Teaching With Blogs: A Comprehensive Guide

Blogs have been around for some time now, and while they may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of teaching, they can actually be a great tool to help your students learn. In this guide on teaching with blogs, we’ll delve into what blogs are, why you should incorporate them into your teaching, and how to start.  

We’ll also cover some important considerations to ensure the successful implementation of blogging in the classroom. So read on to get some inside tips!

What is a Blog?

A blog, short for “web-log,” is an online platform where individuals or groups regularly publish content on specific topics. This can be on pretty much anything you can think of from travel, health, education, pets, sports, and money.

Typically, blogs display entries, otherwise known as blog posts, in reverse chronological order, with the most recent post appearing first. They often encourage interaction through comments, allowing readers to engage in discussions with the author and other visitors.

Blogs come in various forms, including as part of a website, personal journals, educational resources, news updates, and professional portfolios. They offer a versatile medium for sharing information, expressing ideas, and fostering community interaction, which just so happens to make them great for education!

Why Should You Incorporate Blogging into Your Teaching?

Integrating blogging into your teaching can yield numerous benefits for both you and your students. Here’s why you should consider incorporating blogs into your educational approach:

1. Promotes Student Engagement: Blogs provide a dynamic platform for students to express their thoughts, share insights, and engage in meaningful discussions. By giving students a voice and an audience, you can foster a sense of ownership and motivation in their learning process.
2. Enhances Writing Skills: Writing regularly for a blog helps students refine their writing skills, including grammar, style, and clarity. The informal nature of blogging encourages creativity and experimentation, allowing students to develop their unique voice and expression.
3. Encourages Critical Thinking: Through blogging, students learn to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information effectively. They can explore diverse perspectives, articulate their opinions, and engage in constructive debates with peers, thereby honing their critical thinking skills.
4. Facilitates Collaboration: Blogs facilitate collaboration among students by providing a platform for sharing ideas, collaborating on projects, and providing feedback to one another. Collaborative blogging fosters teamwork, communication, and mutual support among students, creating a vibrant learning community.
5. Cultivates Digital Literacy: Proficiency in digital tools and platforms is essential for all of us, especially young people. Teaching with blogs helps students develop digital literacy skills, including online research, content creation, and responsible online communication.

How to Start Teaching with Blogs

Now that you understand the benefits of incorporating blogs into your teaching, let’s explore how you can get started:

Set Clear Objectives

Define clear learning objectives for incorporating blogs into your curriculum. Determine the purpose of the blog, such as reflective journaling, collaborative projects, or publishing student work. 

Decide whether or not the blog is going to be a specific course blog or more of a general educational blog. Align these objectives with your academic goals and standards. You’ll then need to decide if you’re going to create a class blog or get students to create their own blogs. 

If you can, I’d advise getting students to work on their own blogs. This allows each student to develop their own writing style and get to really understand the blog writing process. I’m an adult and my blog creation and blog writing has changed dramatically since my first blog post, just imagine how much progress you’ll see in your younger student’s blogs.

Select a Blogging Platform

Begin by choosing a suitable blogging platform for your classroom. Options include WordPress, Blogger, Edublogs, or platforms specifically designed for educational purposes, such as Kidblog or Seesaw. Consider factors such as ease of use, privacy settings, and integration with your existing teaching tools.

Take the time to research and select a platform that aligns with your teaching goals and meets the needs of your students. Keep in mind that navigating the learning curve of a new platform can require investment upfront but can pay off in enhanced engagement and learning outcomes.

I personally like WordPress, because although it has a learning curve to it, it will teach your students real technical skills that they can use in their future careers. Many well-known sites are built on WordPress, so if your students master it at a young age maybe they’ll create a great site of their own in the future.

If you decide to go the WordPress route you can get cheap, reliable hosting with Bluehost. 

Show Your Students How Blogging Works

Introduce the blogging platform to your students and explain its purpose and potential benefits. Provide instructions on how to access the blog, navigate its features, and contribute content. Encourage students to explore the blog and familiarize themselves with its layout and functionality.

It can help if you start populating an example blog with content that aligns with your curriculum and instructional goals to show them what is expected. 

Establish Guidelines and Expectations

Establish clear guidelines and expectations for blogging etiquette, including rules for respectful communication, citing sources, and adhering to privacy guidelines. Citing sources is particularly important in academic writing and this can be a great way to start practicing it.

It’s also important to emphasize that students should create their own work and avoid plagiarism. If you ever suspect one of your students is actively plagiarizing or using AI to write for them you can use a plagiarism checker or an AI content detector to find out.

Discuss these guidelines with your students and involve them in creating a set of norms for blog participation.

If your students are working on their own blogs, let them know how many blog posts you expect them to produce each week. 

Encourage students to contribute their own posts, comments, and reflections on assigned topics or class discussions.

Class Blog

If you’ve got them working on class blogs make sure that tasks are well delegated and that all students write something. One way you can do this (if your blogging platform allows for multiple user accounts) is to create accounts for all of your students so that they can all contribute to the blog. You can then review each student’s contribution individually if you choose to do so.

Alternatively, you can put students in groups to work on different blog pages. This can help ensure that the blog entries cover everything that you’ve learned in class, creating a helpful resource that you and your students can refer back to in the future.

Consider posting announcements, assignments, resources, discussion prompts, and multimedia content such as videos or images. Visual blogs tend to be more engaging.

Provide Support and Training

Offer training and support to engage students and help them navigate the blogging platform and develop their blogging skills. Provide tutorials, resources, and examples of effective blog posts. 

Encourage students to experiment with different formats, multimedia elements, and writing styles. You can share various example blogs for inspiration.

Monitor and Assess Progress

Monitor students’ blog posts regularly and provide feedback to support their growth and development. Remind students what they need to do and the goal of the class blog or individual student’s blogs.

Encourage peer feedback and self-reflection to foster a culture of continuous improvement. Assess students’ blogging activities based on predetermined criteria, such as content quality, engagement, and adherence to guidelines.

Important Things to Consider for Teaching with Blogs

While teaching with blogs offers numerous benefits, it’s essential to consider certain factors to ensure successful implementation:

1. Privacy and Safety: Prioritize student privacy and safety when using blogs in the classroom. Choose a platform with robust privacy settings and educate students about online safety practices. Obtain parental consent if necessary and ensure that students are mindful of what they share online.
2. Public or Private: Decide the accessibility of student blogs by considering whether you want your students’ blogs to be public or private. Private blogs are more secure, while public blogs allow for engagement from outside community members, providing opportunities for broader discussion and interaction. However, it’s crucial to understand your institution’s privacy policies and guidelines regarding the release of student work to the public. Take into account factors such as photo usage to ensure compliance with institutional regulations and student privacy rights.
3. Ease of Use: Ensure that your blogging platform is usable for all students, including those with disabilities. Choose themes and formats that are compatible with screen readers and other assistive technologies. Provide alternative formats for multimedia content to accommodate diverse learning needs.
4. Digital Citizenship: Teach students about digital citizenship and responsible online behavior. Emphasize the importance of respecting intellectual property rights, citing sources, and engaging in constructive dialogue. Foster a culture of empathy, integrity, and accountability in online interactions.
5. Integration with Curriculum: Integrate blogging seamlessly into your curriculum to maximize its educational impact. Align blog assignments with specific learning objectives, topics, or projects. Incorporate blogging into existing lessons, activities, and assessments to reinforce learning outcomes.
6. Professional Development: Invest in your own professional development to enhance your blogging skills and pedagogical practices. Attend workshops, conferences, or online courses focused on blogging in education. Collaborate with colleagues and share best practices to enrich your teaching strategies.

A Working Example of Teaching with Blogs

This is how blogging can help with English language learning:

1. Language Production: Blogging encourages active language production, allowing you to practice writing in English regularly. By composing blog posts on topics of interest, you develop fluency, vocabulary, and grammatical accuracy in a meaningful context.
2. Authentic Input: Reading and engaging with authentic English content on blogs exposes you to a variety of writing styles, topics, and language structures. This exposure helps expand your vocabulary, improve comprehension skills, and familiarize you with idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms.
3. Feedback and Collaboration: Blogging fosters a supportive community of language learners and native speakers who can provide feedback, corrections, and encouragement. Engaging in discussions, commenting on others’ posts, and collaborating on joint projects promote collaboration and mutual learning.
4. Reflective Practice: Writing blog posts allows you to reflect on your language learning journey, set goals, and track progress over time. Reflective writing encourages metacognitive awareness, helping you identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement in your language skills.
5. Cultural Insights: Through blogs, you gain insights into English-speaking cultures, customs, and perspectives. Reading blogs authored by native speakers exposes you to cultural nuances, societal issues, and current events, enriching your understanding of the English-speaking world.

Start Teaching with Blogs

Teaching with blogs offers a powerful opportunity to transform learning experiences, promote student engagement, and develop essential 21st-century skills. 

By leveraging the potential of blogging platforms, you can create a dynamic and interactive learning environment that empowers students to express themselves, collaborate with peers, and become lifelong learners. 

So why wait? Start integrating blogs into your teaching today and watch your classroom come alive with creativity, curiosity, and meaningful connections.