Blogs and blogging in education

From the LearningTimes Network, learningtimes.org on blogging in an educational setting:

"The "blog phenomenon" seems to have been growing to a frenzy over the last few months. Everyone has a blog, reads a blog, or wants a blog. At a fundamental level, blogs are the true promise of the Internet encapsulated in a new four letter word. Blogs give everyone a soapbox, a place to state or shout their mind, whether it be about the tedium of their own lives, politics, or eLearning. Author David Weinberger has recently paraphrased Andy Warhol and said that 'on the web, everyone is famous to fifteen people.' Blogs are exactly the kind of tool that make this possible, and increasingly accurate. They are the first foolproof tool of the Internet's "me" generation.

In the eLearning world, blogs represent the pendulum swinging the other way. Their growing popularity is a reaction against the bulky nature of most course management systems -- Who needs a $60,000 LMS to announce that donuts will not be served at next week's training session? It's the 'dumbing down' of technology to the point that truly anyone can "post their say, and read it, too".

Are blogs a viable alternative where LMS products are really needed? Absolutely not. They do, however, give each and every person a place where they can present what they (and those they attract) have learned about life, work and play on completely their own terms. Even if a blog forms in the Internet forest, and no one reads it, some of the best learning experiences come from personal self-reflection. And you don't need SCORM standards, metadata and content management to dig deep inside yourself.

-- Jonathan E. Finkelstein
   LearningTimes"