On a week when stories of Apple iPads and Facebook etiquette grace the cover of the Chronicle of Higher Education, it is clear that technology is transforming our classrooms and administrative offices. Yet as I’ve shared in previous posts, like many of my classmates I’m sure, I was initially hesitant to enroll in an online educational program. How could technology really replace the immediacy of a room full of peers and direct interaction with a professor?
Thus far, with blogging being the latest piece of technology to be introduced into our Full Sail curricula, I’m becoming a true believer.
Throughout the past week, I’ve discovered that blogging deftly marries instantaneous content publication with an astounding global distribution potential. As I’ve chosen to follow various other blogs, I find myself feeling more connected and intimately intertwined with a whole host of peers, colleagues, and industry professionals than I ever imagined. This reaction is literally the opposite perspective I held that blogging was an isolated and largely narcissistic activity. Quite honestly, the process of posting and following feels more akin to sharing than anything else.
While I haven’t had the chance to implement this technology into my classroom, I think the possibilities are significant. For instance, earlier this year President Obama called for our students to be exposed to the best and the brightest teachers in the world. While this would be no small feat in an analog environment, by simply helping my students to follow various industry and community leaders, this goal could be achieved immediately for the cost of an Internet connection.
Furthermore, as a lecture teacher with 60 some students in each class section, I normally have very little time for student-to-student interaction. If students were to follow each other through blogging, they suddenly have an unprecedented opportunity to share and interact with each other in a manner that is simply not feasible in a traditional classroom.
Additionally, in any given week my students and I only have 4 hours together. If students were required to follow my blog, I can instantaneously update my entire class on assignments, news and information, and even the status of graded assignments as Dr. Deason demonstrated last semester.
In all, blogging provides an unprecedented access to not only information, but people. Implementing blogging throughout our classrooms could boost media literacy, provide students access to top intellectuals and industry professionals, and further engender a greater level of interaction and understanding amongst the student body. Blogging could even cut down on paper consumption if my grading protocols involve commenting on student blogs rather than scribbling red pens across printed essays.
As a Full Sail student, I have been amazed at how many times the EMDT program has changed my perception and appreciation for a given piece of technology or information. Yes, I knew about blogs and read them quite often. But, in joining this conversation as a participant blogger, I’m starting to see a vast potential for real impact within the classroom.
I’m discovering that this process really works. Almost hourly, I’m reading comments and learning new perspectives from my fellow classmates in real time. I can’t wait to implement such tools within my classroom environment to ultimately foster greater student-to-student and even student-to-community relationships.
Thank you everyone for sharing.
Thank you for sharing so much of yourself in this post, Scott. You have shown incredible insight in your investigation of blogging with a global perspective as it relates to you as a person, a student, a teacher and to the world around you. In addition, you are discovering ways to share these insights with your students and others. Beautiful post.
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