Blogging is a way to communicate with the world. You can vent to complete strangers or comment on someone's discoveries. Whether you choose to blog about recipes or class assignments, information is being shared. Blogs can be used in the classroom to discuss a specific topic and add supplemental links to additional resources. Libraries can use blogs to teach patrons about databases or how to use e-readers and download digital libraries. The possibilities are endless.
I decided to comment on my previously written 23 Things I was curious to checkout one of the other 23 Things blogs and came across IPL's 15 Things. The first activity was blogging. So, I boldly went where many people have gone before and wrote on entry on IPL's blog:
My entry on IPL's blog is about my recent experience at the 2011 ALA conference in New Orleans. I was given the opportunity to sit in on some incredible sessions, view extraordinary documentaries, and listen to some humbling speakers. Being a librarian I thought it was important to share this information with other librarians. Thus, blogging allows us to share information and hopefully encourage others to do the same.
I think blogging is a good learning tool to create a medium for people to share information and learn how to do this through a technological forum. At the library I work at we allow teens (grades 6-12)to compete in a summer reading program where they can receive raffle tickets to win and iPod Touch everytime they write a book review on our blog. They have a template to fill out on our website and they then submit their book reviews for the world to see. In return, the teens can view other book reviews submitted by their peers: http://mclsteenbookreviews.wordpress.com/
Information literacy instruction can be explained through blogs. Blogs can allow instructors, libraries, and users to participate in a blog from anywhere in the world. Not only are they globally accessible but for the most part blogs are free. As Click and Petit (2010) highlight there are many different free blogs that librarians can create to help with teaching and training information literacy and library instruction. They further explain that most students today are already familiar with web 2.0 technologies and are ready to engage with them in a class or library setting.
Thus, blogging can be very beneficial for the instructor, student, and the professional. Blogging can begin with just text and then expand by adding visual content and other web 2.o technologies. Communication and collaboration are created and broadened by the simple development of words, lessons, visuals and even comments that turn into discussions all thanks to a blog.
Click, A., & Petit, J. (2010). Social Networking and Web 2.0 in Information Literacy. International Information & Library Review, 42(2), 137-42. doi: 10.1016/j.iilr.2010.04.007
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