Blogs for workplace learning Part I

I have been on the lookout for case studies on the use of blogs for learning. I came across several interesting and innovative instances of blogging in a school/university set up, but I haven’t been as lucky with workplace learning. Interestingly though, I found that several school/university blogs could actually find similar application in the workplace. This post will reflect on how some of these ideas can be migrated to learning in a corporate set up.

For starters, blogs can be used either in a structured training set up, or it can be used for informal learning, where employees stay updated with the latest in their field by following a set of blogs. These form a part of their Personal Learning Environment. But I’ll come to the latter category of blogs in my next post . This post will look at a more controlled and formal use of blogs, the kind that can be used in a training program.

Trainer blogs:

Trainer blogs can be used to disseminate information. Useful links (to other blogs), quick announcements and assignments can be posted on a trainer’s blog. The trainer can also use his/her blog to document the material used for each class, so that it can be used either by trainees who were absent for session or by future groups of trainees. Also, if trainees are aware that content is being recorded, they may actually spend their energy listening or participating in the class instead of jotting down notes. Trainer blogs could also be used as a forum for discussion, where the trainer could blog about a specific issue or simply throw open a question and get trainees’ to share their opinions on it. The trainer blog also gives space for learners to ask questions, and those questions remain public and can be accessed by everybody taking the course.This mode of blogging is also particularly useful when the trainer gets to meet students only for a few days in the year. The blog then becomes a great way to enhance a course and constantly stay updated on what more his students require in terms of information, tools and guidance.Lawrie Phipps from the University of Leeds did precisely this to overcome the difficulty of being unable to meet his research students very often. You can read about his experience of using blogs in the class room and can access his blog at this link: https://elgg.leeds.ac.uk/elg010/weblog/

Therefore, a trainer blog functions as a Learning Management System (LMS), only much easier to use and access. But this is still a very limited use of blogs.

Learner Blogs:

A more dynamic way to use blogs, is to have learners maintain blogs, where they can post their reflections about the course in general, submit written assignments, and throw open discussions of their own. The current day learner constantly looks for feedback, and wants his/her work to be read and discussed. Blogs are an ideal platform for this kind of learning, it takes away the need for an instructor to evaluate a learner’s work. Instead, learners can read, comment and discuss each other’s views, which encourages discussion-the spirit of blogging. The trainer then has to only monitor groups of blogs on a periodic basis, to ensure that learners are constantly updating, exchanging and evaluating their ideas. These also work well for online courses, where there is no class room to bring students together at one point.

I came across an interesting research paper by Jeremy B Williams, titled Exploring the use of blogs as learning spaces in the higher education sector.While the first part of the paper speaks about blogs in general, their origin, and the nature of the tool,the latter part carries an interesting study of a blog being used in an MBA class. The results of the online questionnaire that followed the study is worth a look. The study concludes that students found the use of a blog to be very effective learning and teaching aid. It also gives some direction about how blogs may be effectively used in a class room.