Ruijie Zhao
Department of Humanities
Parkland College
My examples and analysis of the potential of blogs to foster reflective learning and teaching is a conditional or situational discussion. This meaningful negotiation and communication, first of all, requires that instructors be reflective learners. Ng, et al. (2009) claim that “teachers must be reflective so that they will always find purpose and direction amid a sea of changes and not implement changes merely for the sake of change or because of top-down policy directives” (p. 201). With the emergence of various digital tools and with the trend to integrate technology in education, instructors need to be purposeful and reflective in using an effective pedagogy as they design an effective curriculum to support students’ learning. Blogs, as a participatory and connective tool, actively connect instructors to other participants in the class, allowing instructors who practice feminist pedagogy to act as guides, evaluators, connectors, and peers during students’ postwriting stage. Torrens and Riley (2009) conclude that “learning in cyberspace offers itself as an innovative and effective tool for the university as a whole, which will lead to more active classrooms, more engaged students, and, in the long run, to the ongoing development of responsible, articulate citizens” (pp. 232-233).
I assume the endorsement of feminist pedagogy because without treating students as a source of knowledge and respecting the dynamics they bring to class, instructors may not implement blogs in teaching, let alone use them strategically to produce positive learning and teaching outcomes among students and instructors. Likewise, implementing blogs in teaching does not automatically suggest feminist pedagogy. It is the interactive, democratic learning space that feminist pedagogy potentially fosters that cultivates blogs’ collaborative and interactive potential during the postwriting stage.
Likewise, blogs, or other Web 2.0 technological tools, do not promise democratic and collaborative learning. These tools need to be used appropriately to create an interactive, collaborative online learning space. The correlation between technology and feminist pedagogy in this context has been an engaging area for many. Torrens and Riley (2009) say:
Feminism in cyberspace . . . fosters student knowledge, voice, cooperation, reflection, and autonomy— all central goals of our feminist pedagogy. Furthermore, we would like to think that a feminist pedagogy is appropriate to foster substantive, legitimate, active learning and community building not only in cyberspace but across the curriculum as well. (p. 232)
Torrens and Reiley reiterate how pedagogy impacts learning goals and how feminist pedagogy promotes active learning. Torrens and Riley (2009) advocate that “students have important, legitimate roles as meaning-makers in the classroom” (p. 230). When students are treated as knowledge makers rather than mere recipients, they are motivated to create new knowledge. While actively reflecting on their learning experience, they have opportunities to explore their earlier assumptions to form new perspectives.
When these reflections take place in a blog-mediated environment, students not only have the opportunities to enjoy the freedom to share their earlier assumptions and new perspectives with other members, but also enhance their writing skills in a digital environment. This sharing, in turn, yields other dialogue, subsequently improving students’ communication skills. If feminist pedagogy is not applied in a writing class that introduces blogs, the central goals of the class may not be the fundamental goals of the class. In fact, when students’ knowledge or learning styles are neglected by the instructors, the cultivation of their digital literacy skills will be ignored.
The acknowledgement of students’ learning styles, and the effort to give students causal blog writing assignments as a supplement to formal academic writing reflect, knowingly or unknowingly, the feminist pedagogical approach that instructors try. Even when blogs are chosen as a strategy to assist students in the postwriting stage, technology itself does not ensure democratic and interactive learning. Only when students are treated as the center of education, can instructors innovate their teaching practices and implement powerful tools to assist their students. When feminist pedagogy is utilized, both instructors and students are prompted to be active learners. The mission of the instructor is to promote active learning among students, and in order to do so, students’ knowledge, creativity, reflection, and voice should be the primary concerns of the educators; otherwise the innovative tools might lose their power, and in the case of this article, the potential that blogs have to promote democratic learning will be undermined.