Most students are already familiar with using blogs on sites like MySpace to record thoughts, meet people, and keep in touch with their friends. But blogging is slowly making inroads into university classrooms – some even require you to keep and update a blog as part of course requirements. Not only are blogs useful for letting friends communicate and stay in touch, but in a classroom setting they are encouraging student-to-student learning, allow communication between a course instructor and their students, and generally make writing more exciting for learners at any level.

Case in point:

Take a second to check out this link which is a blog for the Wooster School community – notice that all of the current student bloggers are listed in the blogroll. Teachers are hoping that the eighth graders will learn to communicate on a higher level with one another through this medium that instantly publishes their ideas, giving them an immediate audience for what they wrote.

Here are a few quotes from eight graders taking the plunge into the blogosphere:

When I heard that we would be 'blogging,' I had no idea what it was. Once I learned about how we would be writing our own articles and opinions on the internet, I was very excited. I like when teachers give you freedom to express yourself.

Blogs show me how to really express myself when I'm talking about my personal feelings and also how to give proper instructions. It was like presenting to the audience directly. I had to have everything on point but still try to make everything sound good and fun.

In the past my family would ask me what I'd done at school, and I'd just give them short, vague answers. By reading my blog, my family was able to understand what I’d done that day and we could discuss it at the dinner table that night.

Impressive? I’d sure say so…

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