As at every
educational level blogging has been used in a variety of way and for a variety
of purposes. In their 2009 paper, Classroom
Blogging in the Service of Student-centered Pedagogy: Two High School Teachers’
Use of Blogs, April Luehmann and Robyn MacBride add to the empirical
support for blogging at the high school level by providing an in-depth
descriptive study of two classroom blogs. This study led the researchers to
identify six complementary “blogging practices” that was educational benefits.
These are:
1)
Sharing resources – i.e., teachers or students posting
information and resources related to the course (including links connecting to
such resources) on the blog.
2)
Eliciting and publishing students’ responses to teacher
prompts – i.e., teachers posting questions the students are expected to respond
to using blog posts or comments.
3)
Recording lesson highlights – i.e., student providing
summaries of what took place in class as well as explanations of the concepts
explored.
4)
Posting learning challenges – i.e., teachers posting
“extra” problems or questions students may choose to engage in if they want a
challenge and inviting students to share their answers / solutions, reasoning,
and experiences with the challenge.
5)
Reflecting on what was learned – i.e., students posting
their reflections on what was learned across a unit as well as how these
learning opportunities were experienced (metacognitive reflections)
6)
Engaging in online conversations – i.e., students and
teachers engaging in synchronous online informal conversations on-line using
chat boxes and often using instant messaging language (not available for
viewing).
At the elementary level, blogging
has also proven to be an effective educational tool. In their 2007 study, Collaborative Blogging as a Means to Develop
Elementary Expository Writing Skills, Wendy Drexler, Kara Dawson, and
Richard Ferdig provide evidence of the benefits of blogging. Their study
focused on a group of third graders as they completed a five-paragraph essay
and online presentation of a Native American tribe. The results supporting
blogging indicated that (1) collaborative blogging improved students’ attitudes
toward writing; (2) feedback generated from the collaboration, rather than the
use of technology itself, increased students’ motivation to write; and (3) collaborative
blogging improved students’ writing and supported development of related skills
and knowledge.
Other (unintentional) beneficial
results from blogging were also noted by Drexler et al. These included students
transferred knowledge learned during the collaborative project to other
academic and social facets of the classroom; students’ technology skills
improved even though official technology-related instruction was not provided; students
developed visual literacy skills as they transformed the essays into online
presentations; and collaborative blogging enabled differentiated instruction
while ensuring success for each student.
Luehmann
and MacBride (2009) in a literature review on classroom blogs recognize that
the activity of blogging, due to its context and features, has been argued to
offer bloggers access to a number of potentially valuable learning resources.
While not all of these benefits may occur for students participating in a
classroom blog, a number of authors have written specifically about the
educational value of using classroom blogs, suggesting the following teaching
and learning affordances:
·
Facilitating reflection and/or revision of one’s
work.
·
Extending conversations and interactions outside
of the classroom.
·
Increasing exposure, accountability and
recognition of one’s work.
·
Facilitating access to resources.
·
Participating in professional discourse.
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