Summary: I note Henry Farrell's (via Stephen Downes) characterization of educational weblogs, and then add a thought or two about my own online instructional experience with same.

Weblogging: To set the stage Stephen Downes reminds us of both history and uses of weblogs generally:

Blogging is something defined by format and process, not by content. A blog, therefore, is and has always been more than the online equivalent of a personal journal. Though consisting of regular (and often dated) updates, the blog adds to the form of the diary by incorporating the best features of hypertext: the capacity to link to new and useful resources. But a blog is also characterized by its reflection of a personal style, and this style may be reflected in either the writing or the selection of links passed along to readers. Blogs are, in their purest form, the core of what has come to be called personal publishing. In the hands of teachers and students, blogs become something more again. The Web is by now a familiar piece of the educational landscape, and for those sites where personal publishing or chronologically ordered content would be useful, blogs have stepped to the fore. Crooked Timber's Henry Farrell identifies five major uses for blogs in education.

With this bridge Stephen then moves to Farrell's uses[emboldening in these quoted materials is mine... as is any bracketed material SPH]:
• First, teachers use blogs to replace the standard class Web page. Instructors post class times and rules, assignment notifications,suggested readings, and exercises. Aside from the ordering of material by date, students would find nothing unusual in this use of the blog. The instructor, however, finds that the use of blogging software makes this previously odious chore much simpler.
• Second, and often accompanying the first, instructors begin to link to Internet items that relate to their course. Mesa Community College's Rick Effland, for example, maintains a blog to pass along links and comments about topics in archaeology. Though Mesa's archaeology Web pages have been around since 1995, blogging allows Effland to write what are in essence short essays directed specifically toward his students. Effland's entries are not mere annotations of interesting links. They effectively model his approach and interest in archaeology for his students.
• Third, blogs are used to organize in-class discussions. At the State University of New York at Buffalo, for example, Alexander Halavais added a blog to his media law class of about 180 students. Course credit was awarded for online discussion, with topics ranging from the First Amendment to libel to Irish law reform. As the course wound down with a discussion of nude bikers, Halavais questioned whether he would continue the blog the following year because of the workload, but students were enthusiastic in their comments.
  Mireille Guay, an instructor at St-Joseph, notes: "The conversation possible on the weblog is also an amazing tool to develop our community of learners. The students get to know each other better by visiting and reading blogs from other students. They discover, in a non-threatening way, their similarities and differences. The student who usually talks very loud in the classroom and the student who is very timid have the same writing space to voice their opinion. It puts students in a situation of equity."
• Fourth, some instructors are using blogs to organize class seminars and to provide summaries of readings. Used in this way, the blogs become "group blogs"--that is, individual blogs authored by a group of people. Farrell notes: "It becomes much easier for the professor and students to access the readings for a particular week--and if you make sure that people are organized about how they do it, the summaries will effectively file themselves.
• Finally, fifth, students may be asked to write their own blogs as part of their course grade. Educational Technologist Lane Dunlop wrote about one class at Cornell College: "Each day the students read a chunk of a book and post two paragraphs of their thoughts on the reading." In another class, French 304, students were given a similar exercise. Using a French-language blogging service called Monblogue, Molly, a business student, posted a few paragraphs every day.


As for Me:

First, in describing my experience with weblogging in classes, I should note that my experience is apparently unlike those described above. I am referring to a 95-100% online class, with rare or at most occasional face-to-face meetings. Thus, I had to address the question ," what software shall I use for the bulk of my transactions with individuals, groups, and the class as-a-whole". Blackboard was my answer. In Blackboard simple, predictable communication systems (file transfer, instant messenger equivalent, threaded discussions, test systems, etc.) were already present and managed by institutional staff. While I had the "license" to do an all-online class any way I chose (given that I was willing to carry the consequences) , I would have had to spend far too many hours kludging together what was already "freely" available.

Thus, the question became : "How can weblogs supplement the online technology already present via Blackboard?" Note the already present requirement that all participate in online discussions around weekly topics. Each class member would have generated 2-3 paragraph (min) responses to general questions relating to text readings and evolving class experience; each was required to respond-to-others entries within the same discussion. Thus, a considerable amount of "formal" communication --in both "initial" and "response" forms -- had already been generated by and among class members.

This context shaped my use of weblogs:

• The class had a journal requirement (roughly thirty double spaced pages over the course of the semester) which could be submitted via Word files or via a free Blogger account to which I and other students could visit. Most chose the Word files. [You can see, I think, that the technological and intellectual load was already substantial]. Those that did opt for the Blogger version of their journal appear to enjoy and profit considerably. I and they enjoyed the more frequent give-and-take. Word files simply did not work out as well in the "interactivity" sense--though the journals continue to catalyse personal understanding. [I am coming to feel that the weblog should be required, merged with discussionsand framed within the context of a community blogging experience. This will, I think, maximize the self-discovery and deuterolearning (aka learning-to-learn) aspects of the class.]
• I use a weblog (Radio Userland's) to provide daily/weekly instructor updates; instead of the weblog itself, I used the outliner provided by Radio Userland. This allowed me to give one web address which students could visit [news readers would have been adding an additional technology to an already full plate]and which I could update(from wherever) within my own copy of Radio as the class progressed. What was in this outlined version of my weblog?
  • daily/weekly instructor updates of assignments, discussions, readings
  • a comprehensive set of content links (first an initial starter set which was changed to keep pace with the evolving class ontology), and
  • a class-by-class process prediction following a process retrospective for most recent class sessions.