EduBlog Insights

use of Internet technology to facilitate interaction, communication,

and collaboration is well documented but its use in establishing and

developing “personal voice” as part of learning is also now being

addressed through the use of blogs. Finding personal voice as a

pedagogical method is important to establish learner identity and

focus, and journaling has long been recognized as an effective way to

provide space for this to occur. The blog, however, provides a context

in which personal voice can be “published” by the student, which means

that attention is given to content, relevancy, and connection with

learning outcomes to a higher degree than a traditional journal

submission. The idea that more than one person will view the work is

quite powerful in promoting a sense of ownership from the student.

Teachers can also benefit from “hearing” the personal voice of their

students to begin to really understand the learning path of each

student through a course.

blogs were uses as a reflective tool and each student recived a grade

for their blog. The grade was based on the number of posts, not on the

content. Students were to reflect on course readings or personal

experience. The conclusion was that students found this more of a

“chore and were focused only on completing it for the grade. The

instructor’s comments were included. Those are interesting and lend

insight into the study. This instructor felt it is important to model

reflection and provide more guiding questions for the students. The

next plan is to try to use blogs to support more ownership of the

context from the students.

In the second study blogging was used as a journaling tool but was

optional. Out of 25 students, only 3 chose to blog. Those three enjoyed

the convenience and visual permanency of the blog. They discovered that

it made their sequencing easier in terms of thought progression. The

instructor felt that students within a class sharing their blog with

specific individuals t prompt response could be encouraged to support

small group connection and student-to-student support. He thought this

could probably provide more learning support than discussion boards

and/or chat.

The third study consisted of 27 students who blogged. They were in a

first-year creative writing class and were to blog twice a week on any

topic that interested them. A few times the instructor gave them a

topic. No grade was assigned.  Most students enjoyed this at

first, a few didn’t like it, five were very excited about it. One hated

it at first but is now hooked and continues to blog. This instructor

enjoyed blogging and checking student blogs. Blogging will contine next

semester.

In the fourth study 6 students participated in a language support

group. The project will continue next semester and be assessed more

carefully. Students have found that a blogring is helpful in staying

connected.

Summary and Recommendations from the article:

but it’s a beginning. I am glad to see these type of studies coming

out. The good news is that they are going to continue the studies.

They are also going to attempt to better prepare each instructor by