Why Blogs Work

Blogs can be a great tool to incorporate into instruction to expand the skills of the students. One benefit of using blogs is increasing student engagement. Students take an active role in the learning process (Sanchez Medero et. al, 2022). Students get opportunities to share their own thoughts and feelings on a topic. This expands students' knowledge by allowing them to bring their own experience and reflections into the content. Students feel more motivated to “think independently and take responsibility of their learning” (Christie & Morris, 2021 p. 575). This ensures that the students are engaged in the course content.

Another benefit of using blogs is it allows for collaborative learning experiences. Students are given the opportunity to learn with and from other students (Sanchez Medero et. al, 2022). This can be huge especially with online learning. Research has found that students have a positive perception of blogs because of the peer interaction aspect (Marin, 2020). Students can connect with their peers and share experiences, feedback, and questions.

Here are some ways to incorporate blogs into your instructional design:

-Create a class blog (Using blogs in the classroom, n.d.). By doing this, the students have a resource where they can connect with their classmates and instructor, share feedback, or ask questions. They can also share content creations with peers to get feedback. It helps create a classroom community.

-Have students create individual blogs for e-portfolios (Marin, 2020). This will allow students to share their creations and get feedback from their peers or the instructor. It helps organize all the original content they created in one place, to share with others.

Here are some additional resources with additional ways to incorporate blogs into your instruction.

This article from University of Michigan shares some benefits of using blogs and how to incorporate them into the classroom.

-https://lsa.umich.edu/sweetland/instructors/teaching-resources/using-blogs-in-the-classroom.html#:~:text=Blogging%20can%20improve%20students'%20writing,and%20powerful%20understanding%20of%20audience.

This Reader's Digest article provides some great ideas of how to use blogs in the classroom: https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/inspire/life/how-to-use-blogs-in-the-classroom-examples-and-ideas

Image licensed CC-BY by sylviaduckworth

I hope that you now see the benefits of blogs and are ready to try incorporating them into your instructional design. Please leave your thoughts below!

-Erin

References:

Christie, H., & Morris, N. (2021). Using assessed blogs to enhance student engagement. Teaching in Higher Education, 26(4), 573–585. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2019.1662390

How to Use Blogs in the Classroom: Examples and Ideas. (2020, October 27). Reader’s Digest. https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/inspire/life/how-to-use-blogs-in-the-classroom-examples-and-ideas

Marín, V. I. (2020). Research-based learning in education studies: Design inquiry using group e-Portfolios based on blogs. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 36(1), 1–20.

Sanchez Medero, G., Pastor Albaladejo, G., Medina, P. M., & Garcia Solana, M. J. (2022). Blogging as an instrument for co-creation and collaborative learning in university education. Contemporary Educational Technology, 14(4), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/12555

Using Blogs in the Classroom (n.d.). https://lsa.umich.edu/sweetland/instructors/teaching-resources/using-blogs-in-the-classroom.html