How ideas of transformative learning can inform academic blogging

Abstract

This paper looks at blogging by academics and argues that there is a niche role for an academic blog informed by principles of transformative learning. I begin by describing my experiences of blogging, first, as a reader while carrying out my own doctoral research, next, as a teacher introducing blogs to my students, then as a writer of my own journal blog. I suggest that transformative learning principles provide a frame of reference for understanding these experiences, in particular, by offering an idea of autonomy which puts subjective experience in social contexts. I then suggest that academics interested in transformative learning might learn a more engaging style of writing from bloggers.