Saturday, January 31, 2015

To blog or not to blog? That was MY main question

Back in the mid 2000's, I started to see a proliferation of blogs and was interested in creating my own. My biggest concern or inquiry was how often I would have to update it--and the thought of it made me stay away from initiating the project. I would often equate writing a blog with keeping a personal journal. When I was a teen, I kept my journal but I didn't write on it often so I felt I was leaving something out and I didn't like it because I felt "guilty". If I felt I would have to keep up with my blog on a regular basis and be concerned with what to post to keep it updated, the task was going to become a burden. Knowing myself-- the project was going to end within a month. As predicted, I started a blog that had one post and never resumed it until today (the original post was deleted by the system).

I found answers to the question of the title of this post to blog or not to blog in a gradual basis when I started reading resources about about PNL and PLE. An excellent ebook, in Spanish though, is called Entornos Personales de Aprendizaje: Claves para el ecosistema educativo en red by CastaƱeda and Adell. Ebook about PLE (In Spanish)
Steve Wheeler is also big on PLE and I learned a lot from his tweets and blog entries, this is just one of his entries Steve Wheeler's blog
I have just finished reading the book Digital Literacies by Dudeney Hockly and Pegrum.
Finally, one of the most illuminating insights I got came from reading Greg McVerry's blog entry about PNL in this week's discussion of learning event#2 from Walkmywoldproject . What I like about this post is that he clearly explains the uses and relationships between Twitter and Blogs in a way I have not seen before. That is, a Twitter is a medium to share ideas and to get to know what others are discussing. A Blog, on the other hand, is a place to reflect on what was collected so as to take a pause on what was posted, receive feedback and interact with others through our writings.

I am happy to say that I understand the reasons underlying the use and practices of keeping a blog. I am thrilled to start a new year with this project that will gradually strengthen my PLE and PNL.

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