With the increased popularity of blogging, blogs are becoming an integral solution for most universities. Blogging can be harnessed to impart learning in a variety of ways-as collaborative learning environments, as platforms to share subject information, and as generic information centers.
By allowing users to share and exchange ideas, or work together on a problem-solving task, on a topic by posting comments, blogging helps to enhance learning and critical-thinking skills. It also provides personalized Web environments where students can join discussion forums with their class or group and have greater flexibility of study as well as self-expression. For example, journalism students can use the photo-sharing option to capture and exchange breaking news and events on the go.
The University of Minnesota's UThink blogs are a library of almost 900 blogs written by more than 24,000 authors. These blogs, available to the faculty, staff, and students of the University of Minnesota, are intended to support teaching and learning, scholarly communication, and individual expression for the community. The popularity of UThink can only be gauged by the number of comments, which exceeds 100,000 in all.
Blogs are an ideal place for students and faculty to exchange questions and answers. Blogs can also help prospective students get a sense of the university environment they are considering. An interesting example is the Des Moines University or DMU blog. The blog, called Dose of DMU connects with readers through a light-hearted message, "Readers of this blog are guaranteed to see healthy growth in the 'which medical school is best' and 'why Des Moines is cool' sections of their brain." Run by the marketing and admissions team with contributions from students, the blog offers information to current and prospective students on news in medicine, events and student life at the university and local news and events. (Continued) | 
