The Learning Circuits Blog: The Big Question for October: Should All Learning Professionals Be Blogging?

Tony Karrer has written an interesting post over at the The Learning Circuits Blog raising the question "should all learning professionals be blogging". I'd encourage you to head over there and get involved in the debate.

If I'm forced to answer the question as it's asked "Should all learning professionals be blogging?" I would probabaly say no. Why should they? Blogging is an interesting phenoma, it's something I actively encourage people to do and I've learnt a great deal from both reading and writing blogs. But why should all learning professionals be blogging any more than they should all be presenting at conferences, producing papers, writing books or sharing their views, opinions and knowledge through any other medium?

I guess (and it's just a guess) that the question is based on the assumption that blogs are a useful learning tool and should be embraced by all in the learning community. It's my belief that blogs can be a useful learning tool, but only if it suits you as a learner. I would say the same about elearning, books, face to face courses and any other learning intervention you care to mention.

Would I like to see more learning professionals blogging? Yes, definitely. But then that's hardly surprising because I enjoy reading blogs and find them useful. Specifically I would like to see more real learning practioners blogging, as opposed to those that have a vested interest in promoting a particular product or technology, or academics whose views are often interesting but are impractical in the bottom line focussed world of the modern corporate.

I think it will be a long time before we see that many more learning professionals blogging. Why? Well, and here's another unsubstantiated theory; it strikes me that people that blog also read blogs, and therefore probabaly have a preference for or at least some liking for informal learning. Most people I meet in the field of learning are still stuck in a very formal mode of both delivering and receiveing learning. They don't get what blogs are about and possibly never will. We just need to encourage them towards retirement.