Blogging for Authentic Communication

Blogs can be a motivator for students, and a challenge for teachers. Blogging pulls on students intrinsic motivation by giving them a place for authentic written communication with their peers. For teachers, blogging with students can be a challenge because it requires establishing a community in a new medium, and can increase the frequency and level of written communication between teacher and student. Teachers must model how to use blogs appropriately and effectively by becoming an active blogger with his or her students. This requires reading, thinking and writing thoughtful feedback on their work.
Konrad Glogowski voices his thoughts on this topic as he plows through pages and pages of student blog entries while working on his PhD thesis on how blogging communities are used in education. Check out his Blog of Proximal Development, which is an all around good read. Of particular interest to me is his reflection on the Teacher as Blogger and how blogs force teachers to take on a new voice in a blogging community; moving away from 'grader' and towards 'co-creator'. A teacher’s voice may change and develop from one of authority to one of reflective co-learner. This pushes the teacher to be a facilitator of community in an online environment. Students will come away with the abilities to read, write, and respond thoughtfully, but only because the teacher is modeling this for them.