blogs more successful than discussion boards

A few days ago Sara Jameson emailed me and asked why blogs are more successful than discussion boards. This was my reply:

I can’t be completely certain as to why a blog is generally more successful than a discussion board – but I’ve noticed that it’s the case in other things I’ve read as well. Here’s a few reasons I think why:

1. You have to log into blackboard. It’s more of a hastle than just checking a blog and hitting comment. A blog serves as its own space, not part of blackboard, which seems to be a lot more “institutional.”

2. A blog is public. Discussion boards (especially on blackboard) are private – only the class can read them. On a blog, they are public – and often, our journal entries can be posted there, which turns something very private (and made private so that it is safe) into something public, but still, as Lowe and Williams argue (Into the Blogosphere) something still relatively safe and risk free.

3. Because it is public, I feel (and Rebecca Blood as well) that students can gain confidence in themselves – they have authority.

4. Because blogs are especially designed to be responses and filters, making posts responses to other texts is often helpful. For example, in Lisa’s class, we often responded to the class texts on the blog and discussed them. One teacher’s blog I read (I can’t remember whose) suggested that students go out, find a blog or website or something that interests them, and post about it as an introduction.

5. Blogs are social, whereas discussion boards feel like assignments. I think that Lisa’s first assignments for us, to blog about ourselves and introduce ourselves to the class, was great.