDeleteDo you feel like discussion boards might increase the compartmentalization of topics or information more than blogs do? Do you think this might affect connection-making in learning? Blog discussions (and perhaps this is due to the more casual feel that many of our classmates have addressed) seem to open up into topics and feel more fluid or broad. I personally prefer this because I am resistant to rigid learning environments (probably a big reason why I went into the arts), and prefer the more freeform discussions that have been happening on our blogs.
I am not liking how you can't edit Blogger comments :-/
You also might want to consider darkening your text color so that your blog is compliant with WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards. #474747 or darker would pass. Here's a nifty tool for testing hexcodes http://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/
ReplyDelete