Blogging and Microblogging

 "Blogs are much more than a diary",Will Richardson

    We live in a world where every person from every part of the world (where internet is accessible) can share his ideas with the rest of the world without having to pay anything. This is what blogs and microblogs have done for us. What's more, blogs have enabled us to comment and to discuss each others' ideas. Finally, we can spread  the information via as many channels as we have (Twitter, Facebook,etc). The world has never been flatter. 

  The potential of blogging for teaching purposes has scarcely been researched. However, the changing world requires changes in the way we view education as well. Bellow are some of the benefits and caveats I see in using blogs as a learning tools. 

Benifits 

a) authentic, worldwide audience

b) improvement of research skills

c) the opportunity to make choices about what to read

d) improvement of reading skills 

Caveats

a) a lot of messy, sometimes inappropriate content

b) distracting factor of social networks

c) the need to work a lot in front of the computer screen and not paper, which some people (including me) find demotivating

No one knows what the future holds. However, it's relatively easy to assume that blogs will most probably enter the field of education as well. Will they prove to be effective triggers of learning? With all the irrelevant but attention-grabbing and easily digestible information floating all over the net, I am a little uncertain of whether the learners will be able to concentrate on more serious and intellectually demanding topics.  In any case, time will show.