Moving at the Speed of Creativity - The Use of Blogs in Teaching, Knowledge Management, and Performance Improvement

The Use of Blogs in Teaching, Knowledge Management, and Performance Improvement

Published by Wesley Fryer in blogs, workshops on October 26th, 2005

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.

The Use of Blogs in Teaching, Knowledge Management, and Performance Improvement
an eLearn2005 presentation by Minjuan Wang, San Diego State University, USA

Abstract:

The number of web logs (‘blogs’), or online personal journals, is on the rise. While this trend may reflect a human propensity for self- indulgent introspection, it may also be propelled by the many advantages of blogs. In addition to providing a portal for journal entries, blogs allow authors to self-publish, record reader commentary, and archive their entries. The increased use of blogs on the Internet has exciting implications for the field of communication, education, and educational technology. People who blog often (bloggers) tend to improve their literacy skills, critical thinking skills, and knowledge construction abilities. Furthermore, the easy-to-use template and the often free service of blogs suit educators’ needs for feasible and self-maintained technological tools. However, little research has been conducted on the use of blogs for education, knowledge management, and performance improvement, thus pointing to a need for further exploratory study.

Types of Blogs (Gomez, 2005)
- personal
- topical
- news
- collaborative (aka collective or group, team)
- directory
- corporate
- advice from experts
- advertising
- private blog (limited access)

Example of a collaborative class blog: EDTEC 296: Learning, Technology and Society
- another one called “Going Global”
- format: text and grpahics
- audioblogging

Blog formative research
- facilitate critical thinking and knowledge construction
- develop writing and communication skills
- we need research data on this however
- reduces transactional distance (Saba, 1988)
– the amount of structure and dialog governing the communication relationship between the student and the teacher
- course structure and level of dialog
- like a psychological distance

Research questions on a study we did comparing 2 blogs
- lit review found most students find no interest in writing authentically
- weblogs encourage students to read, write, and converse more often
- sense of audience is a key motivator (different than a CLOSED discussion board)
- method was a qualitative case study with content analysis (very time consuming)
- can offer a sense of autonomy and community

Blogs can be underused, percieved as additional work / simply a class assignment, and abandoned after the class is over

Solutions
- manage environmental factors
- provide multiple venues of communication and interaction among students

Blogs as knowledge construction tools
- permits collaboration, debates, and argumentation
- open for people to debate and discuss positively about issues
- facilitates social constructivism
- documents how ideas connect and evolve over time (Kajder & Bull, 2003)
- allows organization of info into meaningful personal narratives
- encourages “learning with the Internet”

Company blogs
- can be created for learning mechanism, knowledge management, project management, and advertising tool

Top executive bloggers… (list I couldn’t copy)

Klogs (Blogs as a knowledge management tool)
- can provide centralized access to thematically related resources
- try to capture expert knowledge

Blogs as Project Management Tool
- easily and quickly communicate project updates
- provides a means for ongoing communication with the entire team
- offer a forum for rich dialog

Blogs as advertising tools
- 3 forms: paid ads, earned ads, self-created ads

Blogs as organizational performance improvement tool
- may stimulate organizational learning, ultimately organizational improvement
- are many examples of corporate blogging policies from Feedster, Yahoo, Sun Microsystems, IBM

I am doing a study and content analysis now on Chinese women who are blogging
There are different approaches to studying blogging
- studying blog as form
- ethnographic studies
- content analysis (involving coding)

Teachers editing content of student blog posts first does affect quantity and quality of writing

Technorati Tags: elearn2005