Edublogging at BlogHer

BlogHer is about "Do-ocracy," and when the BlogHers are classroom teachers, that means everyone is involved in creating and sharing the knowledge. That was certainly the case at this afternoon's Room of Your Own session on Edublogging. After a brief introduction by the presenters, the session turned to small group discussions focused on sharing tips and tools for leveraging blogging and other Web 2.0 technologies to transform education.

Barbara Sawhill became intrigued by this idea of electronic lego,"and its possibilities in language education. One of the challenges of language education is giving students opportunities to practice language outside of class. She started blogging in her language classroom. Blogging was a tool for getting students to practice, collaborate and connect with each other, and communicate with people in the cultures they are studying. She also runs a professional blog which allows people who run language labs to connect. Laura Blankenship has found blogging an effective teaching tool, and advocates for greater use of blogs in academia. Barbara Ganley uses blogs to help her students connect the Irish literature they study and the literary traditions and contemporary realities of Ireland.

She started blogging with her students and became the guide by the side instead of the sage on the stage. "I am an apprentice to them. They are apprentices to me." She maintains a professional blog. "I'm really interested in changing everything in our learning landscape." She came to BlogHer to learn what people are doing outside of the "Edublogging" field.

Then they wanted to know about us.

There were moms who started edublogging to find resources for their kids. Beth Kanter, for example, used blogging to find Cambodian speakers who could help her Cambodian-born children learn their ancestral language.

Others attendees want to help teachers get involved in the media that JD Lasica talked about the personal media learning center, a repository for people who want to learn how to create their own media. Lasica is hoping to recruit educators. Jaime from Blog Talk radio hopes to start a dialogue about how teachers can get involved in social networks such as MySpace and Facebook.

There was also interest in the role of blogging in academic publishing and scholarship. One attendee noted that some art scholars and critics have shifted much of their writing from journals to blogs. Peer-reviewed scbolarly blogs are emerging as well. Increasingly, blogs are becoming used as research tools at all levels of education, and that raises questions. How do credible scholars and critics ensure that their blogging is respected as professional publishing activity? How can scholars and teachers avoid the pitfalls of the Wikipedia phenomenon, while preserving its advantages?

Equity and access are also important issues for edubloggers. Not all students have equal access to technology. Not all students have been socialized in how to conduct themselves in online spaces. How are learners empowered, and how might learners who are disenfranchised by our current system be empowered?

Then the discussion broke into small groups. Here's just a smattering of the topics that came up during conversations that continued well into lunch:

Faculty development: Participants shared stories about their experiences as advocates for blogging within their institutions. It helps to get buy-in from the top , by doing presentations for your instution's Board of Trustees, for example.

Student development: Participants agreed that students are gravitating to sites such as My Space because they are heard.
Web 2.0 tools and sites such as RateMyProfessor.com offer students and parents the opportunity to advocate for their own educations.

Blogging as a tool for inclusive pedagogy: There was information sharing about sites such as Mixxer, where language learners can practice with accomplished speakers.

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