Blogs and Discussion Boards  

We want to use the right tool for an application, and it is important to know when to use a blog and when the discussion board is better. Blogs are usually “owned” by one person or organization, and other people read or comment on their work. There tend to not be a lot of replies, and seldom do you see a reply to a reply. That is different from a discussion board, where many people are commenting at the same time.

Personally, I find blog replies hard to follow. There is one post, and then under it are all the replies, and I think the replies to replies get lost. 

In a discussion board there is a topic, and then I can look at the replies and see all the replies to the initial reply. 

I do like blogs for personal journals, especially if involve only two people – student and teacher. That I can easily follow. However, this version of Blackboard is not set up well to handle student-teacher blogs. You CAN set up a separate group for EACH student in the class, with only the student and you in the group. Also, there is no notification of new material in the blog unless you have selected the subscribe option.

Below, I have devised a table giving my view on the differences between blogs, discussions and podcasts.

Blogs can be used for:

• 1.      Keeping you up to date on latest trends in your field. Often books are out of date when they are printed. I teach a course on Copyright. The law is changing constantly. I subscribe (using the RSS feed) to three blogs to get the latest information.
• 2.      Individual blogs for personal reflection. It’s not in this version of Blackboard now, but is in the newer version. I would hope that the blogs are internal to the class and the distribution to the class can be controlled by the teacher. We may want a blog/Journal to be seen by only the student and teacher, or we may want the blog to be seen by the whole class.
• 3.      Reading blogs by others, especially patients, to get their perspective of the health care system. A teacher of pediatric nursing found blogs written by parents of children in care. She felt that these blogs gave her students a different perspective on pediatric care.
• 4.      Discuss with students the validity of blog information as a way to discuss information on the Internet in general. Can the source be trusted? Should blog posts be used in scholarly writing? Students think if the information is on the Internet then it must be true.
• 5.      Extra credit opportunities for finding and sharing blog sites important for topics in the class, or student reviews of blogs.
• 6.      A blog written by you, the teacher, which the students subscribe to. Your posts will go into their email accounts. You could use that to send messages and personal musings to the students.

Metaphor:

Blog = journal

Podcast= radio program

Discussion Board = discussion

Useful For:	Blog	Discussion Board	Podcast
Professional development outside the class group	Yes	Only if you post references	Yes
Outside of class listening	No, unless you attach files to a post	No, unless you attach files	Yes
Learning of the feelings of others outside the class	Yes	Students can learn from classmates but not others	Yes
Students can “subscribe” for updates	Yes	Yes, if you set it up	Yes
Useful as a PERSONAL journal	Yes	Not really. Most discussions are seen by the entire class	Not really, unless the students are technically proficient and can record their voice
Evaluation of information on the Net	Yes	Yes	Yes