To my
cohorts at K-State Global in our Integrating Tech class, thank you for your
quasi-compulsory patronage.
Our fearless leader, Dr. Kang, asks us if blogging
is the same as discussion board activity, and what the pros and cons are to blogging for us as adult learners.
Are Blog Posts Like Discussion Board Posts?
I can straight-up answer this question with personal experience. I've had social media blogging handles for nigh 15 years, and I've written a handful of blog posts to boot.
For me, discussion-board activities for school are professional
enterprises. I write mostly formally. A blog post, however, is entertainment
writing. A segue in formal writing is along the lines of "Therefore", "first",
"getting back to the question". A segue here might be a one-liner or a pun. I
tend to play with words in a blog post; I do it less in a discussion board post
for school. In my master's program so far, I have found that whittling my
writing down is more challenging than giving, shall we say, a book report.
Grad
school writing is like being told to go collect the best sticks in the forest
and then whittle them into whatever you want to. Then, we all put our heads
together and decide how we can make other people's whittling a little bit
better, simply praise the job, or say, "hey, those 3 sticks you whittled look
great; I'd really like to see 2 more right now."
MacPhail makes the case, using
her (first name Theresa; probable pronoun there) experience that assigning
creative projects personalizable by the individual - in lieu of formal papers -
leads to smarter arguments. In my case, that's for others to judge. I have my ego, so I always think I have a good point. I do agree that posting publicly makes me more likely to try to shape my image, but, really, we do that without Web 2.0, anyway (Baym, 2015).
Ok, but what about ye olde academic literature? Two
studies, one quantitative and one mixed (qual and quant together like Marvel's
Defenders, teaming up despite not always liking each other), paint a picture
that students can perceive blogs as increasing their self-efficacy in their
learning. One of these was a small-sample-size study of African American
students, largely non-traditional, who liked communal learning (Kuo, Y.-C.,
Belland, B. R., & Kuo, Y.-T., 2017). Another got a fairly large sample of UK and
US students and asked them a nice, rounded sample of anchored questions.
(Garcia, E., Moizer, J., Wilkins, S. & Haddoud, M.Y., 2019).
In the afore-cited really cool
book called "Personal Connections in the Digital Age", Baym (2015) argues that people
have the power to shape technology because we have needs. Put plainly,
technology is a tool that we use how we need to, and how tech is perceived comes
after. I agree with her. When I generate a discussion board post, I need to be
word things professionally and formally in the most parsimonious way possible.
In a blog post, I feel the need to add a little flair, a little more me. This is
not to argue that there is not creativity in parsimony. There absolutely
is, as anyone who's tried to distill 5 hours of reading into 500 words on a
Wednesday night after working the first 3 days of the week can attest. The
creativity of a discussion board post is, in my case, in the selection and ordering of content; with a blog
post, I am also molding and discovering a personalized writing style.
Blogging as Coursework: Good and Bad Stuff
The Good Stuff
Blogs encourage expressive freedom. (See: my hodgepodge verbosity in all its... glory?) (MacPhail, 2019).
Personalizing your project might make you try harder. (MacPhail, 2019)
Blogs make you feel super cool cuz "look what I can do!" (Me, not in a formal paper, just now)
People are watching you, and you want to craft that image (Baym, 2015), so you make it count
The Bad Stuff
Frankly, who knows? I have a hard time being very impressed with a study that shows how Web 2.0 usage might have links to our belief in how well we can learn. It makes sense to have a quantitative study keep its internal validity by asking survey respondents how they feel blogging helps them. Garcia and friends (2017) do this very well and in great detail. But, c'mon. Dunning-Kruger, people. Just because we feel like we can and are "doing it" doesn't mean we're really getting the content.
Still, if upon further study, Kuo et al's results can be generalized to people of all skin tones/ethnicities (and did anybody else catch if they said how they determined who was African American? I would think it would be via self-identification, but I might have missed where it was said), feeling like you're having a better learning experience due to communal involvement might keep you in the game. If you keep throwing darts in the dark, you're bound to hit the target eventually, amirite? Let me be clear, dear reader: I'm not saying that you aren't learning better by blogging. What I am saying is, rather self-interestedly, I'm largely in this Master's program for me, and I know I am prone to overconfidence. I don't know if I'm learning better by blogging. I can't do this alone, so I need y'all to call me out if I'm off base.
So, like a lolcat, I'm begging, "I can haz comments, pleaz?"
So, like a lolcat, I'm begging, "I can haz comments, pleaz?"
References:
Baym, N. (2015). Personal connections in the digital age (2nd ed).
Malden, MA: Polity
Garcia, E., Moizer, J., Wilkins, S. & Haddoud, M.Y. (2019).
Student learning in higher education through blogging in the classroom.
Computers & Education, 136(1), 61-74. Retrieved from:
https://www-sciencedirect-com.er.lib.k-state.edu/science/article/pii/S0360131519300776
Kuo, Y.-C., Belland, B. R., & Kuo, Y.-T. (2017). Learning through blogging:
students’ perspectives in collaborative blog-enhanced learning communities.
Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 20(2), 37–50. Retrieved from:
http://search.ebscohost.com.er.lib.k-state.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=122353858&site=ehost-live
MacPhail, T. (2019, April 9). Tell me a smart story: On podcasts, videos, and
websites as writing assignments. Retrieved from:
https://chroniclevitae.com/news/2183-tell-me-a-smart-story-on-podcasts-videos-and-websites-as-writing-assignments?cid=VTEVPMSED1
Hi Michael!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post! Your creativity is not wasted! To be honest, it is what struck me and stood out to me the most about your blog. Maybe that means mine was too formal. Maybe I wasn't able to leave the grad school writing style or afraid to do so for this assignment. I think that leads directly to your claim that blogs are expressive freedom. In conjunction with what you mention, in regards to formal writing, O'Day (1994) mentions "Too often this can become an exercise in artful plagiarism if the student has not practiced with writing as a tool for thinking. Informal, ungraded writing can provide such practice (para. 4). I thought it was worth mentioning not only because it took my by surprise and made me rethink my own post, but because I predict it may be a common theme I am seeing!
O'Day, K. (1994). Using Formal and Informal Writing in Middle School Social Studies. Social Education, 58(1), 39-40.
Hey, thanks for reading, Kiefer! I try to have fun when I write. I don't always know what I'm good at, but I know that I'm good at being me. ;)
DeleteGood call on bringing up the plagiarism thing, too. MacPhail (2019) talks about how it's easier to avoid plagiarism if the student designs a creative project all their own.
My writing style seems to mix a tendency to use trisyllabic words with puns with vocabulary drawn from all of the various types of content I consume and people I talk to. I just use whatever words seem to fit best, upon instinct, off the top of my head, and try to make sure that the audience can follow me. It's a good time, juknow?
If I may, why rethink your own post? You put your heart into it, right? So, add flair to it. We both read Baym, right? The internet is a tool that we can bend to our purposes (Baym, 2015), donchankow?
References:
Baym, N. (2015). Personal connections in the digital age (2nd ed). Malden, MA: Polity
MacPhail, T. (2019, April 9). Tell me a smart story: On podcasts, videos, and websites as writing assignments. Retrieved from: https://chroniclevitae.com/news/2183-tell-me-a-smart-story-on-podcasts-videos-and-websites-as-writing-assignments?cid=VTEVPMSED1
I am 1000000% going to steal that last sentence of your first paragraph! Thanks, Michael!
DeleteDooooo it
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your discussion and enjoy your style. The way you have your blog written, or your creativity as Kiefer mentioned, brings up how more straight forward a discussion board post is compared to blogging. I would imagine it is easier to discuss in a tone that is appeasing to one's self, important and pertinent information when the forum is your own. This is my first time ever blogging and I ran into issues publishing on other blogs.
Though I prefer discussion boards over blogging,mKing & Cox (2011) made me think a little when they elaborated on a student's comment that the "positive influence that blogging had on her requiring her to pay more attention in class since her classmates would be commenting on her writing afterwards," (p.96). I would say this is a pro to blogging!
King, K. & Cox, T. (2011). The professor’s guide to taming technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Thank you so much for your validation, Tricia! :)
DeleteIt really means a plethora. ;)
Something that really bugs me with the research that we read about this past week... It all seemed to focus on student's perceptions of their learning and, well, just because we feel like we are learning doesn't mean that we are. Sometimes, the opposite is true. This doubt vexes me.
I am in this program, in part, to grow in confidence, but I want to KNOW that I know things, not just feel like I know them.
This is, after all, an M.S. program, not a Master of Perceptions program.
My goal is to be as certain as possible, not to feel as good as possible.
After reading to you all. Michael's original post and the reply and the reply of replies. I want to write precisely as you all agree; Blogging is more about freewriting.
ReplyDeleteBlogs and any other social media sounds like a place to "fly freely" type as we think, and we feel, share our skills and knowledge. I am thinking more like a wall for graffiti. I am using the word graffiti. Because here comes a contradiction to my terms. Although graffiti is a place, a media of expression in a pacific way, not everyone thinks graffiti is an art. The artist feels the pride of its work, while others see it as poor world behavior. The same way is any web publication, Blog. Whereas the class board is restrictive, one has the responsibility to present the best of us as professionals; not everyone might agree to our posts, hardly someone will write a contradictory reply. Michael, as you say, school-board sounds more like professional enterprises.
On the other hand, if we are taking Blogging as a wall for art. And use it as a place to present the best of us, using professional writing. Considering, anyone can read us and critique us, and that our post will attract an audience. So, when designing, writing, and posting on a blog, I believe we want to ask what we want to teach others and what we want others to learn from me. And self-reflecting in our purpose, is there an intention other than writing for fun.
In conclusion, I think we can freely write on the school-board and Blog, asking ourselves who our audience is and our purpose.
Thank you, ever so much, for your comment, Liliana!
DeleteI have participated in many Facebook discussions over the years, and I gotta say, there are some very not-bashful people on social media.
To your point, I wonder if it is the very informality of social media that makes commenters feel more approachable.
I have received more comments on this one blog post than I think I have on any of my discussion board posts... ever. This is my 6th class in the program.
Readers would have to tell me why, because I have no clue. I put my heart in to both styles of writing, but for whatever reason, I don't seem to have figured out yet how to make a discussion-board post that engenders discussion.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteYou have a knack for capturing a readers attention and something I wish I had in my kit bag. Your block site is not the first one created I'm sure because you certainty have the appearance of a seasoned veteran! I am curious though considering what the main argument for this blog was is there a difference between blogging and discussion boards. I agree discussion boards are meant for academic writing in a formal classroom where blogs are more aligned with exploring ideas in using informal writing practices. I struggle with why an educator would use both in a formal classroom. However, I believe blogging may assist with the ability of a writer to publish formally by capturing the attention of a reader. Thank you Mike, for publishing this blog because I feel like an apprentice learning from the master!
Thank you so much for two things, Jason.
DeleteFirst, thank you for your moral support and validation! I just try to have fun with my writing and consider my writing as a communication exercise.
Second, thank you very much, truly and deeply, for asking me for clarification. I didn't state clearly my stance on the first question, and you were right to point it out!
I re-read it and I think... I should've written a "lede" with my answer and then gone into the explanation. My answer is that they are as similar as apples and oranges... Same general category, obvious important differences.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading through your blogpost. It was refreshing to see a non-academic style of writing which alos made reconsidering my own post. I feel that writing research articles for academic purposes has tuned my brain to write (and speak) in a very formal tone. This could perhaps be one reason why I shy away from writing. I always feel that I am being judged or graded for it. However, blogs are certainly supposed to act as a place that allow you express yourself a little more casually.
Thank you for reading!
DeleteCan I let you in on a little secret? I always feel like my writing is formal.
I mean, I know that I add informal elements in because, honestly, this is how I talk. I've been always been told that my writing has a lot of voice. I've never really understood that... It seems like such a vague term to me... But, what I mean is that formal writing is, shall we say, intentional. Even when I'm writing blog posts, I'm constantly making choices, questioning them, editing in my brain, even as I playfully write.
When I'm really on the ball, I edit for structure and clarity.
I also check myself for grammar, punctuation, deciding when and where I want to push the envelope of writing conventions, etc. So, yes, my writing contains informal elements, and it's really for the reader to interpret, through their own perception, how my writing comes off.
DeleteStill, I feel like the act of making choices, editing, referring to external sources (even if I'm just doing so by posting hyperlinks within the text), makes the writing formal in my mind, to an extent.