Why should teachers blog? at teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk

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When I was doing my teacher training at the University of Durham my course tutor repeatedly stated his belief that all teachers should have their own website. I’d like to update that: I think that most teachers should blog, for a number of reasons…

Christopher D. Sessums discusses the many reasons for blogging today, something which I mentioned recently, citing six reasons given by van Wegel (2002):

Of these, I would say that certainly coaching (producing guides), articulating (putting into definite form what was previously a bit hazy), reflecting (thinking about how and why things are the way they are in education), and exploring (researching new material) are elements in my blogging. Christopher also brings up other issues brought up by fellow bloggers:

Blogging as a document centre or resource (e.g. feeds.mrbelshaw.co.uk)
Blogging as identity-explloration (e.g. Autono Learner)
Blogging as a means of sharing information (e.g. Educational Technology and Life)
Blogging as a means of connection and engagement (e.g. teacher-student course blogs)
Blogging as a means of extending the conversation (e.g. Web-logged)

For some, blogging comes naturally, for some it takes time, and some cannot see the point at all. It’s difficult to give an answer to a ‘why would anyone want to do that?’ question from the latter group. I suppose sharing, being part of a community, batting around ideas (whether fully-formed or half-baked) is easier and more natural for some than others. As Christopher sums up Vicki Davis as saying, blogging is a natural extension of the self. One has to find one’s niche in life and blogging can be one way to do this. Or if you want to put it in a bit more of a posh way using big words:

Blogging clearly illustrates changes in the information ecology, reflecting a user-inquiry stance, facilitating a multi-voiced dialogue flow, as well as supporting the transfer of knowledge (Siemens, 2004). The appropriate use of weblogs can learning on multiple levels. Weblogging enables reflection both individually and collectively in systematic ways that allows individuals, colleagues, and others to tap into a network that gives â€œsomething back, something more than the good feeling of simply articulating what’s in our brain in writing.â€�?
Christopher D. Sessums - A Blog is more than a communication tool

So to the colleague who says ‘why bother?’ I still haven’t got a definite answer, but I have got a bit more of an idea. I would tell them they should blog becuase:

You’ll learn useful everyday stuff through interacting with your peers
Through various means (trackbacks, comments, etc.), you’ll develop contacts with people around the country and the world
It’s excellent professional development
Ideas which are only partly-formed or not-quite-developed in your mind can be given a fuller expression and worked through

Whilst I shouldn’t imagine any of these would get my colleagues rushing to their laptops, I do think that a combination of these factors along with commenting on various blogs may persuade some to start blogging. Oh, and they’ll need some easy blogging software like EduPress of course… (or some other free blogging platform)