Teachers using blog homework to further classroom discussions

"Dude, Aaron, mind if I use your computer?"

It's 10:03 on a Saturday night and Cole Wilson, a senior at Faith Lutheran High School, is scrounging for the nearest computer to get his blogging assignment in before the midnight deadline.

Aaron Granati, a junior at Bishop Gorman High School, gladly lets Wilson use his computer, despite not quite understanding why he needs it so desperately.

Blogging, a social trend popular with everyone from teenagers to older generations, has been introduced in schools as a method of discussion.

And, more and more schools are adding blogging as a homework assignment.

"To be honest, I'm not even sure what blogging actually abbreviates," Granati says.

A blog, the shortened version of the word "Weblog," is an online written work by an individual, which is posted on their profile for others to read and comment on. There's a blog for just about any subject imaginable.

Through a communal Web site, students typically have around a week to post their initial response to a discussion question posed by the teacher. Students are then expected to respond to posts made by other students.

"I'm not a fan of English but the blogging itself wasn't too bad," says Billy Marino, a senior at Palo Verde High School.

Teachers believe that blogging is a way of connecting generations. Students learn textbook facts in an environment they understand and even find entertaining. Schools are trying to keep up with the fast-paced technological world and reach out to what really interests their students. Many companies are focusing much more on the Internet; blogging skills are on their way to becoming important to finding and keeping a job.

But some teachers believe that instead of challenging students, blogging is making it easier for students to become lackadaisical about their assignments. Instead of coming up with their own ideas, students can copy and reword other responses or copy and paste from another Internet source. However, teachers have found ways around this problem.

"Blogs are meant to be reflective, not just students regurgitating standard answers," says Jonathan Orr, educational technology coordinator of Faith Lutheran.

Rather than asking questions that elicit a yes or no answer, teachers ask discussion questions that cause students to formulate opinions.

Discussions that are usually done in the classroom now have been moved to a technological forum.

"Class discussions have more emotion, but blog discussions require a more thorough knowledge of the subject," says Alexa O'Hanrahan, a senior at Faith Lutheran.

"Blogs are the extension of the classroom; they're not supposed to be the classroom," Orr says.

Blogging is a means of enhancing the learning environment. Students who are shy about speaking up in class might be more comfortable blogging.

"People don't really make fun of your opinion when it's in a blog," O'Hanrahan says.