Pedagogical implications of classroom blogging.

Abstract

This paper discusses blogs, as an educational tool. In this paper, the authors discuss the pedagogical framework for blogging in the classroom, the importance of it, and provide a model for implementation. Additionally, benefits and concerns are identified. The authors conclude by making suggestions for future research in this area.

Introduction

In recent years, students have experienced learning in Internet-based activities such as bulletin boards, Web-based research, and communicating with people from geographically dispersed locations (Ferdig & Roehler, 2003; Ferdig, 2003). Most recently, educators have highlighted the potential of blogs, or blogs, and blogging in teaching and learning (Oravec, 2003; Carroll, 2003). Blogs are Web pages often likened to online journals (Blood, 2002), which provide a "soapbox" for people to share their thoughts and ideas (Walker, 2005). Blogs are typically written by amateurs describing first-person experiences; as such, the text stands alone without interference from editors or expectations (Winer, 2003). Where original definitions concentrated on the anatomy of a blog (Barrett, 1999), more contemporary definitions focus on the societal and personal impact of the technology as well as the role of narrative in blogging (Walker, 2005). Winer (2001) posits that blogs are personal in nature and a part of a community and Oravec (2003) adds that blogs make the Internet more "human scale."

Blogs first began cropping up on the Internet in the mid-1990s. Internet-industry workers, then the only ones who knew how to program Web pages, would upload lists of links that they wanted their friends to visit (Blood, 2002). In the late 1990s software companies created the database-driven content management tools needed to run blogs so that non-coders could start their own blogs. When blogging became easier than creating a Web page, it started to become more popular. In the late 1990s there were only about 150 blogs (Blood, 2002), whereas today's estimates find more than 4.12 million blogs (Perseus, 2003).

Blogs Compared to Other Web-based Tools

Blogs have been likened to either Web pages or online discussion forums (Trammell & Gasser, 2004). All are similar in that they are a) computer-mediated, b) contained published messages, c) occur asynchronously, d) and are shared with an unknown public/audience. Even so, blogs are not just Web pages, nor do they perform the same function (Trammell & Gasser, 2004). Blog researchers have suggested the following distinctions between blogs and normal Web pages: the role of the hyperlink (Blood, 2002) and the interactivity it creates (Trammell & Gasser, 2004), frequency of updating content (Blood, 2002), the archive of content (Trammell & Gasser, 2004), and the role of community (Halavais, 2003).

Hyperlinks on blogs are designed to stretch outward into the World Wide Web to bring news stories, comments, pictures, and other items outside of the host's server to the audience. Additionally, the hyperlink is used as supporting information for any claim or commentary that the blogger makes on his page. Through the hyperlink to the source material, the reader can decide whether what the blogger wrote is in line with his or her own beliefs (Blood, 2002). In this vein, the hyperlink creates an interactive experience for the reader and stretches the learning from simply what is said on that one page to other related information on the World Wide Web. The hyperlink can also be used to bring together discussions across blogs and build community. While existing research finds bloggers not fully utilizing hypertext (Herring et al., 2004), it remains an emerging area full of promise.

Winer (2003) notes that blogs are also distinguished by ownership. On a discussion board anyone can start a thread of conversation and all contributors have the same editorial authority. However, blog posts can only be created by the blogger who maintains that blog. Certainly, there can be a group of people contributing to a collaborative blog, but each one of them must be given that administrative access to create posts. Therefore, the only way for a reader to become involved in the conversation is to post a comment (if available) or post about the original message on his own blog.

Benefits of Classroom Blogging

Although there is not a tremendous amount of academic research on blogging, theoretical and practical writing suggests a number of important reasons for using blogs in teaching and learning.

Creating subject matter experts. Blood (2002) posits that there is a three-step process involved in blogging: scour, filter, and post. Through this process, bloggers are exposed to vast amounts of information on their given topic and can become experts. According to Blood (2002), the mere task of scouring the Internet for articles relating to the blog topic every day (or week) makes the blogger an expert. This happens because in the process of finding something to blog, the blogger visits multiple Web sites relevant to his topic but filters the enormous amount of information. The blogger then filters his results in posting the "best of' content for readers. Therefore, the educational gains from all of the content that wasn't posted still impacts the blogger who was exposed to it. The regularity of doing this at least once a week creates a repetitive process where the blogger student can build on what he learned last week and find more advanced information for the current week.

Increased interest in learning. In blogging, the collaborative process can occur peer-to-peer as well as teacher-to-student. Jonassen (2000) contends that online journaling de-emphasizes the "'audience of one" writing for the teacher phenomena creating a more "authentic" audience. For example, a University of Florida journalism instructor incorporated a "blogging as journalism" project into the curriculum of an online reporting course (Trammell & Ferdig, 2004). When the teacher assigned students to maintain individual blogs throughout the semester, students were given a purposive activity that could not only build online reporting skills but create a real portfolio for students. In this case, each student was allowed to choose one's own "reporting beat" then required to cover that beat for the semester. From the beginning, the blog was collaborative in that the teacher allowed the student to pick a topic, but then worked with the student to brainstorm a direction for the blog. After the blog was started, the teacher could visit it and provide feedback on the posts and the content presented. Additionally, other students could visit the blog and provide peer-to-peer constructive commentary. In the end, it was the student who had control over the blog and the teacher took a lesser role in assisting with the development. When the teacher found something related to the student blog, the teacher could send the student a link suggesting something the student might have found interesting. In the traditional classroom, a student may perk up when heating something on the news that was current to what was learned in class; in the blogging classroom, the student was actively seeking the information out. Oravec (2003) would contend that this personal context and self-selection of specific topics would then improve the learning process.

Opening up the classroom to the world. It is likely that someone outside of a class will happen across student blogs or a classroom collaborative blog. As such, blogging can help extend the classroom from the physical constraints of those who fit in the room and are registered to a limitless international student body. Johnston (2002) found posting student work on blogs allowed an outside community of family, other subject matter experts, and even potential employers to participate and review the public discussions/postings. When this happens, readers can become engaged by the discussion and possibly add their comments. Lauer (2004) presented a case study of an elementary school blog that posted a picture of a bee that stung a student on campus. Neither the children nor the school officials knew what type of bee had stung the child. A university entomologist found the post and responded providing a wealth of information regarding the bee and bee stings. This field expert, and his interaction with the students, was facilitated through the use of the biog.

Implementing Blogs in the Classroom

If blogs are to be used in the classroom, there are two main approaches that teachers can take: the laissez-faire and the boot camp approach. In the laissez-faire approach, teachers introduce blogging with very few rules and direction. As such, the teacher would help the student learn the mechanics of blogging, what is appropriate for blogging, and how to best use the technology to improve and internalize learning. This approach seems to be most useful if the purpose of the blog is to generate thought about the course work and have students apply class material to real world examples. In this case, students would scour the Internet and their everyday life experiences to identify relevant manifestations of the course happening naturally (Blood, 2002). For example, Trammell and Ferdig (2004) document this approach being used in a university-level art class where students were asked to showcase their work and react to the work of others through their blogs.

In the boot camp approach, teachers spend several lectures introducing the concept of blogging, how it is done, why it is done, showing good and bad blogs, etc. Then, the teacher provides a set of strict rules for blogging (frequency, length of posts, number of hyperlinks, staying on topic). The boot camp approach first teaches the student what it means to have a good blog and then expects the students to go out and do it. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the boot camp approach is successful for classes where the students are creating portfolios of their work that are intended to help them get a job (Coomey, 2003). In the earlier case of the journalism course, it is evident that blogging can be used to introduce new industry trends (online journalism) and utilize a professional approach to blogging. This more structured approach creates polished product for the student, which can be used to attract prospective employers by the regular posting showing mastery in a particular subject or industry. Hernandez-Ramos (2004) argues such blogs allow one to develop a professional self-perception validating one's place in the industry. While these two approaches sound diametrically different, they both do allow for instructors to empower students to reach out to the real-world to bring in appropriate connections to what is being learned in class. The main difference in the approaches is the amount of introduction blogging receives and not in the end-result of the blog content.

Other Practical Suggestions for Classroom Use

Once an instructor has decided on the blogging approach, there are several practical suggestions to make the experience useful and enjoyable for all involved.

Publicity. Teachers have the opportunity to take an active role in publicizing student blogs by sharing links with the outside world and trying to get experts to visit the student blogs. Instructors can send e-mail messages to field experts and professionals asking them to visit a student blog and leave a comment. This interaction with experts not only increases that which is learned through the exercise, but signals that there are real people reading the published content. This can lead to the student spending more time in preparing blog posts and thinking more critically because of the wide dissemination.

Ground rules. Regardless of the implementation model used, the students should be explicitly made aware of what is not appropriate on the blog. In addition, instructors should clearly communicate that the messages posted on a blog are publicly accessible. Therefore, a prospective employer, friend, parent, etc. can easily access the blog. As such, students should remember that once something is posted on the Internet then communication is irreversible, even if later edited or removed.

Ethics. Blood (2002) suggests that students should come to understand the ethics and values of the community. For example, it is common to attribute a source such as "news article via Jean's blog." It is considered good practice to never delete content of a post after it uploaded, but rather correct the content by striking through the misinformation with the strikethrough font and typing the correction.

Technical. In order to implement blogs, a teacher must have computers with Internet access, access to blogging software/tools, and server space. There are high-end enterprise solutions, such as installation of blogging software on the school's server, and low-end solutions like using free blogging software and server space. Schoolblogs.com offers free Web-based blog services and storage space to educational institutions and Blogger.com offers the same, regardless of affiliation.

Content. Because the blogs are on the Internet, teachers must regulate the content. There is great debate over what could be perceived as censorship. Even so, teachers should understand and fully explain the ground rules for blogging and the consequences of breaking rules. Teachers should be prepared to deal with vulgar or obscene comments or hyperlinks. However, blogging can decrease the occurrence of plagiarism in course work because students can hyperlink directly to source material rather than attempt to recreate it (Oravec, 2003).

Security. Protection of student identity and security is of utmost importance when expanding a classroom online. As such, instructors of minors should receive full support from the school before engaging in Internet communication and be familiar with state and federal guidelines for protecting children. In some states it is illegal for instructors to reveal the class roll, so a class blog with a blogroll linking to all of the individual student blogs may not be feasible. All instructors should be cognizant of security and ask each student to refrain from posting phone numbers or addresses on the Internet. Some instructors may ask the students to come up with code names and post non-name e-mail addresses.

Future Research on Blogs and Blogging

Theoretically, blogging seems to be a low-cost high-return learning tool. However, as with many new and innovative technologies, we do not yet have the research to justify the mass expansion of blogging in our schools. Researchers should undertake this task and investigate the impact of blogging on learning. Such studies should chart self-reported student perception of what blogging does for individual student writing ability. Studies should also assess the impact of blogging on short-term and long-term learning.

In addition to understanding the empirical impact of blogging in the classroom, researchers should make suggestions as to how one would implement blogging across the curriculum so that teachers are able to do it effectively. The bootcamp and laissez-faire approach discussed here offer an initial paradigm through which teachers can approach blog integration. However, specific benefits of each and tested environments for the approaches to excel must be identified. Finally, research should determine if some subjects or age groups are more positively impacted by blogging than others. One would suspect that older students who are better at reading and writing will find blogging more beneficial in their overall learning about the outside world where as younger students may find blogging more beneficial at practicing their reading and writing skills on a regular basis. Indeed, there may not be a "one size fits all" model for blogging in the classroom.

Blogging is only as good as the teachers and students make it. There is much to be learned by educators about how to properly implement blogs and what benefits they can serve. Regardless, blogs create interesting opportunities for self-reflexive learning for students of any age.

References

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Kaye D. Trammell, Louisiana State University 

Richard E. Ferdig, University of Florida

Trammell, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of mass communication, and Ferdig, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of educational technology.