Can blogging change the traditional classroom?

Educators cannot teach one way, test another way, and expect positive outcomes.--Patricia Deubel

Blogs and testing are two controversial topics in educational learning for the 21st century.
What do blogs do for the student in the classroom?

1. They encourage students to write and reflect about a topic.
2. They break down barriers between student and teacher and home and school time.
3. They may be motivating in terms of their access to technology.
4. They engage readers in a conversation about the content/topic.
These are all good things.  These are all ways for students to explore content and new technological advances in learning technology.  Who wants to write in a black x white composition notebook anymore?  
Here's a good example of how a blog can be motivating to a student.  My own child, J, who has learning disabilities recently spent the past week at home due to cold and flu season.  After a few days, he was utterly bored consuming television and watching Youtube videos.  As I was putting together the template for this blog, I asked him if he would like to start a blog about his favorite things.  I had forgotten that back in 2008 his sister had actually set up a blog for him and lo and behold as soon as he signed onto blogger, his blog appeared!  He hadn't touched it for two years, but was eager to update it with three reviews of his favorite DVDs.  Wow!  He is not a writer.  But, he loves his computer and everything about it.  He spent about an hour writing his short reviews--three separate ones--and pushed the publish button.  An incredible sense of satisfaction came over him--not just in seeing his words in print online, but in updating his blog, making it even more fun with new design elements and automatically sending it to family and friends.  Hours later when he went on his email, he received numerous congratulatory notes from his fans letting them know that they had read and enjoyed his blog.
The anecdotal story above, I think, illustrates the power of technology for students and especially for students who DO NOT learn in traditional ways.  In "Educational Blogging" by Stephen Downes EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 39, no. 5 (September/October 2004: 14–26) the author notes that a blog, "in its purest form, the core of what has come to be called personal publishing."  The blog is the ultimate form of hypertext--"the capacity to link to new and useful resources."  Blogs can, according to Downes:
1. replace standard class web pages; 2. provide useful links and resources; 3. can organize in-class discussions; 4. can organize class lectures and summarize reading; and 5. act as vehicles for reflection. All of this is clearly a great way to engage students on a topic.  
However, this new form of software as used for educational purposes is not without its problems as Downes notes with these questions:  What happens when a free-flowing medium such as blogging interacts with the more restrictive domains of the educational system? What happens when the necessary rules and boundaries of the system are imposed on students who are writing blogs, when grades are assigned in order to get students to write at all, and when posts are monitored to ensure that they don’t say the wrong things?  By telling students they have to write on a blog for a grade--do we get unthoughtful blogs full of spelling and grammatical errors just to complete the assignment?  And, if students are "prompted" to write via specific assignments, does this really count for a blog?  I want to note that, if assigned properly, blogs can and should extend the learning and knowledge of a student by asking or maybe, forcing, them to dig further on the subject matter topic.  By writing about a specific topic about, for example, Rome, students can then attach pictures of what a gladiator looks like, link to a view of The Colosseum and more.  I think this is a much richer way of learning about a topic than by filling out a xeroxed sheet about Rome (which was a recent assignment for my child).  
If blogging is ultimately a way of the future--engaging, motivating, fun for the student and allows him/her to be in charge of accumulating and assessing knowledge on a topic--how do we now view testing a student with an online mechanism?  The answer is: vastly different.  In "Are we ready for testing under common core state standards?" by Patricia Deubel from The Journal on September 15, 2010, she notes that there are challenges with asking students to perform well via online testing methods.  Deubel states, "There are two major concerns in connection with the rise of CCSS online testing. First is the need to expand the technology infrastructure within schools. Second, learners need greater opportunities to engage with technologies they will encounter within the online testing environment. Given that teachers play a key role in learning and preparing learners to succeed on state standardized tests, regular technology use in classrooms will be essential for success of online testing."  So, we are faced with a double-edge sword--students can be using technology--at home and/or in school, but still, if the school is not updated with a well-equipped computer lab, network, and teachers who feel confident about using technology in the classroom, then, ultimately students will not be able to perform adequately on standardized tests using an online format. She notes, "If instruction does not involve all teachers integrating technology, then the playing field for learners to have had sufficient school-time experience with technology use is uneven, which might then impact learners' ability to successfully complete questions of an online test. There's nothing new in saying that teachers will need help with technology integration. We've been saying this since computers were first introduced in schools. However, new national assessments involving online tests that will be developed by SBAC and PARCC make this more imperative than ever."
In all, we can facilitate technological learning for our students by asking them to use it: practice makes perfect.  However, if the classroom learning environment is not adequately supported with teachers who feel confident in using new technologies and with classrooms that are well-equipped and supported with new computers and softwares, then we are ultimately failing our students.  Using technology for students and then testing students in an online format, must go hand-in-hand if it is to work properly.  Ultimately, the more students can use technology, the better off they will be in actually functioning in a digital world.  Daily life for everyone is being technologically changed--from banking, to libraries to checking out at the supermarket--all people must use technology and have a certain amount of comfort and ease using it.  If we don't expose our students to the latest in technology, they, ultimately, will not be able to function as independent adults in life.  And, that's even more important than performing well on a standardized test.