Informal ways of learning increase the value of pedagogy. Use blogging to engage students in discussion, exploration, and discovery.

Graduate students now have more opportunities to assess new knowledge by talking about theories and writing their examples in blogs. Blogs can extend learning beyond the classroom and encourage graduate students to think of applications of the theories they have learned during class hours. Exceptional ones will find a virtual way to expand their wings, so to speak, while the average and the slower students can find their own pace without boring each other.

Each graduate student can create a blog, as supervised by the professor. The professor develops the assignment for the students to cover in their blogs. Students are then required to read each other’s blogs and entries and make three substantial comments per week or every two weeks. This will ensure participation and more importantly, this will validate students’ contributions to each other’s progress in learning.

As more professors use blogging themselves, they can assess the students’ practical knowledge in a less intrusive manner. When reading their professors’ blogs, graduate students expand their horizons beyond what is happening in the classroom.

Above all, blogging can create a greater sense of community among the graduate students studying a particular course and between the students and the professor handling the course.

Students’ peer-review capabilities can contribute to increased understanding of the course content.