Developing Sustainable Learning Communities through Blogging

Students have an uncanny ability to outpace faculty ability to master technology. Blogging, texting, flash video and other methods of electronic communication have supplanted more mundane methods of communication. In this paper, it is proposed that instituting a perpetual blog that encompasses a course taught by multiple faculty members will foster a sustainable community of learners with infinite possibilities of collaboration. A common blog effectively links multiple sections of a common course and will remain viable, useful and accessible long after an individual course has ended. Moreover, an effective blog can eliminate artificial barriers between different sections of the same course and provide a foundation for perpetual learning. Finally, the Socratic Method can be utilized as an effective teaching methodology in on-line blogging