Of course, I’m even worse at commenting on comments on my own blog, but I do think it’s important. Although we all know the author of a blog most likely reads all the comments, by leaving a comment I’m always hoping to start a conversation with the person that prompted my thinking (the author of the post). If the author never responds, it feels an awful lot like a one-sided conversation (guilty as charged).

I definitely think our students don’t really understand the concept of blogging as conversation. I know they easily adapt to using new tools, but I’m not sure they really understand the concept of a two-way conversation. At this point, I think my students (elementary) are just excited about being able to put their voice out there. They are so surprised to see that someone would even be reading what they write, that they don’t even think about responding back.

Also, the concept of responding on your own blog to a commenter is counter-intuitive to them – how are those commentors going to know there’s something new for them to read? Unless they understand comment tracking and RSS, it seems a bit strange to leave comments for others on their own blog.

This is all a lot easier to deal with when you’re using a common space like a wiki or Ning discussion forum where everyone can see the threaded discussion, but it’s just a little more confusing when it comes to blogging.

I agree that it does take mindful practice. Carla, thanks for sharing the idea of the Writing Matrix– I found this link about your work (http://tesl-ej.org/ej44/a3.html) and wondered if this is what you were referring to, using Technorati to track posts as a way of students building connections with each other’s blogging?

While our project was more involved with discussions on a wiki, I could see where using tags with wikis could also provide them with excitement and energy as they see how their work “connects” outside the campus.

Karl, I’m going to hunt for that option on edublogs–not sure they’ve added it yet, but it’s a useful feature.

Cathy–I think I’m just sort of re-realizing the impact of me re-engaging in the conversation later.

Now I have to add the tech tools that will get others to return to the site

I also continue to be interested in specific ideas for working with students to become more reflective and interactive in their online discussions, whether they are on wikis are blogs. What environmental things do we need to create in the classroom to help encourage that (or in the school to encourage staff to participate)?

This is particularly true for my blog, since it was initially setup as a place to continue the conversations in my staff development efforts. I wanted the teachers in my staff development – as well as others that might drop by – to be able to drive the conversation somewhat, so I tried only to reply when asked a direct question (or when I just couldn’t stand it). Ironically, because my blog started reaching a wider audience, my own teachers started commenting less, thereby nullifying part of the original purpose of the blog (unintended consequences at its best).

The other issue, of course, is how often folks who comment check back. Blogger recently added the option where a commenter can get emailed every time someone comments on the post (if they choose, it’s a checkbox) and I think that has the potential to help the conversation part a lot. If Edublogs has that, you might consider turning that on. (I think that may have also contributed to the increase in comments on Will’s blog lately – I’m not sure how long he’s had that option but I don’t remember it being there originally).

As far as students are concerned, I think we definitely need to talk with them repeatedly about how to be a full and active participant in their network, even if their network is small and perhaps contained to a class set of blogs/wikis. This is a new skill for all of us, and an important one, and I think too often teachers and students don’t see the value in it until that “participatory conversation” piece kicks in.