Blogs

Blogs can give students a social presence (Anderson, 2005), and can be a medium for connection, self expression, self indulgence, and rich and critical distribution of information (Macduff, 2009), and for recording, revisiting and reflecting upon experiences (Xie & Sharma, 2005). Students using blogs generally work autonomously and independently (Wheeler, 2009), beyond the reach of any recognised authority, so it is debatable to what extent educational institutions can, or should attempt to manage such learning technology. More pertinently for this research, and those bloggers who were refugees from the forums (see below), Alm in her article on blogs as protected spaces (2009, p.20), points out that the blogger leads the conversation [because] the reader is unable to change the course of the conversation [they] only have asymmetrical communication rights, [i.e.] the option of reacting, by choosing to comment or not to comment. Blogging is nevertheless a social activity, but one which provides as Gumbrecht (2004) suggests, a safety net or a buffer from immediate social interaction (Alm 2009, p.20). Alm continues (p.22) that the perceived protection in blogs was contrasted with the classroom in which students encounter stage fright, the fear of looking like an idiot and the instant reactions of others . p. 2 Mak, Williams & Mackness, 2010Mak, S. F. J., Williams, R., & Mackness, J. (2010). Blogs and forums as communication and learning tools in a MOOC. In Seventh International Conference on Networked Learning, Aalborg, Denmark.