Our discussion topic for this session is , "Blogging versus Threaded Discussions in Online Learning"
Please take into consideration the following guidelines prior to participating in the conversation.
Please take into consideration the following guidelines prior to participating in the conversation.
- Postings should be a minimum of one short paragraph and a maximum of three paragraphs.
- Avoid postings that are limited to "I agree," or "Great idea," and similar other comments. If you agree or disagree with a posting, say why by supporting your statement with concepts from the readings or by bringing in an example or experience.
- Address the questions on topic as much as possible, staying on topic.
After you have had an opportunity to complete the readings and other pieces of information provided, please consider the following questions when posting a response to the topic.
1. Which tools have you used in your teaching or learning? What do you feel are some advantages and disadvantages to each?
2. Which online collaborative tool would be more likely to provide greater opportunities for critical thinking? Defend your answer with evidence from the readings.
3. Which tool do you believe would elicit better participation from students? If you believe there is no difference, why not? Does one create a stronger online community than the other?
I think that both tools offer opportunities for critical thinking. But, as “markobooko” says in his video about online discussion forums, threaded discussions can tend to have a top-down approach, where participants simply post their responses to a question posed. Cameron and Anderson state that “One of the surprises uncovered in our studies…with regards to computer conferencing was the relative low rate of the final, application phase of critical thinking (Garrison et al., 2001). “ About blogs, on the other hand, they state, “…Since contributions (to blogs) may be made in a more public context, they are more likely to be read and tested by others who are removed from this artificial domain of higher education…” which, in turn, almost forces more thought about what one posts.
ReplyDeleteI have not used a blog in my training situations, but have been forced to use a company Wiki, which, despite allowing multiple authors and versions of documents (or because of that), became a confusing wall of documents that many people got lost in, and ended up avoiding.
I feel that a blog would elicit better (and higher quality) student participation than a threaded discussion might. It’s easy to get lost or overwhelmed in a threaded discussion; it often doesn’t feel like a real discussion, and instead, can consist of required postings that focus on quantity, to fulfill a requirement. A blog, on the other hand, helps keep participants on topic by responding to the original post and/or to others’ responses to it; allows them to easily connect and respond to any of the participants without sorting through an entire wall of text; and enables them to sort and catalog topics.
Interesting ideas Heidi! Do you think you'll try to incorporate a blog in training situations at work in the future?
DeleteUntil today, my experience with blogs has been limited. Primarily I have read them, but never posted to them. Most of my online learning experience has used threaded discussions, with mixed results. As noted by the articles, threaded discussions have been teacher/instructor directed without much opportunity to interact with the other students or veer from the intended topic/questions. While we were allowed to pose questions to the other students, we could not stray too far. There was also less wiggle room for student directed learning since the topic was already set.
ReplyDeleteWeblogs appear to offer a number of opportunities for critical learning/thinking. As mentioned in the Cameron and Anderson article (2006), weblogs offer learners an opportunity to explore and reflect—giving students time to “explore a topic before responding, potentially leading to a more complex level of discussion”. As a space that generates new ideas and interaction among a wide audience, blogging “has the potential to teach learners how to learn”. It first blogging is about reading (the posts of others or exploring new ideas) as well as reading what is important and interesting to the student, which is generally what gets us stoked about learning.
While I am not a web-tech, there seem to be a number of tools that can elicit more participating in blogging/online learning such as polls or voting. I like the idea of polls as part of a blog to allow individuals to respond to different questions and get involved in a different way—engage their brain and be a part of the conversation. Voting on what issues they see as the most significant or what ideas they liked presented.
Annie, Do you think that you'll approach blogs in the future with greater critical thinking skills after reading these pieces or have you felt this way before? I always thought of blogs are more casual but this has shown me how to look at them in a different light now....
DeleteI agree that I will be looking at blogs with a more critical eye. Previously, I saw blogs as more personal accounts of activities and less as a teaching tool. Based on the readings, it appears as though they are more constructive.
DeleteI actually run three blogs. One has 2000+ visitors a month. Another pulls in 100 visitors a month. And then we used my FOBL Outloud blog in Session 1 of this course. My sense was that the discussions in FOBL Outloud have been more organic in nature. More authentic. Do you feel the same?
ReplyDeleteI'd have to agree Len. I think that the discussions outloud in the other Howling are more organic and authentic because it's a different thought process going into and maybe less pressure to have so much written. Students think critically about the topic ahead and make it more concise and relevant since it's spoken out loud and you can't keep typing as your brain processes more thoughts.
Deletehttp://connectedprincipals.com/archives/6431
ReplyDeleteThe above link is to an article discusses a study that found educational blog writing tends to be more personal and discussion threads more academic. When learning becomes social, the learner’s motivation increases; which is why the FOBL Outloud responses seemed more organic. Introducing both platforms during a course is beneficial because it exposes students to different types of written collaboration, and allows the instructor to steer a topic towards either a personal or academic toned discussion.
In my blogthread (the mix of both formats I'm sort of using right now in my 8th grade class), I try to incorporate both academic and personal in the same prompt. For example, this was a question students responded to recently: What dangers does "Trurl's Machine" suggest often accompany ignorance? Give an example from your own life about the dangers of ignorance.
DeleteShannon and JJ, I really like what you're saying about the personal connection and social aspects of these writing tools. A personal connection to what you're writing is always going to motivate someone more..Do you find that this is true in your experiences? What happens when they don't feel that connection though, how to make it work?
DeleteI've been experimenting with blogging in college courses and in my middle school language arts class. In college recently, I created a blog/portfolio as part of my Social Media class and I had two issues with it: I don't like the blog platform that I used (Blogger) and I have not created a habit of contributing to it.
ReplyDeleteIn my middle school classroom, I created a blog via Blogger but used it more as a discussion thread. My intention is for the blog thread to introduce students to the notion of blogging and making meaningful comments. Then they will create their own blogs during poetry month (April). There were some problems with my first classroom blog exercise: kids' responses weren't submitting and there was another issue in which a student submitted something too personal. While I moderated comments and felt that her comment was acceptable, she changed her mind a week after I had accepted it and, well, let's just say the student learned a lesson about the immediacy and publicity of blog writing.
I would agree with Rovai (2007), who proposed "the goal of online courses should be to create a learning environment that fully motivates and empowers learners to be active in their learning, exchange positive communication with others, and feel engaged/moved by the course. This is how learning becomes social and truly motivating." So far, my students are very engaged in writing online. It has increased our sense of community as all of the 8th grade classes are viewing the same blog and comments...pretty cool!
JJ, Love that you're using these in your classes! Do you think that blogging has helped make some of the shy students who wouldn't share as much outloud, more comfortable? Do you think it would be the same if set up like Canvas and more of a discussion thread? I agree that the sense of community is key - just curious if you think it would change at all if you used a different medium?
DeleteHi JJ,
DeleteI think that it is great that you are exposing your middle schools students to blogging in the classroom; how long have you been doing that? I'm sure it is difficult to teach middle schools students how to create blogs, do you have other teachers or a teacher assistant to help assist you?
In my line of work, I have not used online discussion or blogs for teaching. I have yet to blog but I do have experience in discussion boards, they are used heavily by online instructors. I think the disadvantages of both are that they can become lengthy and lack quality contribution if left unattended and are not properly set up or staged.
ReplyDeleteDiscussion boards lead to more critical thinking because according to James Bauer, threaded discussions are more academic and less personal which is the opposite for blogs. Threaded discussions that are set up with a leader that facilitates the discussion with clear direction and strategically thought out follow up questions, would undoubtedly elicit more student participation. But this participation does not necessarily create a community according to Clarke and Kinne’s research. This research indicates that threaded discussions create less of a community. Maria Galanis used Powtoon in her youtube video to show how blogs support four primary areas. Two of those areas, reflecting and sharing, create a greater sense of community among participants.
Linda, I agree with the length issues in both platforms in online classes. What do you think we can do to help trim down the responses to shorter and well thought out posts?
DeleteTrue, I think the success of both blogs and discussion boards lies with the person managing it. In the first instance, it would the author and the second, the facilitator. If they let anything and everything to be published then it would be a disaster. What I like about blogs is that the author can read the posts and decide whether to accept or not. This is not possible in discussion threads.
DeleteAlso Linda, I tend to think that discussion boards do not allow for creativity only because they are restricted by the facilitator's expectations. By this I mean, the content of discussion threads are all devoted to a topic suggested by the facilitator. Blogs are more personalized and allow us more freedom.
I personally haven’t used either discussion boards or blogs as a teacher. As a student I have only participated in discussions boards until this very discussion. Some discussion boards I have been involved with have been very informative and successful. Others I find unengaging and boring. I get tired of reading the same things over and over. I am also guilty the do the required posting and not returning to the discussion. Some advantages are, all the information is in one spot, get to know your classmates and their stances on topics, and seeing opinions/ideas that make you think about topics in a different way. Disadvantages for me are, overwhelmed by amount of post, repeating of information, posting and not returning, and personally I can get bored just reading text.
ReplyDeleteBlogging can provided opportunities for critical thinking because it is more open ended then discussion boards. Typically discussion boards take on a “top-down approach” (Mark Fullmer) and can be more of a “call and respond” (Mark Fullmer) type of learning environment. Blogs allow more freedom to students to explore information and how they want to present that information. Blogging can cause students to “link their meaning of academic material to their own lives and experiences” (James Bauer). Discovering those connections can spark critical thinking and may help students become more engaged in learning.
I believe that blogging can evoke better participation from students because of the personal connection that is involved. In the videos and articles they talk about how blogging is more personal and allows students to have ownership of their learning. “Blogs are personal, learner focused tools that are designed for learner directed and orchestrated activity” (Cameron & Terry: Comparing Weblogs to Threaded Discussion Tools in Online Educational Context). I think a learner focused environment or tool will help students feel a sense of accountability and ownership of what they are learning. Just like in a regular classroom students need to have an interest and ownership in their learning or else they might lack motivation to do the work. Any way you can make academic work relatable to leaners on a personal level I feel like the better outcomes you will get. According to the research given it sounds like blogging gives a better sense of community than threaded discussions. James Brauer said students “felt more engaged and personally connected to others by engaging in discourse through blogging” and “Learners process information based upon their shared experiences with others.” I agree with him that learners process information based on shared experiences with others, you feel more connected to students that may have the same interest or have gone through similar experiences hence creating a sense of community.
Amy, How did you feel about the audio posting in the other Howling this week as a different platform of expressing your ideas? Do you think that makes it easier or harder to keep engaged and want to return back and respond?
DeleteJennifer, Not being a text-lover myself, I immediately listened to every post on the other Howling. However, when I got to this Howling, I started reading and almost immediately got a feeling of being overwhelmed with the volume of content that was still before me.
DeleteAmy, I like what you said about a personal connection when using blogs. It is always much easier for me to be engaged when I feel a personal connection. I will do almost anything to engage my students and keep them engaged, but I'm still not convinced that a blog is the way to accomplish that.
DeleteHi Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI am really enjoying the audio post discussion this week. I personally do feel more engaged and like to hear the inflections in peoples voices. I think it takes the same amount of time to respond in an audio way as it does typing but I like that I get to hear what people are saying and it feel a little bit more personal. However I could see how some people would rather respond via text. We all learn different so options are always good!
My first exposure to blogs was last semester when I took INTE 5665. Social Media & Digital Culture. Prior to taking this course, I had viewed a blog or two, but I had never commented on a blog or created my own blog. One of assignments consisted of creating a blog; other assignments included creating blog posts and responding to my peers blog posts.
ReplyDeleteSome of advantages of blogging include building trust online, improving your writing skills, providing immediate feedback, learning more about people, building a network, improving your SEO, gaining knowledge, and it can be used for business purposes. Some disadvantages are lack of privacy, people may leave inappropriate and rude comments, and it's time consuming. I haven't touched my blog since I've completed that course. I haven't spent much time promoting, therefore I don't have much of an audience. I suppose that my blog will become of use one day.
Some advantages of threaded discussions is that they are interactive and add variety. I like the structure of threaded discussion forums. One thing that frustrates me about threaded discussion forums is when there are too many threaded responses. I love when instructors place students in groups for threaded discussions.
So now that you have used both, at least a little bit, which do you think would promote greater critical thinking for you? Is one vs the other more personal and a better fit for your educational learning purposes?
DeleteHi Jennifer,
DeleteThreaded discussions provide promote greater critical thinking for me, but it depends on the instructor who is teaching the course. I've taken courses that included threaded discussions that didn't require any thought. I feel that the role of the instructor in promoting critical thinking is important.
I think that blogs are more personal than threaded discussions. Threaded discussions are definitely a better fit for my educational learning purposes. I am not a huge fan of blogs.
I have used discussion boards as a learner, but have not used them in teaching. I have kept a personal blog and am familiar with the process. Discussion boards allow for more guidance from the instructor, but limit creativity. Blogging allows for much more self-expression, but runs the risk of going stagnant if not properly maintained.
ReplyDeleteI think discussion boards provide greater opportunities for critical thinking than blogging. Some students are not hard-wired for critical thinking. It is not something they would naturally do. I think discussion boards provide the structure needed to encourage critical thinking. As stated in the article, Comparing Weblogs to Threaded Discussion Tools in Online Educational Contexts, “cognitive presence needs to develop within a collaborative environment in which triggering ideas are introduced, explored through discussion, then integrated and finally resolved through application.”
I believe blogging would elicit better participation from students than discussion boards. When one maintains a blog, there is a sense of ownership and pride in the product. It is not just a response to a question or a comment on a thread. It is a reflection of how the student sees their world. However, I think the discussion board creates a stronger online community than blogging because the focus is on discussion with their peers.
I have used discussion boards in my teaching and as a learner I have used both discussion boards and blogs. I find that discussion boards are limited in perspective and students participate because they have to. As a personal example, I spent quite a lot of time researching a topic and creating a blog post than posting a response on a discussion board. I also feel that the discussion board posts are lost due to many reasons like too many students, irrelevant comments etc. Students often do not read every single post and amidst scores of posts a good post gets buried. While a blog is personal and it allows the writer to come up with a topic to focus on and elaborate on it. Good blogs thrive because of the effort of the author and because he/she spends time choosing a relevant topic. Since it is handled by one author, he/she can spend time to read the posts and respond to the person.
ReplyDeleteAs far as discussion boards are considered, I think they can be effective only when the facilitator expresses his/her expectations in clear terms; keep an eye on the postings; see to it that students respect each other etc. Personally, I did not have much success with discussion boards because students were often intimidated to give their take on a topic. As the article suggests “ [Discussion topics] facilitates social presence if one is comfortable in exposing and hopefully developing themselves in an educational context, but can be intimidating and even repressive to the expression of one’s real self” (p. 4). That said, I tend to think that there should be balanced mix of tools when thinking about engaging students and motivating them to participate.