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Blogs in Higher Ed: Personal Voice as Part of Learning
1/11/2005
The 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.
In our initial studies we have been interested specifically in asking:
- Is blogging perceived as a good way to establish personal voice by both students and instructors?
- Is there a tension created by the published nature of the blog?
- What do instructors need to do to contextualize blogging in a course?
Studies So Far
This past semester we were able to initiate four studies in one doctoral course; one adult, directed studies course; one remedial English course; and with a small group of second language students. While these instructors will continue using the blog in their courses next semester, they worked with a few students so far and helped us to glean some important information that will help us better develop our blog studies this continuing semester.
STUDY 1 CONTEXT
Students in a professional directed studies program created blogs as a reflective
tool in the course. Each student received a grade for their blog, with grades
being based on the numbers of submissions, not on the content. The instructor
asked that reflection concentrate on course readings or personal experience.
Students - The overall reaction from the students was that they found
it less enjoyable and more of a "chore," and they seemed to focus
only on completion for a grade.
Instructor's comments - Too small a sampling to really decide on value of the tool. Culture of the program d'es not lend itself to non-directed constructive reflection but would like to use the tool in a larger class setting. It is important to model reflection and provide more guiding questions for students. Not sure about the grading if it should be weekly or less often. Plan is to develop a portfolio approach using blogs to try to support more ownership of the context from the students.
STUDY 2 CONTEXT
The students in this pilot were participating in a doctoral-level course in
which blogging was provided as a journaling tool but was optional. Out of 25
students, only three chose to blog.
Students -Those who chose to blog enjoyed the convenience and visual
permanency of the blog. They found that it made their sequencing easier in terms
of thought progression.
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