Why Do Blogs Freak People Out?

It seems that many Classroom2.0 educators have had this experience:
Wikis=good. Blogs=bad. I'm interested in knowing the actual reasons that have been given by administrators, etc.. about this phenomenon. Let's collect the data about misconceptions here. I once had an administrator casually reference MySpace when she meant blog. I'm not sure she knew there was a difference.

Tags: attitudes, blogging, blogs, misconceptions, towards, wikis

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Permalink Reply by Mrssmoke on December 7, 2007 at 9:15am

My personal experience with wikis has been excellent, but then again, I'm working with K-5 students primarily. The wiki was simply easier for the wee ones to use as all they need to do is "edit page" and we're good to go. Also, wikis have been wonderful for telecollaborative projects across the continents and/or states. This is an example of one of our projects http://beinggreen.pbwiki.com/.

As for blogs, we've reserved these primarily for middle and high school students since they are better typists and can provide deeper thinking and reflection. Probably the most successful blog experiences we've had was with literature circles.

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Permalink Reply by Rachel Alpern on April 10, 2008 at 9:09pm

I think it might be because Wikis are used more for educational purposes and blogs can be used for anything.

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Permalink Reply by Tighe Jaffe on April 16, 2008 at 11:24pm

I was wondering what people thought of wetpaint.com. This is a wiki site that I used in my credentialing classes in San Diego. We used it for our class and then for other classes. It worked great, and maybe because my initial experience with it, I think that both wikis and blogs can be used together. The important thing, as one other person said was each, wikis and blogs, have their own characteristics and advantages, we just need to figure out our own needs and match them up with the platform that best suits and meets those needs.

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Permalink Reply by Cynthia Rey on April 17, 2008 at 2:58pm

Hey Tighe, good answer. I have to admit, for not really liking computers, or as Jeff says, for not having a "zen" relationship with them, I have to admit, I did like wetpaint.com. I guess I must be coming around.

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Permalink Reply by Kelley Irish on April 17, 2008 at 7:00pm

I think of wiki's as websites that are easy to edit. I love the page access control at pbwiki. Right now I am giving page lesvel access to my 6th graders to use it as a place to reocrd their homeowrk assignments.

I use the blog as an electronic journal. I post things I want them to think about and they write their opinions back to me. Creating a collaborative environment does take time and trust....

As with any tool- it is what you decide to make with it.

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Permalink Reply by Sarah Hanawald on April 17, 2008 at 7:53pm

Interesting comment. I just wrote about this on my blog. is it okay if I post some of it here?

For our sixth grade reading blogs, I've chosen to limit them to our website using First Class's blogging feature. Their audience is limited to their teachers and classmates, and only those people can respond. I've thought about this quite a bit lately. Should we move over to David Warlick's fantastic blogmeister and let the students write for a larger audience, but anonymously? I don't think so, and here's why. Daniel Pink talks about the importance of empathy in his book A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. It seems to me that, before we take on the anonymity of the web, we need to teach students that behind each blog, each opinion, each thought, is a living, breathing person. Later on, we can explore the idea of a persona as opposed to a person. There are 72 sixth graders, and several faculty in our blog group. That's a pretty big audience for an 11-year old. Probably big enough for something as personal as your thoughts and ideas about what you read. I've seen such growth in their writing and reflection in the last few months. I'm convinced this is the way to go.

BTW--First Class is a wonderful program, so much more than email if anyone is interested. It's not free though.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on April 17, 2008 at 8:01pm

You obviously have given this a lot of thought so whether people agree or not more power to you. There are certainly other ways you can put your kiddos in touch with a wider audience when the time is right. I do have one suggestion that will pay great dividends--invite the parents. I've found that the few parents who blog with us add a lot to their student's experience. See our blog here

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Permalink Reply by Rachel Alpern on May 8, 2008 at 11:48am

I think that the difference between wikis and blogs is that wikis seemed to be used for a educational purpose only. While blogs can be used for anything. Many people put personal information on their blogs all time. They are harder to monitor then wikis are.