The ABCD of Edublogs 1

About the first question we do not need a long answer over here. All of us surf the internet for any topic of interest and what we get as the result is a Google search page which contains some entries on the topic. We open the first one or sometimes the next and try to find out our answer. So what do we actually open? 

We are most likely to open a website with either a page content or a blog content. Let us see in brief the difference. Every website is a collection of pages that we call webpages. Every webpage contains some content, usually in text and image combination or sometimes only text. Thus what we read is a piece of content. 

When the content is longer, as long as an article, and when that article is updateable then that is posted in another section of the website popularly called the ‘Blog’. Actually a blog is just a part of a website, which contains contents, in textual, visual, audiovisual or audio format. Article-like contents are posted in this section from time to time. The author may choose to update any article for better and fresher information. Modification is an inherent property of a blog. 

Thus a website needs to contain some content, often in large volumes, and it is for multiple important reasons. A website is opened keeping two separate entities in mind. One is the human readers of the website and another one is the machine readers from behalf of Google. But both need the same important thing and that is the content, not just any content but high-quality and relevant content. 

Thus we see the importance of content and why people run blogs on their websites. The next question is even more hard and specific to a particular cause. 

The answer to this question can be a simple one liner or can be a whole book. We do not have so much scope over here but can have a few lines more, over the one liner and we will try that. Let me first get into the one liner, then we can get into a few lines more.

Blogs are contents written by writers and read by readers, all of whom are educated as expected. So naturally people from the education world would like to write and communicate through blogs. Already we write essays for our language class assignments. We just need to write a little better essay and publish it, then that will easily become a blog. 

Well that was the simplest and compelling reason to write an education blog. But there is more to say on this. 

Edublogs by its name directly imply to blogs that are written for educational purposes. They are usually written by teachers or students or people related to education. But why should they write blogs? 

People write because they need to express. They have something to speak to people, often at large, and then they choose to write in any medium. Traditionally there were mediums like the books, newspaper and periodicals, radio and television, and so on. Now they have added more mediums like websites, internet blogs, social media posts and so on. 

You may ask when I am talking about writing then how the radio or television can be mentioned over here? The answer to this is simple. Whatever one speaks there is nothing but content. Sometimes people make a script of that before speaking it there. So that script is the piece of written content. Sometimes people may choose impromptu, still that is also content. In all those ways one expresses the same thoughts and ideas that he or she is supposed to write if asked for. 

Thus we need a medium to speak to people. There are many mediums but not all are equally accessible. Even on the Internet there are so many websites where not anyone can write if he or she wishes. Print mediums are usually more costly and restricted. Broadcasted mediums like the television and radio are also very inaccessible for most people. So what is the most readily available alternative? 

The answer is self owned websites, blog sites and social media. These are a few mediums that are far easily accessible and affordable for most people. That’s why today we see such widespread popularity of blogs and social media. 

It is not that all these are only for good. Neither is it right for anyone to speak anything in the public media like blogs or social media. It takes a great sense of responsibility on individuals as well as social impacts with writing to the media. And nowadays that is where we are falling short. 

Still, the websites social media have done too much good to us. So we are not entering into any comparative study anymore. On this the concluding remark will be the message to every media contributor to realize and understand the social and individual impact and associated responsibilities of the contributor. We need to have the right purpose, with the right expertise on the subject or topic to contribute. Otherwise we can consider it as a kind of media pollution and misuse. 

The same equally applies to the domain of education blogs or edublogs. Every student and teacher do have the right and freedom to contribute to the Internet media through edublogs and social media but that has to be done with utmost care and responsibility. Otherwise all the good purpose of such writings and contributions can get diminished. 

Thus it is not necessary or even justified to write about anything just because there is an accessible and affordable medium at hand. Before writing, one has to consider what purpose that writing is going to meet, if at all the reader  will read that, and if at all there will be any benefit (especially academic benefits in case of edublogs) for the reader, on reading it. 

If the reader does not have benefits or sometimes as we can even see more damages than benefits, then it is better to not write or propagate such contents. So if the writer is confirmed and confident that the reader will be benefitted, then it has the right purpose for writing any blog or article content as edublog. 

Hence before writing anything for the edublog it is essential to search and list all the direct, indirect and colateràl effects of that writing on the readers of whom mostly will be students and teachers. If the writing holds significant benefits for the readers then that deserves to be published. 

Above I have discussed enough on the ideal purpose and benefits of the edublogs. But yet we have not discussed the actual benefits of education blogging or edublogs on the students as well as on the teachers or perhaps on the whole academic ecosystem.

Edublog benefits can be divided into categories depending on the writer to reader setup. Let us see the different sets of  writer-to-reader setup – 

1. Student to Student
2. Student to Teacher
3. Student to Parent
4. Teacher to Student
5. Teacher to Teacher
6. Teacher to Parent

These different setups of writer-readers will render different sets of purposes and  benefits.  

Student to Students

Students would like to share their thoughts, views and creativity to his or her peers and fellow students. This can become a motivational factor for the student writer to read more resources, learn more, think more on different subjects and try to write more and that also with a creative as well as with an attractive note. That will enhance the reading skills and writing skills of the student writer.

On the other hand, the student readers will feel interested to read the views and thoughts of their friend or fellow student, and will tend to support or oppose it. For both support or oppose they have to engage into critical and system thinking processes. And that will be a good practice of mind and intellectual faculties. Also many students will also get inspired in reading and writing, seeing their friends are doing it well and earning name and respect. Those who are less confident, they can feel better and more inclined to participate in these kinds of extracurricular academic activities.

Student to Teachers

This is perhaps the most important communication regarding educational blogs for a school student writer. At this early age, and at the very incubation time of academic career, impressing the teachers and earning good name and favors from them can become a great award in the life of a school student. For them it can be no less than winning any topmost international award on their talents of writing and domain thinking (domain is the subject or sector of knowledge on which the blogs are to be written). 

Once a student starts getting attention from teachers by his or her writing, then it can be almost assured that he or she would continue writing with even more zeal. For attaining even higher quality of thinking and writing, the students will work harder to build up their language power as well as domain knowledge range and depth. Because they will be knowing that if they can write even much better then they will enjoy more support and admiration from teachers and not only those who teach his class but probably the whole teaching staff room. 

And the main and foremost question and purpose of edublog being the brain faculty growth as well as academic growth of tbe student, so anything in that direction that will happen as the result of the edublog is highly desired, welcomed and nurtured. 

There are benefits of teachers also when his or her students will love writing his mind on the pages of blogs. Considering the truth that teachers are not there only to complete textbook chapters and take evaluation tests, there is much more to expect from a good teacher. And thus every good teacher likes to know and understand what their students are thinking and how developed their knowledge and ideas are. And accordingly he or she can support the student for even better academic and career development. Thus edublogs can become a vital interface between teachers and students, which can make students more familiar and understandable by the teachers. 

Student to Parents

Now this is just the part of name, fame, acceptance and admiration. Everyone carries a wish and hope to get known by doing or performing something great or even at the scale of heroic. Everyone needs his or her limelight. And edublogs offers school students with just the concept of more limelight even at those early career days. After getting known with peers, other fellow students and teachers, there remains a wish of the writer to reach an even greater reader circle and get accepted and admired by them. That will contribute a confidence boost directly and a motivational boost indirectly for the writer students to write even more and even better. Thus their own parents as well as other students’ parents though being outside of the edublog endeavor can contribute enough important roles and participation. 

Reader parents will also have much to benefit from student blogging. They will know their child even better and more easily. What they are reading, what they are thinking, what they are believing, and much more are on offer for the parents in the edublog package. So there is nothing to lose and only to gain when they read their childs as well as his friends and fellow students’ blogs. They really come to know those students even better overcoming the obstructions of generation gaps and often education gaps. 

Teacher to Student

Edublogs are not only written by the students but also equally or sometimes even more participated by the teachers. And the content that comes from teachers are usually with more quality and purpose. Each content comes with a specific target audience and a specific purpose with much more professional touches. 

One of the most important purposes of teachers to write blogs is educating their students through blog articles. This is an alternative way of delivering content to students other than usual textbooks and class notes. This is more flexible and often very effective also. Students would like to read blogs on their study curriculum, they will feel interested and excited if those blogs will help them to learn a subject better and score on that in their exams. 

Often teachers upload video tutorial contents beside regular text contents and such combos can become very popular and helpful to students. Usually there is a comment section kept for students to write feedback and comments on the subject of the blog. This works as a kind of discussion board. This type of topic based online discussion board between teachers and students promotes even better teacher-student interaction. This can help the teacher to know and assess his or her students’ strong points as well as pain points even better and thus help them accordingly. This way edublogs can work as a boon to many students.

The continual growth of content development and delivery can help to continue growth of domain knowledge and expertise for a teacher. With that the teacher will be able to explain and teach a topic even better combined with more improved language and delivery skills. Thus the quality of blogs as well as classes taken by the teacher would keep improving day by day, which is again another enormous benefit for his or her students. 

Teacher to Teacher

Teachers also like to get admired and approved by his or her fellow teachers and school or college administration. They also need that for their own professional career growth. Teachers usually have very little scope to reach to other teachers and administration with their quality of teaching and content delivery. Traditionally those activities are limited within the boundaries of his or her classes. 

But with edublogs the scope of reaching audiences outside the class grows exponentially. That can be other teachers, students other than his or her particular classes, the members of administrations and even the parents. This enhanced range of audience can give more scope of recognition and popularity on the basis of his or her expertise in domain knowledge and expertise in content presentation and delivery. This will undoubtedly add more values to his or her teaching career in all possible ways. 

There is another salient point in teacher edu-blogging. Often we see that a professional quality can increase through some sort of healthy competition. This type of healthy but mild competition can be present between teachers in the arena of edublogs. Every conscious teacher would like to produce and provide more and more quality content to his or her students and create a new standard. Other teachers will also try to follow the trends. In that way, there will be possibilities of academic growth as well as teaching quality enhancement of the teachers. The ultimate benefits will go to the students and that is the best point of all. 

Teacher to Parent

This is another feature of teacher edublogs, though quite less featured than the above two, still not ignorable. Teachers can use edublogs to create academic influence on parents, to educate them in various academic sectors, mainly in concern to student performance and welfare. Thus edublogs can become a bridge between all the stakeholders of the holistic education ecosystem, that includes the students, teachers as well as the parents. This integration can be useful and very beneficial for holistic growth in academics and education.