Home
July 9, 2025
Let’s be honest, blogging doesn’t always get the credit it deserves in instructional design circles. But when thoughtfully integrated into the learning environment, blogging can do more than just collect digital dust! It can expand knowledge, deepen skills, and transform engagement.
Blogging invites learners to process and personalize information. Instead of passively taking in content, they’re encouraged to reflect, synthesize, and express their understanding in their own words. This kind of active engagement builds higher-order thinking skills and strengthens comprehension, especially when supported by purposeful prompts and scaffolding (Cheng & Lei, 2021).
It also creates opportunities for meaningful peer interaction. Commenting features can transform individual posts into collaborative conversations where learners exchange feedback, share perspectives, and develop communication skills. These interactions help foster a sense of community while encouraging broader thinking and connection to others’ ideas (Wang & Chiou, 2022).
Just as importantly, blogging supports learner ownership. The act of writing for an audience, whether classmates, colleagues, or the wider web, encourages students to take more pride and initiative in their work. They make their thinking visible and connect course content to real-world relevance.
As instructional designers, we can use blogging to support a wide range of learning goals—from reflections to project updates to digital storytelling. It’s flexible, practical, and rooted in research-backed strategies for deeper, more engaged learning.
Because of all this, I’ve chosen to use blogging as a tool for my own growth. To reflect, connect, and continue learning in my craft as an instructional designer.
References
Cheng, J., & Lei, J. (2021). A description of students’ commenting behaviours in an online blogging activity. SAGE Open, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2042753020954971
Wang, Y.-M., & Chiou, C.-C. (2022). Empirically examining the effectiveness of teaching blogs on university course instruction. SAGE Open. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221104782
Comments
Post a Comment