Differences between Blogs and Discussions

In a recent faculty presentation, Barbara Berg and Terry Buxton shared their experiences on using student blogs for service learning. Barbara and Terry discussed how they used blogs to capture student reflections on experiences outside the classroom in support of various service learning projects. During the presentation , an audience member raised the question about why they used a blog rather than a discussion forum. Discussion forums, the audience member said, provide a similar environment within the LMS for students to post thoughts and for other students to provide comment. Blogs, on the other hand, have the same feature sets as discussion forums but may not be as easy to use. So why use blogs?

The audience member brought up valid arguments for the use discussion forums, an established communication tool, for the posting of personal comments. So what warrants the use of a discussion forum rather than a blog post? And when are wikis appropriate? Wikis are text-based and can provide a resource for the posting of information similar to blogs and discussion forums. 

A quick search of differences uncovered a great blog (how appropriate!) post succinctly describing the differences between blogs, wikis and discussion forums. The post is titled Differences between blogs, wikis, and discussion boards, and many thanks to blog author Cynthia Medina for compiling this useful bit of information.

Blogs are used as personal journals, where outside comments can be added but are not expected. The intent of a blog post is more informational rather than persuasive. Thus, Barbara's and Terry's students could use a blog to provide personal reflections on their service learning experiences. Fellow students could add comments but this was not expected.

Discussion board posts are more collaborative than blog posts. Comments are expected in discussion posts and in fact, are many times required by the instructor in a class situation. The intent of a discussion post is to persuade and support a position or statement.

A wiki is a living document or set of documents that are used in a collaborative setting using multiple authors. There is an expectation that a wiki will be added to, modified and otherwise become a group project. The intent of a wiki is information sharing.

Be sure to read Cynthia’s entire post for a better understanding.