WEBLOGS AS AN EMERGING GENRE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Weblogs are genres that support the creation of an autobiographical internet presence and development of a critical intellectual voice. A blog is an internet application genre / tool that is a modern version of diary entries presented in chronological format, which provides a platform for the development of critical, individual voices within the context of internet resources and it consists of hyperlinks to other internet sources. Weblogs can be used for entertainment or academics. Weblogs have become regarded as a valuable genre in higher education contexts and as a source of quality content due to its relevance to particular topics and themes.

There are many values of weblogs in higher education. Firstly, weblogs serve important roles in the approaches towards knowledge and language acquisition of many individuals, thus improving the comprehension of students. The weblog format helps to organize the reader’s online experience which can be of special assistance to students struggling with new material. Therefore, weblogs production and consumption can help students place various emergency hypertext variations with older media in the boarder context of media ecology. They may also stimulate student interest in larger notions of the social construction of information as well as presentation of self, individuality and critical commentary, and it also discourages plagiarism by making it less attractive. However, weblogs provide a useful antidote to classroom problems concerning plagiarism and can be used to stimulate discussions on certain matters. Weblogs may awaken interest in the intellectual production among students by providing a new way of presentation, a way that inspires the development of a distinct and individual voice within a broader context of discourse, thus encouraging creative writing among students. Lastly, weblogs can be used by educators/lectures to assess or evaluate the student’s proficiency in the English language, as a place to give and submit assignments and the students’ comprehensiveness.

My experience with blogs as a student started last year and it was not by choice I started blogging, but it was for academic purposes. I have to say that my experience was bad at first and I hated the idea that I had to submit an assignment online and share it so that people can be able to read it and give comments on what I have written. My reason for this bad attitude towards submitting assignments using the blog was because I thought weblogs were informal, could not be used for academic reasons and were a good excuse for lectures to give students extra work. It would be arrogant of me not to admit that the scales have fallen from my eyes, thus I now see that weblogs can be used for anything, either for academics, to socialize, to form a movement or for charity etc.

Weblogs can be improved and introduced to students in order to make them a meaningful learning tool for students using them as a place to submit assignments and extra work.  students should be exposed to social media and weblogs before they get to higher education institutions so that they are not blank slates when they get to tertiary. Students can be given tasks to publish their creative writings, short stories and diary entries about the parts of their lives they want to share, this will improve the students’ English competence and improve their use of grammar. Submitting work online encourages students to research their work and deliver quality work, thus improving the students’ ability to look for relevant information for their article. Students will be exposed to more reading and that will improve their vocabulary. Weblogs can allow students to explore their passions and educators can use it to evaluate the students in terms of development.