Blogs versus Discussion Forums
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Discussion forums are
similar to blogs in that they are websites where an individual can post a specific
question or idea and readers then post their responses. Discussion forums are
being integrated more and more into higher education curriculums through online Learning
Management Systems (LMS). Mansfield (2017) compares and
contrasts some of the most popular LMS systems used by higher education
institutions, all of which include online discussion forums.
According to Madsen (2008), forums are much more democratic than blogs, in that the original poster does not take ownership of the conversation like the author of a blog. The conversation thread is often long with many posts that have varying degrees of relationship to the original question or thought. Typically there is not a single "owner" of the discussion; all authors are equals. Response posts on the discussion forum are rarely archived or externally managed (unless they are reported as offensive). It is similar to a collaborative working group or idea-sharing round table discussion, but there are no consolidated "minutes." Discussion posts are generally not searchable, as there are no tags, however if the discussion forum website is public it may searchable via a search engine by key terms related to the topic question.
This Connected Principles blog describes the work of Clark and Kinne (2012) regarding the experiences of online graduate learners through the lens of social learning theory. The pros and cons of blogging are compared to online discussion threads. Generally, blog posts were viewed as more personal and "less academic" by students, who found that through blogging they more easily connected with their peers and developed online communities of practice. Students reported that their discussion forum posts were very academic, more formal, and less personal compared to blogging (Clark & Kinne, 2012).
Higher student motivation was reported for blogs compared to online discussion forums (Clark & Kinne, 2012). Students were more likely to feel validated and empowered through blogging; the empowerment of student voices was amplified in instances when teachers hyperlinked a quote from their students' blog in their own posts (Carter, 2011). Students experience freedom of expression through blogging leading to more creative and expressive opinions or points of views in their posts (Santos, 2011).
Additional "pros" to blogging include free or low-cost access, wide availability, global access, and ease of creating interconnected, well-referenced posts through hyperlinks (Santos, 2011). Thaung (2018), a medical educator, recommends blogging as an user-friendly, "ad hoc" way of sharing medically-related teaching cases and materials (p.49).
Some of the disadvantages of blogging are that students need to maintain and update their blogs frequently to avoid "dead links" (e.g. hyperlinks that no longer connect). For students that do not intend to maintain their blog after a class is complete, there may be difficulty with archiving the blog; it could remain searchable in public online space.
Privacy and security of
students are the two biggest concerns associated with blogging, particularly as
it pertains to adolescent and childhood education. Witte (2007) highlights how
her middle school Talkback Project was temporarily shut down by the school district
due to concerns about a student's post that included information related to his
personal living arrangements. In medical education, there is the concern that
patient information may be accidentally divulged in public online space
creating a breech of patient confidentiality or medical-legal
consequences.
To mitigate security risks, blog posts can be created using pseudonyms to preserve privacy and provide some anonymity. It is important to recognize that some learners may still feel uncomfortable posting their original, individual thoughts in a public blog that is open for criticism regarding their new or developing understanding of subjects that are they are still grappling with. Discussion forums managed within the university's LMS are generally viewed by students as safer (yet more restrictive) spaces for learning.
Quality of posted information is another consideration. In LMS discussion forums, the facilitator of the course is the final judge of quality, appropriateness, and scholarly "worthiness" of the student's posts. For this reason, students often feel more pressure to post highly-referenced responses to the discussion boards (Clark & Kinne, 2012). In some instances, blogs are slanted towards personal opinion or are poorly resourced, and thus it is important for students to learn to evaluate and critique the information found in blogs for scholarly merit. Thaung (2018) reports a major barrier to blogging for the medical community is lack of peer-review; many academic clinicians do not consider blogs worth reading for this reason.
References:
Carter, T. J. (2011). Blogging as reflective practice in the graduate
classroom. In K. P. King & T. D. Cox (Ed.), The professor's guide to taming
technology. (pp. 89-104). Charlotte,
North Carolina: Information Age Publishing.
Clarke,
L, & Kinne, L. (2012). Asynchronous discussions as threaded discussions or
blogs. Journal
of Digital Learning in Teacher Education, 29, 4-13.
Connected Principles. (2012, October 3). Blogging vs Threaded
Discussions in Online Courses. [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/6431.
Oravec, J.A. (2002). Bookmarking the world: weblog applications in education. Journal
of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(7), pp. 616-621.
Madsen, L.
(2008, March 20th). Blogs vs wikis vs forums. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubdhy4oOMcM Inc.
Mansfield,
M. (2017, September 27). The Best Learning Management Systems in Higher
Education on Pagely. [Blog Post]. Retrieved from https://pagely.com/blog/learning-management-systems-in-higher-education/.
Santos,
A. N. E. (2011). Blogs as a learning space: creating text of talks. Contemporary
Issues in Educational Research. 4(6). pp. 15-19.
Thaung,
C.(2018). Blogging for medical education -a personal view. Journal of
the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 48(1), pp. 48-49.
Retrieved from https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/sites/default/files/jrcpe_48_1_thaung.pdf.
Thanks for your insight Wildcat Blogging Newbie. I appreciate your distinction concerning forums, especially that there is no ownership of the discussion, but rather opens a conversation to be shared with others. While blogs and other forms of communication online, such as discussion groups, forums and learning management systems create an opportunity to share information, ideas and legitimize expertise (Clark, 2012), much can be lost in those opportunities of dead links and other disruptions occur. Much effort needs to be taken to make sure information is up to date and not lost to time. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteClark, D. (2012, December 21). If you're serious about ideas, get serious about blogging. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2012/12/if-youre-serious-about-ideas-g
JaiMenon, I'm happy that you highlighted this part of my post in your comment. One of the aspects that I do like about blogging is the hyperlinks. My perception of a blog increases when the hyperlinks bring me to other quality information. It helps me to evaluate or legitimize the ideas of the author/blogger. I agree with your comment that "much effort needs to be taken to make sure information is up to date and not lost to time." I find this to be one of the greatest disadvantages of blogs, as I imagine it can be very time consuming and difficult to go back update prior posts. Websites are evolving continuously. It seems like there is grace in other written publications when referenced websites no longer exist. It does seem important for bloggers to be diligent about ensuring hyperlinks remain active in order to keep their credibility and keep their audience of followers engaged.
DeleteThe summary you provided to introduce the structure and differences between blogs and discussion boards was helpful in highlighting some of the more foundational differences between the two. The insight that you closed with, that in the medical field much isn't peer reviewed and many blogs can have a personal bias, resonated with my experience reading blogs in the past. Many blogs are funded on the back end by media companies, or feature content paid for by the product. Bloggers with a strong following are given products for free to review, or are paid a lump sum to mention a specific brand. This makes it hard for the reader to know if the words are authentic or if it's no better than a magazine advertisement.
ReplyDeleteIn the area of research, I've heard a lot of mixed commentary. The process specific to medical interventions is long to get a treatment path trialled, written, peer reviewed, published, then spread. I've heard many medical professionals express frustration when there is an idea or a treatment they believe shows strong results and could help people now with no harm if failed, but that will take years to get to market because of the process. I wonder, for treatments that do not have a negative impact if unsuccessful (obviously not rx, surgery, etc.) is it better to get the word out prior to peer review if there's potential to help someone who needs it years before they would otherwise be helped?
Thanks for sharing your insights!
Thank you for your post. I share your sentiments that it is difficult to discern the credentials or motives of the blogger. The influence of pharmaceutical and insurance companies on the medical profession has made many physicians even more cautious of blog posts as we try to make ourselves aware of undue influence in the information or evidence being presented.
DeleteI really like the second part of your post. I am very active with teaching and mentoring medical students and residents about scholarly activity (i.e. how to navigate the peer-review publication process) I agree with your comment that many medical professionals are easily frustrated with what they perceive to be an arduous and long publication process. My experience is that case reports, case series, and poster presentations are GREAT ways for medical professionals to present new information - like the new treatment example that you suggested. I regularly attend the poster sessions at local, regional, and national conferences - basically trolling for new ideas, new treatments, unexpected or unexplained symptoms, etc. This is the type of "continuing medical education" that I personally find fulfilling.
Unfortunately, within the medical community, I still find that the way to reach other medical professionals with your ideas is through a peer-review process or at a professional event. For case studies, like you described for treatments that do not have negative impacts, case reports, posters or short presentations at conferences are a great way to share this information with other medical professionals interested in the same topic. Case report peer-review process is pretty short (weeks to a few months, compared to other academia). I find that the bigger obstacle comes in the physician finding time to sit down and write about it!
Blogs, in my opinion and experience, have been most utilized by physicians to "poke fun" at serious issues in our medical system, vent or rant. On the positive side, there are many private social media groups that physicians join based on common interests to share their professional opinion or ask/answer the "what would you do in this situation" questions from other medical professionals. For example, Physician Mom Group or Dr. MILK are Facebook pages for female physicians that I have found very helpful. There is a TON of valuable information shared from other female physicians, but it is via Q&A format rather than blogging.
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ReplyDeleteWildcat Blogging Newbie, I guess I hadn’t really thought about the similarities and differences of blogs vs. forums. I can see how in a forum, there’s much more freedom for the conversation to take multiple directions. As you mentioned, “The conversation thread is often long with many posts that have varying degrees of relationship to the original question or thought”. That said, do you think the discussion within a forum is more likely to veer off topic? I have run in to this issue on occasion when searching “do-it-yourself” car forums. I’ll find a thread with information on how to fix an issue with my Dodge Ram truck, and next thing I know, I’m scrolling through 4 pages of people arguing whether Chevy is better than Ford. Personally, I think the use of forums in an academic setting is a good thing, but in my mind, it makes more sense to use them for self-help and self-directed learning such as study groups or Q&A’s. One down side is that it could potentially blur the lines when it comes to academic integrity, especially when students are instructed to complete projects or assignments on their own. Lastly, great post and blog. It’s well organized and easy to follow. My only recommendation is to add a bio so we can learn more about you!
DeleteJake, I definitely agree with you that one of the biggest obstacles of either blogging or discussion boards is academic integrity and identifying credibility of the information posted. Even on academic discussion boards, I have found that the discussion can wonder from the original topic quite a bit. Your example of Dodge vs Ford is a great example of how this gets magnified on public discussion boards!
ReplyDeleteI'm new to blogging. As I become more comfortable with having my personal opinion in public space, I'll consider adding a bio. At the moment, I prefer the anonymity. I don't feel like I have the expertise or credentials in the area of Technology in Adult Education to attach other professional credentials to these posts yet.
Valid point! I also realized that I am probably breaking blogging "code" as I used your real name. Ideally I wouldn't have access to that and I speak more on that in my response to comments on my own blog. Sorry about that and I'll fix it for the future. I can't edit my comment, so I'm deleting the original and I'll post the same comment but with the name removed!
ReplyDeleteWildcat Blogging Newbie, I get a 404 error when I try to follow the link to the Connect Principals blog.
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying the back-and-forth with you and Jake regarding academic integrity and appropriate use of forum discussions. Don't stop! I'm going to follow the thread and lurk for awhile.
Best
--Les
Les,
DeleteThanks for letting me know! I think that fixed it. There was added punctuation into the hyperlink: http://connectedprincipals.com/archives/6431
WOW, I never even though of a blog being that of a keynote speaker, presenting your topic and then open for discussion. I can see how that has it similarities, however, in a keynote presentation, the speaker, a large percentage of the time, answers the questions or provides additional information right then. In a blog, unless the author is monitoring ones blog, it could be a day or two before a response or more information is provided. (I set up my blog to notify me by email when I have a post, and I have not had one email, and I have posts). I feel that it might really be hard to keep up with a blog with every post if you have a job, and school and other life events going on that keeps you from returning often to comment or provide additional information. Honestly for school purposes, I like the discussion boards. It is one place to sign into and post my "thoughts" and comment on others posts, without the need of going to each individual blog to read and then post.
ReplyDeleteI do like that the blogging allows for more of a personal voice, like you can be more authentic, but yet still be professional and educational. However, even if the author is that way, does not meant that others that comment on your blog will be the same like we are required to within the discussions. I have seen some not so nice comments, and if you do not stay on top of them, they tend to get way out of hand.
Resources
Netiquette https://global.k-state.edu/students/courses/netiquette/
Starblogspot- Thank you for your comments. I am relatively new to both discussion boards and blogging, and if I had to vote at this minute, I would also choose discussion boards as they both meet the intent of online collaboration/sharing of ideas and discussion boards win in ease of use and privacy/security. I have also been unsuccessful with email notifications for comments on my blog! I imagine that for a person that is really into blogging and has the function, that they probably would respond to comments pretty quickly, making it similar to key not speaker responses to questions.
Delete