Blogging in the Classroom: Using WordPress Blogs with BuddyPress Plugin as a Learning Tool

Abstract

In recent years, the traditional teacher-centered classroom structure has slowly been replaced with new learner-centered approaches. Engagement and interactivity have become the goals of many teaching philosophies, while inclusion of new technologies has been useful in achieving these goals. These approaches are evident in advertising education. In fact, when it comes to the advertising jobs our students seek, most agencies now look for employees with digital and social media skills. This article looks at the use of blogging in online, traditional and hybrid course structures as a learning tool and for digital skills development. The New York Times reports in "Advertising Companies Fret over a Digital Talent Gap" that ad agencies are hiring for digital at all levels. Allison Kent-Smith, director for digital development at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, says about prospective employees, ''You have to get very close to technology. You have to get your hands in it.'' Are we letting our students get their hands in technology? Doug Weaver, who provides digital training to publishers and agencies, says we are not. ''Colleges and universities are not teaching the skills they need to survive in this environment,'' he says (Vega, 2011). Similarly, Advertising Age reports digital skills are no longer a plus but rather are expected. Mobile and social media are the two areas most in demand and hybrid roles are here to stay. Technology is playing a greater role in the education of college students. The latest annual report on the state of online learning in U.S. higher education by the Babson Survey Research Group reveals that the proportion of higher education students taking at least one online course is at an all-time high of 34% (Allen & Seaman, 2014). The Chronicle of Higher Education's report on online learning reveals that the university system of Maryland now requires undergraduates to take 12 credits in alternative learning modes, including online. The state of Texas has proposed similar rules and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system has pushed to have 25% of credits earned online by 2015. Private entities are also pushing technology use in the classroom. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has made blended learning a cornerstone of a $20-million education technology grant program (Mooney, 2010). The technology now available for the classroom is revolutionizing both teaching and learning. The push to use online technology isn't only coming from the advertising industry and educational institutions. Web communication has become socially and culturally embedded in students' lives. Students not only consume digital content, but also are increasingly creating their own public digital content (Lankshear & Knobel, 2006).

Keeping Up With Fast-Paced Industry Changes—Digital Media Education in U.S. Advertising and PR Programs

“…The contributions to the pedagogical literature on digital media can be divided into two areas: (a) the use of digital media as a teaching tool, such as educators talking about successfully integrating digital and social media tools and activities such as Pinterest, blogs, YouTube, and Twitter into their classroom and out-of-class assignments (Cronin, 2013;Hettche & Clayton, 2012;Kim & Patel, 2012;Lou, 2017;Morris, 2012;Quesenberry et al, 2014;Sandlin, 2014;Wetsch, 2012); (b) the teaching of digital media as the content of a course. Broyles and Slater (2014) examined the major issues affecting the advertising industry and education and recommended that advertising programs should cooperate with other units, such as computer science, big data, anthropology, psychology, sociology, and geography, to educate their students.…”

Exploring Student’s Blended Learning through Social Media

“…Lecturers use WordPress to publish course materials to students. Students create a blog post that a weekly question related to a main topic covered that week (Quesenberry et al, 2014).…”

From Introducing the World Wide Web to Teaching Advertising in the Digital Age: A Content Analysis of the past Twenty Years of the Journal of Advertising Education

“…There are a variety of ways to cultivate industry/instruction parallels. From recognizing the changes that Web 2.0 and 3.0 tools have generated in advertising through user-generated content such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, wikis and consumer reviews (Eckman, 2010;Myers, Czepiec, Roxas & Whitson, 2011;Quesenberry et al, 2014;Scovotti & Jones, 2011), integrating the theory and "soft skills" that advertisers use (Windels, Mallia & Broyles, 2013), addressing the needs of IMC agencies (Beachboard & Weidman, 2013), to approaching advertising effect issues from a critical perspective (Slater, 2003), JAE's research is continuing to help advertising professors create pedagogically sound and industry-relevant curricula.…”

“…Many articles in JAE also apply various pedagogical techniques and trends to advertising instructional methods. Topics of interest included teamwork and collaborative learning (Bichard, Roberts & Sutherland, 2000;Kim, Baek & Kim, 2011;Robbs & Gronstedt, 1997;Treise, Wagner, Minter & Correll, 2004;White & Smith, 2009), experiential learning (Gale & Kreshel, 2006;Greene, 2010;Lewis, 2010;Rosenkrans, 2006;Scovotti & Spiller, 2009), using technology in instruction (Barnes, 1996;Bovinet & Elcombe, 1999;Caravella, Ekachai, Jaeger & Zahay, 2009;Everett et al, 1999;Grau, 2007;Hettche & Clayton, 2012;Kim, 2012;Quesenberry, Saewitz & Kantrowitz, 2014;Wood, Wetsch, Solomon & Hudson, 2009), evaluation and assessment (Hachtmann, Mitchell & Shipley, 2009;McCain & Miller, 2013;Reber, Frisby & Cameron, 2003;Rosenkrans, 2006;Sitz & Thayer, 1996), service learning (Grow & Wolburg, 2005;Zwarun, 2007), diversity and inclusiveness (Chambers, 2003;Rios, 2003;Slater, 2003;Treise et al, 2004) and many other relevant topics.…”