Have you ever wondered what it must be like to travel to a foreign country where you do not know the language or customs and you must start a new job or go to school the very next day? What must it feel like - scary? intimidating? like you are totally lost?? Well that is what it is like at times with me when I start something new in the world of social networking - ie. blogging. I have landed in a foreign world and I am trying to master the world of communicating through a very foreign manner.
I may have read all the fine points, I may even agree with most of the fine points, but I am not so sure that in my world of education - where I am teaching the finer points of high school geometry or ap calculus or something in between - that blogging will be an integral part of my domain. I can see its use in writing, discovering the past, learning new languages or cultures, in the world of social sciences, and even courses where there is room for debate - but in my world where the progression of concepts is linear and the timeline leaves very little time for venturing out into the cyberworld I am afraid this world is limited. That does not mean it cannot be used - it just means that it has it's limits and time has the control of when it can be used effectively.
The pros - this collaborative tool is very effective with expressing ideas and writings - especially with topics that invoke that type of discussion. I can see the pros to students hearing other opinions and ideas - and the critiquing would definitely change how one would write and express their ideas.
The cons - some disciplines are not so easily defined to be 'writing' but to be calculating and analyzing. I can see blogging over topics that spark debate or needs an investigative tool - but when the discipline as a very defined scope/sequence for mastery - until the topic leads to a 'window' where time allows investigative mode - I am afraid blogging will be more on the "wish list if time allowed' level.
