Don't Change The Tool?

In Stephen Downes article "Educational Blogging" he asks a couple of important questions about the educators' dilemma.

"What happens when a free-flowing medium such as blogging interacts with the more restrictive domains of the educational system? What happens when the necessary rules and boundaries of the system are imposed on students who are writing blogs, when grades are assigned in order to get students to write at all, and when posts are monitored to ensure that they don’t say the wrong things?"

Some of the responses in his article express fears and concerns about the contrived nature of scripted posts or the lack of passion due to censorship.  In short, when students are required to post and their content and voice are restricted, are they still blogging?  I believe the short answer is yes but I'm getting ahead of myself.

First, what happens when we restrict a free-flowing medium?  If slows down.  In my life I don't think slowing down is a bad thing but in blogging I can understand why it raises concern.  The process of 'restrictive domains' will effect the medium but I'm not sure that effect will be negative.  It's part of our teaching.  Just because a post doesn't make to the blog instantly or some of the content gets censored doesn't mean it's not worth while.  As a photography teacher there is a lot of product that needs to be checked before I can let my students have access to it.  This 'restrictive domain' helps our students learn to slow down and focus their thoughts.

Second, will the 'imposed boundaries' and 'assigned grades' of classroom blogging effect the blog posts?  Yes they will.  My students will be required to post a minimum number of times and will be working from a list of questions.  This will automatically restrict what they will say and how often they say it.  Some, if not many, of their posts will be contrived to get the grade.  So, here's a question in response.  If I want my students to journal on paper should I not require a minimum number of entries or give them prompts?  Why is blogging different?  We require our students to do a lot of things that they would otherwise not do and we still get honest products.  One of the responses in the article states that the inherent censorship in educational settings restricts the passion in students' posts.  To be honest, I've found the opposite to be true.  When I have my students work on an issue that is important to them and give them limits on how they can respond, their work becomes more passionate.  It's all in the framing.  They can share anything if they can do it in a way that is appropriate to the educational setting.  We all restrict or adjust our speech based on the audience.  I believe that's one of the more important things we have to teach regardless of our official curriculum.

There is a big scary question that came to mind when I read this article.  Do we not use a tool for fear of changing it?  Everything we use we change.  As a photographer I've seen massive change in my medium over the past 25 years but the strongest metaphor I can come up with for this argument is language.  Some may want to preserve it but simply by having conversations it changes everyday.  Google is a verb.  Funner is in the dictionary.  Blogging will change but it will still be blogging.  The blogs we use in education will be different than the blogs used in business or entertainment or......  They are still blogs.

As I've been thinking about this I came across a student's picture that I hope helps make the point.  Don't fear change or the unknown.  Cross the street.
rl