Bloggings, educative online journals for all<\/p>\n
Jaha Nababan, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Blogging is not bragging.<\/p>\n
Information written in a blog is maintained as free usable
\nknowledge. That statement contradicts what Roy Suryo, an
\nIndonesian information and communication technology (ICT) expert,
\nsaid in a monthly business magazine.<\/p>\n
He said he intentionally did not create a blog or a personal
\nhomepage -- he probably meant personal website -- because he did
\nnot need one. This ICT expert could not have seen Bernie Dodge's
\npersonal blog.<\/p>\n
"Blog" derives from the word "weblog". A blog is an online
\njournal. Blogs allow their users to become self-publishing
\nauthors on the web without needing to have any web development
\nskills.<\/p>\n
A lot of teenagers use blogs to create online diaries that
\nthey can share among friends. That is how blogging gained its
\npopularity. Unfortunately, blogs have become an online "bragging
\narena".<\/p>\n
Bernie Dodge of San Diego State University is the father of
\nWebquest. This is considered to be an American Educational
\nTechnology breakthrough. It is an online portal where teachers
\nall over America can post their web lessons.<\/p>\n
Webquest allows other teachers to review the posted web
\nlessons and rate them before using the web lessons in the
\nclassroom.<\/p>\n
Bernie Dodge, as the leading pioneer of Webquest and similar
\nresearch, established his blog to get comments from his readers
\nand colleagues on the views he shared. Bernie's readers can
\nobserve his train of thought through his blog.<\/p>\n
Currently, there are many classroom projects that make use of
\nblogs. Students are asked to create online journals on class
\nprojects they are doing. The journals are shared among
\nclassmates. Classmates can review and add more information by
\ncommenting on the blog. The blog becomes the owner's means to
\nharnessing valuable information from colleagues.<\/p>\n
A blog has more advantages than a personal website. It is
\neasier to create and maintain a blog than a website. By employing
\na well thought-out lesson plan, blogs can be used to encourage
\nstudents to manage information.<\/p>\n
Students are required to look for information and verify its
\nvalidity prior to publishing. Blogs also encourage students to
\norganize thoughts and improve their writing skills. These are the
\nkeys to maintaining the loyalty of blog readers.<\/p>\n
There are currently many add-ons that can improve a blog.
\nThese require little knowledge about HTML hypertext markup
\nlanguage, a simple web-programming language.<\/p>\n
Having add-ons in the blog can improve interaction within it.
\nMany blog owners are always looking for ways to improve a blog's
\nutility by adding more add-ons. Blog owners improve their HTML
\nskills along with the improvements in their blog site.<\/p>\n
It is the nature of a journal that a blog can be used to track
\nthe development of information or train of thought of a
\nparticular blog owner.<\/p>\n
By tracking the development of a student's thoughts in his or
\nher journal, the teacher can guide the student through the
\nlearning process. In order to use the blog in this way, the
\nteacher must devise a proper lesson plan that allows
\ncollaboration between students.<\/p>\n
The research projects mentioned above are trying to find the
\nbest formula for such lesson plans. Experimenting with a blog is
\nrelatively easy for teachers because of two things.<\/p>\n
The first is the easy nature of a blog that can be adopted by
\nteachers. Second, the output of a blog is in written format. This
\nis a familiar format for many teachers.<\/p>\n
As mentioned above, blogs have been used for bragging. Yes,
\nlike other inventions, blogging has side-effects. The growth of
\ntechnology allows the conversion of old-fashioned habits into new
\nforms.<\/p>\n
First there were books; then came the e-book. However, it is
\nnot necessarily true that conventional diaries will be followed
\nby e-diaries.<\/p>\n
To blog is certainly not to produce an online diary. Parents
\nshould also know the nature of blogging and how to use it to
\neducate children. Children sharing private stories online may
\ncome to harm as there are many adults preying on children
\nonline.<\/p>\n
Life is a journey; there is so much to be discovered. Parents
\nshould encourage children to embark on a journey of discovery and
\nwrite it down in a blog. Let technology be a part of the shared
\nmoments of parents and children.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, like a knife, it will cut you off from your loved
\nones.<\/p>\n
Jaha Nababan (jaha@fulbrightweb.org), a Fulbright grantee and
\nKelly scholar, is a Boston University School of Education
\ngraduate in educational media and technology. He is currently
\nteaching at FISIP Universitas Indonesia.<\/p>",
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