Bud Hunt makes an interesting observation about the potential value of student personal journalling (Xanga, LiveJournal, continuing– for the sake of argument– the idea that a blog and journal represent somewhat different genres) if it is tapped into by the educational system.

But I think that there’s something more important that these journals can be useful for in schools. But not all schools — only those schools that are interested in students as human beings instead of products to be completed or vessels to be filled.

Even without the potential value that this insight into students lives provides, I believe that the acts of blogging and web journalling (even moreso than personal journalling, which is also useful) have an intrinsic value. This is why the aspect of “practice” that Bud quotes from my post is so important to me. I mean practice in multiple senses– as a skill to be learned, and in the Zen manner of a way of being.

Regardless of what we do with/for/to them, the public act of blogging can be an important one. It is a place for synthesis and reflection that has very little outlet in our educational system. It is a practice which encourages understanding ourselves. In my classes blogging isn’t really about the curriculum, it is about learning to be a better learner, a better student, a more demanding thinker unafraid of carving out a little bit of personal space.

If we can tap into that to provide more benefits, that’s great. A single comment from the outside often precipitates the first “Aha!” moment when a neophyte blogger feels the excitement and obligation that comes from being transformed from a consumer of what is given to a participant in the process and community. But tapping into this network in an overt way to create value isn’t strictly necessary…

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