IntroductionData reveal that most blogs are self-referential, and while an expressivist ambit has merit, this webtext argues in favor of utilizing the blog platform to assist students in projecting a disciplinary and professional identity online. The Arena of
Educational Blogging A Course Built on BloggingA taxonomy of educational blogging reveals an array of approaches, but the focus here is on a course wherein each student creates an individual blog that is thematically governed by his or her academic major and/or future profession. Educational Blogging as a Professionalizing ExperienceThis section provides evidence from students' blogs, as well as the observations of scholars, to demonstrate the impressive results that can arise when undergraduates post on current and consequential phenomena in their fields. Community, Costs, and Benefits in the BlogosphereThough there are challenges and risks to being heard in the blogosphere, the goal of nurturing students' scholarly and professional personae online yields the possibility of real visibility and valuable contacts. ConclusionWhen blogs are thoughtfully employed, these digitized collections serve as a valuable pedagogical tool, and may contribute to the establishment of a deeper and perhaps durable scholarly and professional identity in the students who produce them. References and Links

Educational Blogging:
A Forum for Developing Disciplinary and Professional Identity
Geoffrey C. Middlebrook
University of Southern California

The Arena of Educational Blogging

Jan Schmidt (2007) was undoubtedly correct when he said of blogs, "people make use of the format in various ways, contexts, and organizational settings," and as such "we can speak about 'the blog' only in a very general sense" (p. 1410). For that reason, I would like to define my terms and establish the claims for what has come to be known as "educational blogging." Aggregating the assertions of Stephen Downes (2004), Rebecca Blood (2002), the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (2005), the Support Blogging! site and other resources, my position, which will be reinforced later by exemplification, is that this educative use of the blog apparatus helps students to find a voice and develop interests in a medium that appears to have life and longevity; motivates student engagement in conversations about their ideas and positions; provides students with an opportunity to consider the tenets of responsible writing, since there is at least in potential a wide and authentic audience; empowers students and stimulates the initiative to write; and engenders information sharing, reputation building, and personal expression. Evidence exists to bolster at least some of these declarations. Though a Pew study found that rates of blogging have decreased among teens and young adults (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, & Zickuhr, 2010), Amanda Lenhart (2008) and her co-authors discovered that those who do blog are "prolific writers online and offline" and recognize that writing is essential to their success in later life (p. v).

Given its promise, an increasing number of academicians understand the opportunities afforded by educational blogging. Among them, Edward Maloney (2007) speaks of the inherent vitality in the blog platform: "The […] stars of the second-generation Web," among them blogs, he said, "encourage a more active, participatory role for users," which is consonant with "current approaches to learning, including student-centered and active-learning models" (p. B26). On a related point, Jean Burgess (2006) is convinced that blogs have the capacity to "contribute to a reconceptualization of students as critical, collaborative, and creative participants in the social construction of knowledge" (p. 105), and may moreover assist them in "developing literacies and competencies that are appropriate for the technological and social environments in which we all now work" (p. 106). Additionally, Henry Jenkins (2006) and his colleagues see blogs as an important component in what they call "participatory culture," whose access and mastery shall help to determine "which youth will succeed and which will be left behind as they enter school and the workplace" (p. 3).