Blogs and forums
Some differences between blogs and forums
- Blogs-with-comments allow students to read material and then decide to contribute or not as they wish.
- Linear (non-threading) forums might be better for a structured activity or ‘turns taking’ discussion – student posting is required by the discussion format.
- Blogs with comments switched off (like this one) can be used as simple ‘update’ pages to keep students informed and to provide links to resources easily.
Blog | Forum |
Here it is | Your turn |
Comment if you want, not required | I’m not done until you reply |
My blog is my back yard | A forum is a park |
Readers – just reading is OK | Lurkers – just reading is not participating |
All about me | All about us as a group |
Onus on me to post | An empty forum is a group issue |
Source: Lee Lefever in Common craft blog. |
- I picked this train of thought up from a blogroll link on the O-Journalism blog
- The Blogsperiment pedagogy blog has an article comparing forums and blogs for use with HE students
- The Blogsperiment article links to an ealier post by Lee Lefever in Common craft blog.
I found out about O-Journalism after a routine visit to the College by a Media lecturer from the local University – who happens to be one of the authors. A subsequent e-mail had the link to the blog in the signature…