Blogging is dividing the academic community into the avant garde and the sceptics. Those in favour claim that the social networking tool has important business applications. Those against accuse it of discouraging free and frank discussion.

As Web 2.0 technologies including blogs, wikis and networking websites, push the boundaries of communication, business schools have to decide whether to dive in and experiment or consolidate around tried and tested technology.

Chris Dalton, director of studies for the Henley Business School distance-learning MBA, is in favour of pushing the envelope. “Students entering university now expect to communicate and research online. Although our distance learning MBA cohort tends to be in their mid-30s and more used to e-mails than messaging, they quickly get used to our e-tutor environment.”

Henley's communication is on a virtual learning environment or VLE. This is a secure, password-protected intranet on which students download resources, submit assignments and communicate with fellow students and lecturers. Dalton says: “We ask them to keep learning journals - weekly diaries in which they record their thoughts about their course reading. We encourage people to comment on each others' ideas.”

Dalton believes that blogging supports personal development, an assessed element on the Henley distance-learning MBA. “Blogging is a good habit to get into,” he says.

Clive Holtham, professor of information management at Cass Business School, disagrees. “We don't use blogs. A lot of what you're trying to do in higher education is to build an individual's confidence. Not all students would be comfortable with it.”

Holtham fears that a hasty or ill-thought out blog could leave the individual open to ridicule. Wikis are a different proposition, however, and he is an enthusiast. “There is a huge difference between a blog and a wiki. A blog is very personal while a wiki is impersonal. With a wiki, you've got a totally different mindset; it's the work of multiple voices.” Groups of Cass MBA students use wikis to work collaboratively on projects.

Holtham accepts that, with the right controls in place, blogs can be a valuable tool for testing ideas. He says: “The top 10 per cent of blogs are excellent and get all the hits, the rest get zero. A successful blogger becomes part of a web of activists.”

Blogging is in its infancy in terms of business-school learning and few MBA courses follow Henley's example. However, those that have embraced the technology include some of the biggest names. Harvard, Wharton and IMD are thought leaders and in the UK Henley and Warwick use blogging to improve student interaction on distance learning.

Imperial College Business School has developed a Web 2.0-based programme for its weekend executive MBA designed specifically around the needs of time-pressured students working from home. Meanwhile, Saïd Business School at Oxford University and Durham have incorporated student blogs as a marketing tool on their external websites.

Business schools are also experimenting with Web 2.0 to encourage collaborative communication. ESC Lille claims to be the first French business school to use Google Apps and Google Docs software that enables internet users working remotely to study a research paper or a discussion topic in real time. Students can comment on the document and edit it and save the versions of the work.

Kingston Business School sees blogging as the next stage on from online discussion forums. Andreas Panayiotidis, lecturer in management information systems, explains: “We use our secure Blackboard virtual learning environment as a platform on which teachers create forums for discussion. With Blackboard you have the option of keeping part of the blog private.”