Discussion 1: Blogging Education

          Blogs are parts of Web 2.0 technologies. There are several types of blogs such as personal, business, and organization.  Blogging is not new in education. However, educators utilize blog differently. For examples, teachers may use blogs as a teaching and learning tool while administrators and staff may use blogs as communication and marketing tools. It is undeniable that blogs have a great impact in education. Examples of positive impact of blogging in education include:

•  Easy to use
• Grate tool for document learning process
• Fostering reflective analytical, and critical thinking,
• Encouraging collaboration among students
• Knowledge sharing
• Improving writing competency
•  Easy access anytime anywhere

          As an educator, I believe time and effort are the most challenging of blogging in education. If the class is small, it is easier for teachers to manage all reading and giving feedback. However, it is time consuming for planning, reading, providing feedback, and grading for the larger class. It is difficult for students to improve their thinking and writing competency if they don’t receive the feedback in time.

For students, the following are my thought for their challenges.

• Technological problems – even though blog is easy to use, some students may not feel comfortable with or resist in using new technology,

• Quality and adequacy of blog -- although the use of blogging in education increase students’ writing competency, some students are still struggle with writing skills. Thus, some of their comments to other bloggers may be poor and too short,

•  Fear to participate – some students may not feel comfortable to portray their ideas in the discussion or comments,

• Privacy problems – some students may include some private information and sometimes inappropriate information in their blog entry.

          Currently, I have integrated blogs into Entrepreneurship in Apparel and Interiors. I utilized blogs as:

•  Learning resources—I required to read IT 644 blogfolio on how to create blog or use other technology,
• Reading assignment– I required my students to discuss class reading materials in their blog,
•  Journal – I required my students to reflect upon class activities and assignment in their blog,
•  Peer evaluation assignment–I required my students to comment on other classmate blogs. 

          In the future, I plan to require my students to document their learning through blogfolio and giving constructive feedback through blog critique.

Learning through Blogging

          Blogs are one of the more well-known Web 2.0 applications. Because they are easy to use, various organizations such as governments, businesses, and non-profit organizations have used blogs as communication, marketing, and promotional tools. In addition, educators have utilized blogs as teaching and learning tools. Many researchers indicate that blogs are a great way to enhance students’ learning experience, especially to increase students’ writing and reading proficiency. 

          Even though I now know what blogs are and I have read several blogs, I only wrote my first blog entry in the fall of 2010 as one of my final projects for IT 644. I have integrated blogs as teaching and learning tools in Entrepreneurship in Apparel and Interior Design (FM438), which I taught in the spring of 2011. I created a blog titled “Exploring Entrepreneur” as a teaching medium. Also, I used my blog, Fashion Merchandising: Teaching and Learning Technologies, to help my students learn about how to create blogs and use other Web 2.0 technologies. In addition, my students were required to complete four different types of class assignments using the blog as a learning platform (reflection posts, constructive feedback comments, Etsy project posts, and readings posts). We also explored how to use blogs as a marketing tool for online Etsy stores.

          Some examples of my students’ blogs include: The Thrift Star, FM-438, and Experiencing Etsy-Getting to know Etsy. During their final presentations, many students indicated that they now planned to use blogs as tools for communication, connection-building, marketing, and promotion. My students also indicated that writing blogs was helpful for their learning experience.

          However, by using blogs as a teaching and learning tool, I have learned that many students are not tech savvy. I have yet to see any Internet natives among my students. While many students did not have any problem blogging, some students suffered from several technical issues (e.g., creating a new blog for every blog entry). Fortunately, I could guide the students and show them how to fix these problems, since Dr. Yuen had covered similar issues in class.

          Blogs are very important in the fashion industry. The majority of designers and fashion companies use their own blogs as communication and marketing tools. I believe if more and more fashion merchandising instructors use blogs as teaching and learning tools, students may become more comfortable and gain benefits, not only from class content, but by becoming ready and able to transfer their blogging skills from class to their workspace.

          Recently, teachers have proposed that blogs could be used as online portfolios (called “Blogfolios”) since blogs are good tools which allow students to document their learning experiences and reflections. Blog service web sites offer numerous features, themes, and gadgets which allow students to easily include evidence of their knowledge and skills in their blogs. Students can easily upload files, images, audio files, and videos into their blogs.

          Since this is my third personal blogfolio, I have realized that blogfoilos can be used to reinforce and foster critical thinking and analytical skills in addition to promoting writing ability. Personally, I have learned a lot through the process of reflection while writing my blog entries. I now perceive that having a blogfolio offers many benefits for fashion merchandising students. My coworker and I have discussed the possibility of requiring that all FM students have a blogfolio or online portfolio as a final project for their seminar class.

          I realize that a major difficulty of requiring students to have blogfolios is planning. We may need to prepare by requiring students to document their learning in every fashion merchandising class through blogs or similar Web 2.0 technologies. Then, when FM students take their seminar class, they will not only be familiar with the blogfolio concept, but they will also have already developed artifacts to include in their blogfolios.

         Personally, I believe that blogfolios will gain in popularity in the fashion industry and related fields. Although an online portfolio provides evidence of students’ competencies, a blogfolio shows their learning experiences and transformation through their education, in addition to providing evidence of their abilities. Employers may want to see more than competencies, since knowledge and skills can be learned through training. It is necessary for students to show that they know how to learn, are capable of following instructions, can transfer skills, are team player, etc.