Learning, Unlearning, and Relearning - E-Infrastructures and Technologies for Lifelong Learning - page 300

publications of thoughts and ideas, typically within
a specific theme or area of interest; they can be
set up as public or private and can enable com-
menting. The most popular blogging applications
are WordPress and Blogger. It has been estimated
that in early 2008, there were over 110 million
blogs (Richardson, 2008).
Over the past few years, blogs have received
positive attention from educators (e.g., Downes,
2004; Dunlap, 2008; Richardson, 2008; Warlick,
2007) for their ability to promote literacy, collabo-
ration, and participation. At the same time, though,
others like Keen (2008) have criticized blogs and
the new read-and-write web for encouraging a
“Cult of Amateurs”. Keen, while a bit extreme,
seems to suggest that blogs are,

blogs and blogging, specifically as it relates to
encouraging students to be intentional and reflec-
tive learners. In our experience, in order to create
and maintain a blog, students need to identify and
define a focus for their blog; establish goals and
objectives for how and when they will contribute to
their blog; identify, find, use, and critique content
and ideas to include in their blog; appropriately
share content and ideas to an audience via their
blog; and critique the effectiveness of their blog
posts to meet their goals and objectives for their
blog and the needs of their audience (Dunlap,
2008; Dunlap & Stevens, 2009). These activities
are directly related to self-directed learning and
metacognitive skills, serving to help students
develop those skills for lifelong learning (Dunlap,
2005; Dunlap & Grabinger, 2003).
In addition, having students maintain their
own blogs is an effective way of engaging them
in intentional, reflective practice, accomplishing
several objectives related to students' development
as lifelong learners:

collectively corrupting and confusing popular
opinion about everything from politics, to com-
merce, to arts and culture. Blogs have become so
dizzyingly infinite that they've undermined our
sense of what is true and what is false, what is real
and what is imaginary. These days, kids can't tell
the difference between credible news by objective
professional journalists and what they read on
joeshmoe.blogspot.com. For these Generation Y
utopians, every posting is just another person's
version of the truth; every fiction is just another
person's version of the facts. (p. 3)

• It requires students to articulate their ideas

and perspectives, encouraging them to be
brave and bold about their contributions to
the greater discourse.

• It engages students in reflection on the do-

main, requiring them to critically analyze
ideas, perspectives, theories, research,
and designs. It makes their thinking vis-
ible, and this public context encourages a
unique caliber of thoughtfulness that does
not typically happen in private journals.

Thus, while some see the value in creating a
“society of authorship” (as cited in Richardson,
2008), others like Keen are quick to point out
potential pitfalls of flattening our world and en-
abling any “amateur” the ability to read/write and
publish what he or she thinks. Similarly, Bauerlein
(2008) argues that “for most young users, it is
clear, the Web hasn't made them better writers and
readers, sharper interpreters and more discerning
critics, more knowledgeable citizens and tasteful
consumers” (p. 110).
However, we, like a growing number of
educators, see the potential educational value of

• It reminds students that they are contribut-

ing members of a professional community,
using their blogs as (1) vehicles for idea
dissemination, (2) avenues for garnering
feedback from peers and colleagues, and
(3) opportunities for collaboration with
peers and colleagues. It helps them estab-
lish themselves as knowledgeable practi-