Blogging in an educational setting is an exciting way to teach and learn in a collaborative environment. I have used blogging as part of a Public Affairs Reporting class. As a journalist, blogging is one of the new requirements a reporter/editor has to learn to communicate with readers/participants in the news arena.
This is an exciting time for educators in the mass media field because it is our job to teach up and coming journalists how to write well and also maintain the integrity of information in a world where anyone with a computer and the Internet can produce information for publication to the World.
Beyond teaching media writing with just words, Web 2.0 can help journalists use all forms of media including photos, video, music, and other useful links to help solidify the knowledge base.
One of the challenges instructors will face in the coming months and years is the fact that most students are media savvy and have high technical skills. However, they may not have developed higher level critical thinking skills required to produce content that is based on accurate information. Blogging lends itself to opinion writing with or without accuracy checks, so it is imperative that students learn how to think critically and do research with solid sources when producing blogs for media outlets. It is important to teach students how to be reporters with a passion for accuracy and truth telling in an ethical sense as well as creative collaborators.
I think blogging and all emerging media tools have great potential for the educational process as a whole. It truly does offer an opportunity to every person with ideas and Internet access the ability to participate in a Democratic society upon which the ideals of the First Amendment are built.
I would like to learn more about digital writing and how to help students write with clarity, accuracy and some formality. I understand that blogging lends itself to informality, but it is still important to learn to write in complete sentences with words spelled correctly, so other can understand the blogger's meaning with ease.
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Tami, I agree that students seem to have mastered web 2.0 tools but still lack critical thinking skills. I read an article about the myth of the google generation, which makes the same point you do. If you google "myth of google generation," you get a couple hits on that topic. I think any useful definition of "digital literacy" has to have evaluation of source credibility at its heart. I also agree with you that spelling and complete sentences are important to student writing!
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