Personal Experiences, Researching Blogs, and Blog Evolution at Internet Speed

I don’t particularly care for blogs or reflective journals. This is strictly a personal opinion. I’m not a very creative or clever writer. I don’t need to document my life because my life is not different or exciting and I consider it private. I have recently read some new opinions about blogs. Educator positions are still focused on how they are part of the social interactions necessary for learning. I find it interesting that only 10% of the blogging population will continue to blog and the same 10% that blog also keep a private diary.
Buffington, M. (2007, March). Blogging With Graduate Students. Distance Learning, 4(1), 21-27. Retrieved November 28, 2008, from Education Research Complete database.

So what happened to the other 90%? Have blog promoters thought beyond academia . . . how is the real world is now using blogs and the carelessness of primary school teachers? There are a few minor publications questioning how blogs have been thrusted upon students when it might not be a productive interaction for that student. There are so many blogs now and used inappropriately.

I was open to reflectively journaling when I was required to do so. What I find interesting is that when looking back at the beginning of this program, one professor disguised his requirements of reflective journaling utilizing specific open ended module questions and evaluations that were turned in privately through email attachments sent directly to him. The open ended questions were thought provoking and directly at the current module of the course.

My following academic experiences reflective journaling was required. The journals were also turned in privately. At that particular point in time, my very academically oriented father passed away. A review of those journal entries do show how my academic obsession was started. These entries were used to create my educational philosophy; based on my inherited obsession. If I were to ever apply for a faculty position . . . well . . . it’s a safe bet that I probably won't be offered an interview. The journaling was cathartic but in my opinion not productive and feedback was limited.

As the program has progressed and journaling became blogs. My blogs, when noticed have been criticized, but not by fellow students. For example, I wrote about clinical situation regarding the interactions of a particular student nurse in an unusual situation. I described the patient’s situation and the student’s extremely wonderful reaction. I did not use any names nor the name of the facility. I was immediately cut down about “too much” information about the patient AND she posted my grade publicly. So much for creating dialogue! Another class, I spent a great deal of time and thought for each of my blog postings each week. I got five comments total for the semester. I belief that when it comes to blogging, professors are overloaded and other students don't really want to read blogs but so solely to make comments for a better grade.

Blogs are popular right now in primary education. Try doing a Goggle search and you will find hundreds that can freely accessed for viewing. The children’s pictures are big and clear. Perfect for the pedophile! http://blogs.oaisd.org/post/379/17901. It took two clicks to determine this child is a first grader (the same age as my daughter) who attends Georgetown Elementary School in Hudsonville, Michigan.

Take a look at this one; http://mrsbingham.blogspot.com/2008/02/time-to-be-graded.html. The “way” she writes to her class and her link to YouTube showing her dancing in front of her class, is unprofessional. My children will be home school if this is the quality of today’s middle and high schools teachers.

There are blogs that will provide instructions on how to make a “A” on your blog postings for school. http://www.passionateblogger.com/does-your-blog-get-a-failing-grade-how-to-get-an-a/. These blogs are on how to make money (even as a student) using a blog. http://www.howtospoter.com/web-20/web-design/grade-your-blog-seo-and-marketing-value http://www.johnchow.com/what-is-your-twitter-grade/
http://www.passionateblogger.com/make-money-with-your-blog-with-performancing-ads/
http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com/bloomberg_marketing/2004/10/grade_your_blog.html.

Blogs have evolved so fast that the business marketplace has invaded and are manipulating blogs.

“Whatever this is, it isn't media as we know it. "You've got to rethink the structure of media at its most fundamental level," says Jeff Jarvis, whose blog, buzzmachine.com, covers politics and whatever else is on his mind. He should know because, yes, it's the same Jeff Jarvis, who, with the deep pockets of Time Inc., spent $200 million to launch Entertainment Weekly in 1990 (and who, when he's not blogging, serves as president and creative director at Advance Publications' Advance.net). Jarvis is operating these days as what can only be referred to as a blogger coach. He recounts recently helping James Wolcott, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, post his first blog item. "There was this gasp," Jarvis says, when Wolcott realized the wild immediacy of posting in a nanosecond. . . While Jarvis' blog to date doesn't even court advertisers, he's been on a whirlwind of speaking engagements focused on the topic of blogs and marketing--having been asked in recent months to speak to Starcom IP, DaimlerChrysler and the Association of National Advertisers. Topics range from how marketers can use blogs to engage in conversations with their customers to whether they should start their own. At the very least, Jarvis says, marketers should be monitoring what's said about them. "Go to Google, put in your brand," he instructs. "Or better yet, put in your brand, put in a space and the word 'sucks.'"
Taylor, C. (2004, November 8). High On the Blog. MediaWeek, 14(40), 22-26. Retrieved November 28, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database.

“Frankly, I’m surprised and a little hurt that no one has seen fit to start a blog about my blog. It feels as if everyone out there must be reading every entry I post because of all the unfriendly looks I get on the street. So let's just get this out of the way: Yes, I am the guy you think I am. The middle-aged fellow who still gets a thrill out of writing words like "lubricious" and who clings to his dream of working in the great outdoors as a mail carrier. But surely you already know that much about me. It is all part of the blog-versation we have been having in the blogosphere every day, all day. . . Like so many others, I started a blog so that I could see myself think, so that my unique voice might be heard beyond the pages of the doomed and clueless dead-tree media. Also, I wanted to get stinking rich. Given the vast readership my every musing was bound to attract, I figured that advertisers would soon flock to my blog. . . But the truth is that I never had any supply-and-demand issues. I shared everything about myself on my blog, and still nobody blogged back. That is the thanks I get for making myself vulnerable. By now you've learned all about my hookup with Maria Bartiromo and other Atkins-induced hallucinations. My blog, you might be interested to know, was the first place you could have read the news of my incipient bald spot. And it didn't seem to matter to anyone that I was the brave blogger who exposed and ultimately proved that I had plagiarized portions of my online biography from the pages of Iacocca. In the preblog age of old media, a twerp like me could never have brought down the likes of an icon like me. . . I tried everything to provoke a response . . . Didn't the intimate pictures I posted of my pilgrimage to Dollywood resonate at all? . . . I am shutting down my blog for good. I'll just go back to being one of those small-minded people who selfishly live life, rather than generously chronicling every tedious moment. If I do finally spring for that new web-enhanced hole punch, you'll never even know about it. You'll be left to wonder forever what I listened to next on my iPod . . . But if you happen to find yourself missing my blog, don't hesitate to mention it on your own blog, of course.”
Hyatt, J. (2005, April). Blah, Blah, Blog. FSB: Fortune Small Business, 15(3), 108-108. Retrieved November 28, 2008, from MasterFILE Premier database.

“It's enough to drive a PR guru to drink: The company president is writing a blog about corporate vision, the stock price, his vacation to Colorado, and his new golden retriever puppy. What will the shareholders think? Sound far-fetched? Guess again. Some of the highest-ranking managers at companies like Sun Microsystems, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, and Boeing have entered the blogosphere, writing weekly or semimonthly entries in their online diaries. Any curious reader can learn why Sun's President and COO Jonathan Schwartz suffered two months of bad hair days (hint: Never let your 2-year-old's barber trim your ponytail). Or find out what Bob Lutz, vice chairman of global product development for General Motors, has been driving lately (preproduction models of the Pontiac Solstice and G6 Coupe, and a Hummer H3) . . . And you can find out how all of these executives view important trends in their industry . . .it's the appeal of a bully pulpit to promote their views, unfiltered by the media . . . Blogs, after all, are known for being spontaneous, raw, and controversial; while many corporate executives have spent their career being everything but. "In some respects," says Michael Smith, professor of communication at La Salle University in Philadelphia, "the image of an executive blogging is akin to the image of a portly person in a Speedo bathing suit--something doesn't quite fit." . . . But whom, exactly, are you reaching? "I have no idea," says Richard Edelman, president and CEO of public-relations firm Edelman, regarding the readership of his own blog . . . It's probably not the general public: Only 27 percent of Internet users read blogs (and only 38 percent of Internet users even know what a blog is) . . . most executive bloggers conclude their audience is a mix of industry insiders--customers, industry analysts, journalists, employees, and competitors.
Larson, C., & Smart, T. (2005, July 25). Blogging Bosses. U.S. News & World Report, 139(4), EE2. Retrieved November 28, 2008, from Middle Search Plus database.

Kara Dawson is an associate professor of educational technology at the University of Florida has voiced a perspective about requiring students to create blogs. “I have a friend whose personal blog about her plight with breast cancer as a stay-at-home mother of two led to her job as an official blogger with the Cancer Blog. She majored in journalism. I have a colleague whose blog about the potential of social software in teaching and learning has attracted international recognition among edu-bloggers. He is a former English teacher . . . blogs have changed the face of communication, and brought new opportunities, new relationships, new forms of recognition, and even new earning potential to many people. But not to everyone. Certainly not to my two classes of graduate students. They ended the fall semester blogged down and blogged out . . . But last semester, it just seemed a snore . . .Typically I expect students to write at least one posting a week and to comment on several others' blogs. Sometimes I require students to post on a particular topic, and sometimes I leave it open-ended. Whatever the approach, I found last semester that many students fell victim to blog overload. I began to feel overloaded, too . . . Don't get me wrong. I love blogs. I have my RSS feeds set to a number of blogs that help me stay current on personal and professional interests. But the key difference is that I am not forced to read any of those blogs. None of them were created because of someone else's course requirement . . . Frankly, the blog postings I required my students to write were just not very interesting. Those students are bright, insightful, frequently opinionated, and, as a whole, a pleasure to be around. Their blogs were not . . . With few exceptions, the blogs would sit inactive until about 24 hours before our face-to-face class meetings (or 24 hours before the assignments were due in my online class), when a flurry of posts and comments would erupt. Then I would spend an excessive amount of time reading and commenting in the hours before class. Some students did the same, while others didn't bother to comment at all. Effective teaching and learning? I think not . . . So I admit it. I got caught up in all the hype about blogs; about their potential for communication, for creating global connections, for expressing oneself, for extending face-to-face discussions, and for building community in online environments. In most cases, my initial excitement has not borne fruit . . . I don't fault my students. I am the instructor. And given my background in pedagogy and education, I should be a good leader. But when it comes to blogs, I have not been . . . I am not going to give up on blogs. What I am going to do is become a much more critical user . . . I offer some thoughts as I prepare to revamp the integration of blogs in my courses . . . Recognize individual learning styles and preferences. I find it funny that I would have to remind myself of that, given that I am expert in pedagogy. Before blogs came along, I offered my students multiple options for demonstrating their knowledge. Some created concept maps, others audio-recorded their thoughts (prior to podcasts), many kept individual journals, and others created movies or presentations. All students were responsible for demonstrating their interaction with class content from week to week and sharing the results. In retrospect, that is not such a bad plan. I can simply offer blogs as another possible option. . . Most people with successful blogs are deeply committed to posting, for personal reasons, such as a passion for their subject, the satisfaction of reaching a wide audience, or the ego boost associated with having others find their narratives important enough to read. Many people with successful blogs also have an innate slant toward the writing profession. I need to recognize all of those facts, accept that not all students will embrace the opportunity to blog, and redefine my expectations and purposes for using blogs in the classroom . . . It is very difficult to have an extended conversation within blogs. By their very nature, they position one person at the helm of all activity. The threaded format of discussion forums allows for multiple interactions among multiple individuals. It also allows subtopics to flow from a broad topic . . . I am very open to student suggestions but know that is not true of all faculty members. My students may have feared retribution. They may have just not cared enough to comment. So from now on, blogs will be a socially negotiated addition to my course work . . . While some readers may take my comments as an attack on the merit of using blogs in teaching and learning, I still believe they have a definite role to play, especially given what we know about the importance of metacognition and social interaction in the learning process. My hope in sharing these insights is merely to help others consider what the role might be in their own classrooms.”
Dawson, K. (2007, February 2). Blog Overload. Chronicle of Higher Education, 53(22), C2-C3. Retrieved November 28, 2008, from Professional Development Collection database.

I’m also not attacking the use of blogs, but as Ms. Dawson, I recognize that they are not “a one size fits all”; they are being used carelessly by some educators; they can create a lasting impression of unprofessionalism; and their original value/intent is now being eroded by commercialism. I also agree with Ms. Dawson's decision to offer a variety of choices for interactions. Blogging is just not for everyone.

I know that some of my postings in this blog have not been "in line" with what is popular and currently embraced as the latest and greatest pedagogy. But if we are to be the future leaders in nursing education, we must continuously challenge ourselves and challenge the "norm" because without expressing reasoned opposition, we will become stagnate or worse; followers.