Hunt Assignment 2

8/6/2019 Hunt Assignment 2

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Running head: BLOGS WITHIN THE CLASSROOM 1

The Use of Blogs Within the Classroom

Matthew A. Hunt

Georgia Southern University


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BLOGS WITHIN THE CLASSROOM 2

The Use of Blogs Within the Classroom

Synthesis of the Research

According to Lui, Choy, Cheung, and Li (2006) weblogs are the latest communication

technology that has caught on within the educational community after emails, discussion forums,

and mobile learning. While the educational community is still finding appropriate ways to

embrace the technology, blogs give both teachers and students a different way in which to

collaborate and work on projects together (Sawmiller, 2010). Besides collaboration, another

positive aspect of using blogs within the classroom is that students find them entertaining and

enjoy the interactive features, the ability to communicate with peers in an online environment,and the chance that other members of the online community, besides classmates, will view their

thoughts or work (Ellison & Wu, 2008). Although the use of blogs has many positives, not all

students have found the technology to be appealing in an educational environment. However, as

a study completed by Hartshorne and Ajjan (2009) proved students are more likely to adopt Web

2.0 tools, like blogs, if they are easy to use and compatible to the information they are learning

within the classroom.

Under the current educational system within the United States, there is a tremendous

emphasis on standardized testing and ensuring that each student can meet the standards

established by the states. While both teachers and students have an increased pressure to meet

these standards, many educators may wonder if using blogs would help students learn the

information they need to exceed on the standardized tests in which they participate. Through a

study conducted by Ellison and Wu (2008) it was determined that students had gains in

understanding when reading other students blogs. On the other hand, when students wrote their

own blog entries or had other students commenting on their entries, little to no gain was


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accomplished. Another concern that many educators may possess with the use of blogs within

the classroom is that the blogs may not be used appropriately and students may have blog

discussions unrelated to the information being taught. Fortunately, though, Anderson-Butcher et

al. (2010) performed a study to describe the content of weblogs utilized by students to

communicate and found that the primary reasons for which the blogs were used was to connect

with their peers and express themselves in ways that were positive. Also noted within the study

was that very few of the students had inappropriate discussions such as those about alcohol,

drugs, and school truancy.

Appl ications of B l ogs in EducationLui, Choy, Cheung, and Li (2006) list a number of applications for blog use within the

classroom, including keeping logbooks as records of research activities, reflecting on learning

experiences, and helping students keep an electronic portfolio to display the work completed

over a specified amount of time. Blogs also assist teachers in interacting with students and can

benefit students in more ways than one. In a study conducted by Minocha (2009), teachers were

able to recognize student difficulties in both formal and informal communications early, which

allowed the teacher to provide support and help the students before they had failed or given up.

Also, students were able to pose questions over material they may not have understood during

class and teachers were able to more effectively plan instruction to meet the needs of those

learners. In addition to assisting teachers in monitoring student needs, blogs allow students to

view the work of their peers and see the approaches to learning that others take (Minocha).

Because of the ability to view the contributions made by the other students within the class,

learners are also able to reflect on their own contributions to the class. Through the use of blogs,

students are able to provide critical feedback and support to their peers (Minocha). Lastly,


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according to Minocha, social software tools are increasingly infiltrating the work environments

that the current generation of students will experience and, because of this, the use of blogs

within the classroom will better prepare students to work in a technological atmosphere.

Ex pl oration of a B l og First Hand

After exploring the use of blogs first hand, I found that they are very easy to use. As was

determined by the research, the ease with which a tool can be utilized will have an impact on the

perceptions students have in utilizing the tool (Hartshorne & Ajjan, 2009), so this is a positive

aspect of blogs. Another positive I discovered in using a blog is that users are able to

communicate quickly and effectively. Within the classroom, students are sometimes nervous toask questions and the utilization of a blog would allow students to post questions they may have

or see the answers that may be given to other users. Also, on a daily basis, I have students that

return home from school without their homework assignments written in their agendas, so the

students in my class would be able to communicate with myself and others to determine what

they may need to complete for their homework. Another positive aspect of blog use is that the

postings one makes serve as somewhat of a portfolio of information. In other words, if I were to

post resources on the water cycle and then ask students to explain how the stages to the water

cycle affect the weather we experience, the students could use the blog to complete research in

order to answer the question.

Within the classroom, blogs can be a powerful tool for learning. I am going to develop a

blog for use during the next school year and, hopefully, this use will help my students learn more

information than just that discussed within the classroom and help communicate with parents

more effectively. If the blog turned out to be a successful experiment, I would eventually want


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each of my students to have a blog so that they could communicate with peers as well as provide

me with some of the science resources they may find on the internet.

M erits of B l ogs

One positive aspect of blog use within the classroom is that they allow for constant

communication between the home and school. On a weekly basis, when attending parent

conferences, I have a parent ask if I could e-mail them the homework each night. Unfortunately,

with the large amount students attending my classes, there is no way I could possibly e-mail

every parent to inform them of the homework for the night. Through the use of a blog, however,

the parents would always have a way to find out what their child should be completing for thenight or even find out what is occurring within the classroom during the day or week.

Additionally, blogs provide an opportunity to make the four walls of my classroom indefinite.

There are multiple times throughout the school year when, in the middle of a lesson, I think of a

concept or article that I want to share with the class, but there just is not enough time. If a blog

was utilized within my classroom, I could always say something to the effect of I really wanted

to show you a video of Pompeii today, but we need to review the characteristics of each type of

volcano instead. I will post the video on the blog tonight, so make sure you watch it when you

get home because it is absolutely amazing! The use of a blog would also allow the posting of

articles and other learning resources that could help the parents assist their children with their

homework or other assignments. For students that may miss the class for the day, .PDF files of

the lesson could be uploaded to the blog and the students would receive the information they

missed.


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Barriers of B l ogs

While I believe that the positive aspects of blog use within the classroom far outweigh

the negative, there are some barriers that exist. First, by using a blog to communicate with

parents and students, it would be impossible to ensure that each and every student within the

classroom had access to it or would check it consistently. Another barrier that might exist would

be that students may not understand how to navigate and see the information they would need to

read. If this were the case, vital class time may have to be taken in order to train the students on

using a blog. Finally, it would be more effective if students had their own blogs and it would be

difficult to find the resources necessary to communicate during school hours. At the school atwhich I teach, we only have one functioning computer lab and it is often booked several months

in advance. While it may be possible for students to keep their blogs updated at home, one would

still run into the problem of having students that may not have access to a computer.

Im pact and Evo l ution of B l ogs in Education

Clearly, blogs have a place within the educational community. If blogs are used

consistently within the classroom, they provide an arena for peer and teacher communication as

well as an avenue of communication between school and the home. Also, because of the ease

with which blogs can be used, students will have a place where they can place their thoughts and

find information shared by their peers as well as educators. While most teachers do not utilize

blogs within their classrooms as of yet, as the technology available to the teacher increases, blogs

will force their way into the classroom. Because blogs help students practice their reading and

writing skills, it is obvious that they will have a tremendous impact on the accomplishments of

the students that make use of them. Blogs have already been created that are using pictures,

links, and sounds that are more geared to the differentiated classroom. In the future, one would


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expect that the blog would continue to evolve into a place where students can share not only their

thoughts, but also the pictures they see within their heads as well as the works of art they create.


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References

Anderson-Butcher, D., Lasseigne, A., Ball, A., Brzozowski, M., Lehnert, M., & McCormick, B.

(2010). Adolescent weblog use: Risky or protective? C hil d and Adol escent Socia l Work

Journa l, 27 , 63-77.

Ellison, N. B., & Wu, Y. (2008). Blogging in the classroom: A preliminary exploration of

student attitudes and impact on comprehension. Journa l of Educationa l M ul timedia and

Hy permedia , 17 , 99-119.

Hartshorne, R., & Ajjan, H. (2009). Examining student decisions to adopt web 2.0 technologies:

Theory and empirical tests. Journa l of C

om puting in Higher Education , 21, 183-198.Lui, L. K., Choy, S. O., Cheung, Y. H.Y., & Li, S. C. (2006). A study on the perception of

students towards educational weblogs. Informatics in Education , 5, 233-253.

Minocha, S. (2009). An empirically-grounded study on the effective use of social software in

education. Education and training , 51, 381-394.

Sawmiller, A. (2010). Classroom blogging: What is the role in science learning? The C l earing

House , 83, 44-48.

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Hunt Assignment 2