Let’s face it. There are a ton of tools out there instructional designers can have in their arsenal. Believe it or not, blogging can be a great tool to incorporate in instructional design. Yes, you heard that right. The most popular web 2.0 tool of the 2000’s can help make training and courses engaging and exciting.
Using blogs in instructional design
One of the most important aspects of learning, more so in eLearning, is regular effective contact. The most noticeable missing element in an online course is the lack of student-to-student and student-to-instructor contact. We can incorporate blogging as a discussion and allow the learner to collaborate, reply, and reflect on blog posts. Students can exchange ideas, express themselves, and help each other by commenting on each other’s posts (Abdul & Tasir, 2020).
When students create a blog, and are allowed express themselves, we create a deeper connection with them. Taking the role of a blogger let’s the student write freely and promote social interaction with others (Parry & Hracs, 2020). Two additional ways we can expand the knowledge and skills of learners with blogging are by connecting them to a community of what they are blogging about, and encourage self-reflection on the blogs posted by others. By incorporating blogging in our training or courses we allow the learner to engage in a creative space and in the process acquire new skills and knowledge.
Additional Resources
Check out a few resources below if you want to start your own blog or grab new ideas on how to use blogs in instructional design.
- Medium.com – This website lets you create blogs and connect with the Medium community in any topic. It is great for beginner bloggers and it’s completely free.
- Using blogs in Instructional Design – This resource gives you ideas on how to use blogs in a classroom. It also explains the pros and cons of using blogs with students.
References
Abdul Kadir, N. I., & Tasir, Z. (2020). Students’ perceptions and information-sharing patterns in learning authoring system course through blogging. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 15(19), 187–199. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v15i19.10950
Parry, J., & Hracs, B. J. (2020). From leisure to labour: towards a typology of the motivations, structures and experiences of work‐related blogging. New Technology, Work & Employment, 35(3), 314–335. https://doi.org/10.1111/ntwe.12179