POD asked asked us to answer a few questions and it could enter us in to the competition for a job interview. OOOOOOOHHHHH! well i consent for the job interview you can post my content where ever you like, i mean that's kind of the point of some of the questions, privacy, but we will get to that.
Why blog as a student?Blogging is seen to be the undertaking of geeks and those with many of their friends far away, but it can be a useful reflection tool and can aid learning. Students often begrudgingly undertake blogging mainly because they are being forced to by an academic, but i think some student's really do cherish the opportunity to express themselves both to their tutor and to others if they wish.
Students will often find themselves saying things that they would not normally say to tutors and lectures in face to face sessions, which is both dangerous and a blessing. These thoughts that the students have while reflecting on the work they are doing, do help them, whether they like it or not. Reflection is prove in psychology to help people's development, both of expression and of what they are reflecting on [citation needed]. Furthermore, they may say something that they have never thought of before whilst ranting on in their blog, which could optimize their process in the subject, in the university or beyond.
Students also have a chance to vent their frustrations, which again could be dangerous, but by and large is harmless and just gets the anger off their chest and then they should be more able to undertake in learning more effectively because they aren't as angry about a stupid tutor, or a daft assignment, or the exorbitant cost of parking.
What are the costs and benefits?COSTS:
Time: It takes ages to write a good blog, and if you are writing frequently that time multiplies out a lot. The time it takes could be used actually studying on something else.
People finding out what you really think: people tend to show their discuss a lot in student blogs, at least in the ones i read, and it is possible that the person that is the object of the dislike could find out about the dislike and get offended. This is even possible if they are restricted in viewing the blog, someone who is no restricted could email the content or print it out. This could be dangerous for the blogger's career at the university and also insult some people.
Privacy: There are lots of concerns on who can read blogs, there is no standard for who is and who is not allowed to view them. How personal are they? A blogger could easily have their privacy breached and not know it. The nature of the internet is such that it encourages redundant information, people want control over their thoughts, see intellectual property lawsuits.
Some students don't like it: Some students would rather be given an assignment than write a blog, maybe this is because they struggle to open up, they just don't like writing about themselves or any other reason. Many people would prefer just not to do them, and some do!
BENEFITS:
Venting: students get a chance to vent their spleen about what ever they like, and this has a hole bunch of benefits, such as relief, comfort and the fact they get it off their chest and don't have it burning in side of them.
Efficiency: writing a blog may seem like a waste of time for some but they underestimate the importance on reelecting on what they have done. If they look back on what they have done they can think of ways they could have done it better, that means that the next time they do it they will do it better. The blogging experience encourages them to rethink what they have done and thus, re-engineer their processes.
Remembering: If you write down what you have done, you are more likely to remember it. Remember wrote learning in school (i don't, they stopped doing that when i went to school) (maybe you don't remember because you weren't good at it), well it worked, it was boring and repetitive, but it works. Making people go over things again makes them remember it, it's a proven thing, you can ask any text book and they will agree. Remembering what they did could come in handy on the exam, who knows??
Cost: Well blogging is cheap, it doesn't cost the university anything, really (other than internet and paying for someone to read them), so that's an upside. Other learning activities cost much more than blogging, such as assignments and tutorial and their associated preparation.
Does it help your learning, how?As mentioned above there are costs and benefits to blogs, but undoubtedly in the vast majority of cases it does aid learning. The real question is whether the time could be better spent doing a different learning activity.
The real problem is time vs learning. Is the time spent while blogging worth it for the learning that is done. Can the same amount of learning be done quicker by another method? I think so, but they all cost more money, i think tutorial work adds more practical understanding of the subject and vastly aids the development of the student. But the type of knowledge they gain is different. So i think blogging should be combined with a wide range of other activities. It is important to note that everyone learns differently, especially with the mixture of students from around the globe at the university. So blogging is a very good complimentary tool to conventional university lecture/tutorial structure.
What “rules” apply to blogging?NONE! There is no formal set of rules set up for blogging yet. Perhaps, i should make some...
1. don't talk about blogging
2. don't talk about blogging
3. don't talk about blogging
sorry about the fight club reference. I honestly think there should not be rules about blogging, why should there be. If somebody wants to say something they should be able to say it. It's all about the free speech, i think that the only free speech that should be restricted is people who talk against free speech (note: that's a joke).
What is fair and appropriate language and content?I think if they are willing to write it then it should be okay. As long as the blogger is aware of what the implications are of their content it should be okay. Obviously normal laws must apply, ie: pornography because they could get in trouble with that. The general university rules are probably the best guide for what is unacceptable and acceptable behavior. I don't agree with a lot of them but everyone has signed up to them already so they should abide by them.
this is starting to sound confusing, i think, which is the great thing about blogging, it's informal and i don't have to delete anything i write i can just apologize for it. But the real point is that if you wouldn't say it to the people who you are making the blog viewable to their face maybe you should think twice about saying it in the blog. Although it must be said that the stuff that isn't normally said face to face is the best thing about blogs, how they are free to say what they like in a wild west kind of way, minus the sheriff.
For example, is it OK to slag off about poor lecturers, lecturing?Of course, just like in real life you can go up to somebody and say "damn that was a boring class today, what is
on about" it could be private between mates. Although in cyberspace things can get passed around and you can get in trouble for something you said either in jest or in private. But really, this could happen in real life too, the lecture could overhear your conversation and could get in trouble.
In conclusion, blogging is good, it aids learning, it is cheap and the risks about privacy and the lawless nature of the blogosphere are outweighed by the benefits of ranting.
