My First Blog Post - Blogging on the Move

Well, this is the start of a new and interesting journey for me.  Who knows where this will go.  It's exciting and slightly terrifying at the same time.  But all journeys start with one small step.  So here we go!

Step 1:  I suppose I should start by explaining my context, why I'm writing this blog and what I hope you, my readers, will get from sharing in my journey.  (With that in mind, please do make use of the comments facility below - an important part of this learning journey will involve listening to your thoughts and experiences in order to broaden and challenge my own thinking.  All I would ask is that comments are made in a mutually respectful way).  

I'm writing this blog from the point of view of an educator.   I studied my undergraduate degree with the Open University (UK) and went on to work as  a literacy practitioner in the FE sector.  I've worked in the field of adult learning for some twenty years now and the next stage in my learning journey is to complete my MA in Online and Distance Education with the Open University.  So this blog will both help me to understand open online learning in terms of my own development, but also hopefully enable me to share my thoughts ideas and practices with others so we can learn together.

I should be clear at this stage that the views and opinions that I express here are entirely my own.  But as the image above shows, my aim is purely to openly share thoughts and best practices with my colleagues worldwide working in the education sector.  

That wasn't so bad...  I've taken the first step.  

Step 2:  As part of this first blog post I wanted to experiment a little because I had always thought of blogging as a process which involves painstakingly sitting at a computer for hours composing your thoughts before agonising over whether to publish or not.  For myself that was a dreadful thought, not least compounded by the anxiety of how well received my blog might be.  What I learned today was that it doesn't have to be like that.  I'm sitting simply jotting down these thoughts on a mobile phone using a blogging app.  The app I use is...

(It's free and I find it very user friendly.) 

But thats what I wanted to share.  Today I had a conversation with a colleague who used blogging with one of her students.  Suddenly this opened up a new line of thought for me.  Blogging on the go!

I suppose this idea links in to the mobile learning aspect of e-learning.  But, pedagogically I think it goes much further.  Connectivism (Siemens, 2014) is a theory that suggests learning is about making connections - connecting neurons physically in the brain, connecting concepts through cognition and connecting people to learn from and with each other.  But perhaps there's another layer - connecting learning and real life?  It struck me that perhaps this approach to blogging has the potential to enable learners to write about their lives and connect their learning to their life in a meaningful way.  

Xiao (2019) wrote an interesting paper on the use of "Mobile Phones as life and thought companions."  It is in this respect that I envisage using my blog, to record my thoughts where, when and as they happen.  My whole blog entry here has been recorded on my phone, something simple to do using a free app but so effective in enabling me to record my thinking and my ideas, my good days and my bad days without the need to wait and synthesise my thoughts later in reflection.  I can record thoughts in draft form, on the move and later synthesis a more considered article for posting.  

It struck me however that there might be specific benefits for vocational learners by making use of the capacity to capture videos/photographs of practical work and reflect on the learning process of refining their skills over time.  For learners from diverse cultural/ethnic backgrounds perhaps this approach could generate opportunities to build a culturally responsive curriculum providing learners and society in general insight into the experience of life within other cultures.  Moreover, such approaches have the potential to bring mobile learning from the educational margins to within the grasp of mainstream practice by addressing digital literacy in a simple, relevant and socially connected way.

While I'm inspired by this idea, I acknowledge there are also disadvantages too.

Yes, there are people within society who experience specific barriers who can't access a mobile device.  There are also those who don't have the digital skills to operate the device.  Moreover, there are learners who may not be ready to face the challenges that writing and blogging publicly and openly may present.  These specific barriers are significant and not to be underestimated.  Educators must give these issues consideration before using such approaches with their learners.  

But they are beyond the scope of this blog post.

What I would like to know is whether any other educators use mobile blogging apps with their students?  What's been your experience?  Any practitioners from the FE sector, your thoughts would be most welcome?  Any literacy practitioners? Please, if you have any constructive thoughts or comments to share please use the comments facility to contact me - making such connections is a big part of my learning too.  

You can follow me on twitter @McintoshMclean.

References

Siemens, G. (2014)  Overview of Coonnectivism - Dr George Siemens [Online].  Available at: https://youtu.be/yx5VHpaW8sQ ( Accessed 5th November 2020).  

Xiao, Z. (2019)  Mobile phones as life and thought companions [Online].  Available at:  https://www-tandfonline-com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/doi/pdf/10.1080/02671522.2019.1601757?needAccess=true& (Accessed 5th November 2020).