How to Raise the Blogging Generation

WordPress can provide a deeply engaging educational experience for high school and college students.

Today’s students need no introduction to the digital world: they have cut their teeth on online gaming and moved on to creating complex identities on social media. And while younger generations are but a few steps away from mastering the digital world, the debate on its inclusion into the classroom is still raging. Nevertheless, there are educators whose exploration of the disciplinary frontier goes well beyond the mere championing of digital citizenship. There are educators who introduce their students to WordPress.

A safe, friendly environment of the content management system (CMS) is a great place for children to learn higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). Almost everyone who uses WordPress remarks on the feeling of freedom granted upon its users by the platform. The multiplicity and versatility of themes and plugins are the immediate – and most obvious – allures of the system. Mastering even a tiny percentage of WordPress’ offerings requires and an exploratory attitude and rigorously logical thinking. The platform’s users are rewarded for if-then approach to learning, which is one of its powerful, albeit subtle, effects. That assumption has been backed by a host of cognitive studies as well as real-life cases. The success stories of schools adopting the CMS underscores the fact that educators need to recognize the strategic importance of adopting new curriculum approaches to match individual learning needs of their students. This, above all, favors learner-centered education enabled by tools like WordPress.

Another powerful use of WordPress as a learning medium is blogging. Several studies have been conducted to explore the effect of incorporating the communication technology into a traditional learning environment. It has been established that WordPress blogging has several explicit benefits for students (Zinger and Sinclair, 2013). On one hand, blogging is digitally-mediated reading and writing, the importance of developing which is self-explanatory. On the other hand, commenting augments peer interaction and allows students to create common knowledge and understanding. As such, the two facets of WordPress’ blogging dimension contribute to the development of self-directed learning.

Further insights on the issue can be garnered from a longitudinal study in which 130 students were asked to use WordPress blogs for a semester (Quesenberry, Saewitz, and Kantrowitz, 2014). The overall experience of using the new educational approach was positive across a few crucial course-specific outcomes. Blogging encouraged communication and facilitated group work. It helped students to feel connected and more prepared for real-world experiences. That’s being said, there are several barriers to WordPress-based learning that must be considered by educators. The integrity of students’ submission is the primary one. There is also a concern about privacy, which is often voiced by teachers who oppose outside participation in class discussions. This notwithstanding, the majority of educators agree that the ability to create a WordPress blog translates into a competitive edge in the job market (Quesenberry, Saewitz, and Kantrowitz, 2014). Therefore, the introduction of the instrument into a curriculum should be a core part of modern digital skills development plans.

Ahead are recommendations for adopting WordPress as an educational tool:

1. Integrate blogging in the course design;
2. Inform all learners that a blog is public;
3. Make blogging a required assignment that counts toward the final grade;
4. Encourage professorial participation in blogging and commenting;
5. Make private areas for individual projects.

Website building capabilities of WordPress can and should be used for tangible educational gains. However, for the benefits to transpire, the educators should keep a light hand on the platform and allow their students to tilt it into the direction they like. Luckily, the opportunities for educational use WordPress are virtually limitless.

John Keisler is an educational consultant and contributor for free essay writing service