It’s great to see another edublog award out there, and my heartfelt congratulations to the winners of the eSchool News entry: Tim Stahmer, Wes Freyer, Andrew Rotherham and Frank LaBanca. Should I be chagrined that I only have two of the four in my aggregator?
Here’s the problem. As a sometime contributor to the eSchool News blog, I probably shouldn’t dis the sponsors, but, as usual, I can’t help myself. Look at the way the article defines and describes blog uses in education:
Basically a web journal, a blog allows any user to post his or her thoughts, links to favorite sites, and—in many cases—audio and visual media. At its heart, a blog is a personal diary for the internet age.
The advent of blogging represents an unparalleled opportunity for educators. The typical educator has minimal contact with his or her peers once the bell rings. In what often can be an isolated profession, blogs can break down barriers of time and space, encourage collaboration, and enhance professional growth and development. They also can be used in the classroom to help students develop writing
skills or allow them to post video, audio, or other multimedia.
Oy.
Talk about missing the ed blogging boat. “A personal diary for the Internet Age”? Nothing about learning. Nothing about connections. Nothing about c-o-n-v-e-r-s-a-t-i-o-n.
If we’re going to give ed blog awards, which I don’t think is a bad idea, we ought to do a better job of articulating the qualities for best practices.
I agree in principle that they miss the point. Blogs as personal diary are what give blogs a bad name.
But from what I see of education blogs I don’t see much in the way of connection and conversation. It’s rare that I see one that has more than 8 entries. (An exception is BitchPhD, which often has over 50, but she’s not really ed tech, now is she?) And I’ve almost never gotten any response to posts on my own blog. I’ve tried repeatedly to understand what trackbacks are and how to use them, but don’t get it and don’t think I’ve ever seen them used in any useful way.
For me blogging software is an easier way to keep web pages than hand-edited HTML. I have a bunch of edublogs aggregated on my page, and I read them. And sometimes they cause me to post stuff on my own blog. If I do generate much of a thoughtful response, I’m disinclined to stick it on someone else’s blog where I may never find it again. (Which, I infer, is why these mythical trackbacks might be useful).
I think we need a Slashdot for education stuff. I can’t be the first to have thought of it. I’m not sure how one would generate enough traffic to make it catch on.