Blogging!

Blogging!

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What is a BLOG?

It was August of 1999 when google introduced its free blog hosting service called Blogger which is known to have a great influence in accelerating the growth of weblogs. It didn’t take a long time for blogs and the blogging culture to extend into various professional realms, such as journalism, art, education, business, etc. (Richardson, 2009).

According to Will Richardson, “a weblog is an easily created, easily updatable Website that allows an author (or authors) to publish instantly to the internet from any Internet connection. It takes as much skill as sending an e-mail” 

Why?

• Blogging is an excellent way to network with like-minded people and learn with them. 
• It motivates and inspires.
• It is a way to find support.
• It helps us to reflect.
• Blogging is FUN!
• It helps to encourage shy learners to participate.
• It guides learners to online resources appropriate for their level.
• Blogging stimulates extensive and out-of-class learning.

Based on social constructivism “meaning does not exist in its own right” (Robson, 2016, p.26). In fact, knowledge and reality are socially constructed by individuals as they interact (Denzin and Lincoln, 1994:27). Blogs are learner-centered. They provide a platform for collaboration among peers and teachers in a learning community. In the long-term, blogging can result in more autonomy in learners with some scaffolding to become self-aware and reflect. This is because blogs can function as online portfolios that are always easily accessible and referable. Additionally, peers have the opportunity to provide feedback to each other via commenting or discussions in the forum (Richardson, 2009).

Where to start ...

Although there are lots of sites to set up a blog for free, I would recommend Blogger especially if you are new to the blogging world just like me. Working on Blogger requires a minimum of technical know-how. 

Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to post and edit posts on Blogger.

Any Alternatives!?

If you seek more privacy options and your own little community, I have also a suggestion for you, LiveJournal. If you're interested in knowing about features of LiveJournal, then, watch this very short video. 

References

Denzin, N., & Lincoln, Y. (1994). The Sage handbook of qualitative research. 1st ed. Los Angeles:      Sage Publications.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other Blogging as a Means of Professional Development 132 Journal of NELTA, Vol. 16 No. 1-2, December 2011 powerful web tools for classrooms. California: Corwin Press.

Robson, C., and McCartan, K., 2016. Real World Research, 4Th Edition. 1st ed. John Wiley & Sons.