The purpose of this course project is to validate educational blogging (edublogging) as an effective means of distance learning.
Blogging is the act of writing or updating your blog. Stated in another way, from the instructional design point of view, blogging refers to the design and editing of a blog. Edublogging is blogging used as an educational tool and strategy. (Edublogging and Distributed Expertise in Music Teaching, 2007)
Blogs are an important element of the Internet's Web 2.0 social media and collaborative communities. Web 2.0 is a grouping of interconnected Web applications that facilitate interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. (Core Characteristics of Web 2.0 Services, 2008) Edublogging is proving to be a major advancement for networked teachers and students as they harness this tool for mutual collaborative learning.
Edublogging will be analyzed and assessed from the vantage points of the networked teacher and networked student. The three principles 1) networked learning, 2) constructivism and 3) connectivism will form the study of this course project. The conclusion and study recommendations for future research will be based upon these three principles as they are represented in the Edublogging: a quantitative study of training and development bloggers study. (Schneider, 2009)
Introduction
It's never been a more interesting or perhaps challenging time to be an instructor in Internet learning circles. The role of the "Networked Teacher" as depicted by Alec Couros (open thinking, 2008) represents the myriad of Web 2.0 collaboration solutions an instructor interacts with to deliver effective distance education results.
The focus of this course project is to examine how the two-way interaction between the networked teacher and blogs enriches the learner and the resulting learning experience. A blog is an easily created, easily updateable Web site that allows an author to publish instantly to the Internet from any Internet connection. An educational blog can also be interactive, allowing teachers and students to begin conversations or add to the information published there. (Richardson, 2010, p.10).
This course project will examine edublogging, its various roles, tools, strategies and direct results in distance education. This paper will address the credibility of edublogging which is the subject of constant debate in professional educational journalistic circles. This paper will also provide concrete working examples of edublogging to evidence the effectiveness of blogging in distance educational practice.
Why Do We Blog?
There are several reasons why people blog. The primary reason to blog is to publish ideas and share information. Blogging is a form of written expression which facilitates effective communication. Blogging is well suited to the instructor-student interaction.
Our ability to easily publish content online and to connect to vast networks of passionate learners forces us to rethink the way we communicate with our constituents, the way we deliver our curriculum, and the expectations we have of our students. (2010).
We are creating what author Douglas Rushkoff calls "a society of authorship" where every teacher and every student, every person with access, will have the ability to contribute ideas and experiences to the larger body of knowledge that is the Internet. And in doing so Rushkoff says, we will be writing the human story, in real time, together, a vision that asks each of us to participate. (Rushkoff, 2004).
A very important step is for a teacher is to make a concerted effort to use blogging in their own learning practice. If we make these connections in our own practice first we can then more thoroughly understand the pedagogical implications for the classroom and its students.
The Networked Teacher
Couros (Open Thinking, 2008) developed a model of the networked teacher which represents an educator professional's personal learning environment. Personal learning environments are systems that help learners take control of and manage their own learning. (Downes, 2007, p. 24)
Figure 1. JPEG image, increasingly more teachers are developing rich personal learning networks through the use of social media.Â
A teacher is better equipped to facilitate networked learning if she or he has experienced the construction of this network model first hand. (Drexel, 2010). The teacher adopts the role of the social constructivist. Constructivism is a philosophy of learning founded on the premise that, by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world we live in. Each of us generates our own "rules" and "mental models," which we use to make sense of our experiences. Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences. (Funderstanding, 2008) The subject of constructivism will be visited again in the networked student section.
Why Blogs in Education?
There are several reasons why edublogs serve a necessary role in distance education. The two main types of edublogs in use in distance education today are 1) the student blog and 2) the instructor blog. The instructor creates an edublog to facilitate learning. The instructor's edublog serves as the catalyst for furthering the edublogging experience. The student is encouraged in turn to create an edublog to increase their effective written communication skills
Benefits
Edublogging is educationally sound for teaching students because:
Blogs help learners to see knowledge as interconnected as opposed to a set of discrete facts.
Blogging provides the possibility of connecting with experts on the topic students are writing.
The interactive nature of blogging creates enthusiasm for writing and communication.
Blogging engages students in conversation and learning.
Limitations
These are some of the disadvantages of edublogging:
Regular writing may give rise to the use of slang and sloppy ways of writing spoiling the quality of proper usage of language.
Blogging cannot be imposed upon students who are hardly interested in reading and replying to the post.
There is no confidentiality as it is a public forum.
The moment students open to the web; it is not just the blogging site that they can have access to. The whole world of information is before them, hence there is every chance that they may get diverted away from the discussion. (OnLine Edublogs)
Let's begin examining edublogging from the vantage point of the "Typical Teacher". Alec Couros's illustration (Open Thinking, 2008) typifies what an instructor's field of vision witnesses in their role as present state practitioner of the Instructor Led Training Model.
Figure 2. JPEG Image, This diagram attempts to visualize the typical network of teachers.
The Effect of Social and Physical Environment on Edublogging
An interesting perspective occurs when the physical classroom is examined in relationship to the content and appearance of an edublog Web site. The learning landscape shifts from a face front classroom where the student faces the instructor to listen, learn, take notes, ask questions, etc. The social interaction takes place between the student and their computer screen, the edublog page they are reading, writing or interpreting.
An edublog can be a section of a learning management system such as BlackBoard. The communication dynamics can be better represented in a virtual classroom such as BlackBoard learning management system. An edublog however is a more textural, communication medium, it represents a flatter dimensionality than a virtual classroom. An edublog can represent multimedia interpretation with rich graphics, figure illustration examples, video and animation. However an edublog lacks the direct interaction a virtual classroom offers with virtual classroom direct participation.
Edublogs
Edublogs is a blog-hosting Web portal designed specifically for teachers and classrooms. The site features extensive support forums, video tutorials, and helpful documentation to aid a teacher in setting up a blog community for their classroom. One of the best aspects of this site is the blog-management features (i.e., editing and monitoring of all content and comments) for teachers.
A unique feature of Edublogs is the ability to import preexisting blogs from sites such as
Blogger,TypePad, or LiveJournal to the Edublogs server. The reverse, exporting blogs from Edublogs to other hosting sites, is also possible. (Edublogs)
Edublogs serves as a platform for an instructor blogger's individual training and development so they may hone their craft, shape its style, and mature information content results.
The Blog as a Professional Development Resource
Professional development is a perpetual, ongoing task in the career of a teacher. Staying in league with technology, finding ways to incorporate blogging into the lesson plan and course delivery requires a core competency with blogging tools.
A personal development plan assists in creating self-directed independent learners who are more likely to progress to higher levels of academic attainment. It makes total sense those teachers as facilitators should have a personal development plan underway in order to better identify with and to help motivate students in the networked journey through education.
A fundamental way to improve an individual's professional practice is to engage in shared inquiry and learning with people who have a common goal. This is called a community of practice. Communities of practice foster camaraderie and increase the sharing of lessons learned and best practices for educators.
Credibility of Blogs
The number of blogs has grown extensively on the Internet. According to its 2007 State of the Live Web, Technorati.com identified more than 70 million blogs and estimated that 120,000 blogs a day are created daily in the Blogosphere. (Sifry, 2006). With more than 70 million blogs, the quality of content is bound to be varied. In the case of blogs, which are primarily used for informal learning, the readers establish their own objectives (quality of content) and they will primarily focus on the usefulness of the information and its credibility.
Credibility is a quality attributed to information that is considered believable or trustworthy and can vary in degree. The authority and reputation of the source of information will influence the degree of credibility of information. Authors of blogs have become a source of authority, whose goal it is to achieve "opinion leadership" in the intended community of practice where they are an active member. Thought leadership is a direct result of the authority of the content. A noteworthy goal for a professional blogger is to aspire to the role of a subject matter authority in the sea of subject matter experts.
Credibility is an issue widely raised in the field of journalism and it is a shared concern in the minds of bloggers in the field of training and development. Kristina Schneider based her Master's thesis on the qualitative study of training and development bloggers. The edublogging and distance education course project will leverage that study and use its findings to further shape opinion and thought on the credibility and importance of edublogging. (2009)
Significance of Study
The body of literature on blogs and blogging has been mainly focused on journalistic and pedagogical uses of blogs. The research Kristina Schneider conducted for her study is based on the perspective of the blogger within the scope of the professional community.
The study explores the process bloggers go through when deciding what to blog, when and why they blog, as well as their relationship with their readership.(2009) The study fortifies the premise of the networked teacher's necessity to develop and maintain a personal learning environment where the blog and edublogging become the next generation learning ecosystem.
Methodology
The perspective of the publisher, rather than that of the audience for the blog were chosen for this study. The study sought to understand the phenomenon of blogging for the purpose of providing training and development professionals with professional development opportunities. The qualitative research method was utilized with a phenomenological approach. A phenomenological approach describes "the meaning of the lived experiences for several individuals about the concept or phenomenon. A phenomenologist explores the structure of consciousness in human experiences." (Polkinghorne, quoted to Creswell 1998, p. 15)
The phenomenon that was studied was the use of blogs for professional development. An increasing number of learning professional as well as training and development authorities have a blog that complements and, at times, is the centerpiece of their publications and organizations.
Criteria for Selecting Participants
A table was created to lay out the criteria in an orderly and structured fashion. These criteria helped with the determination and selection of the blogger study participants. (2009)
Criteria (Importance order)
Flexibility
Grading
Blogger available for interview
No
Educational technology blogger
No
Blogger solely focused on expertise area
3 pts: Highly focused
2pts: Moderately focused
Posts are made regularly and with rigor
Higher # posts = higher ranking
3 pts: 3+ posts a week
2pts: 1-2 posts a week
1 pt: 1 post a week
Blog exhibits large readership (based on number of comments)
Higher # comments = higher ranking
3 pts: 5+ comments per post
2pts: 2-4 comments per post
1 pt: 1-2 comments per post
Posts = assurance of authority of subject
Initial perception
Table 1: Criteria for Selecting Participants
Participant Selection and Blogs to Analyze
The specific blogs and bloggers were selected based upon how representative as possible they were of the range of blogs available for training and development. Using the criteria in the table mentioned above five bloggers of note were selected and agreed to participate in the study. The table on the next page exhibits two of the five participants as a sampling of who was selected and how they met the selection criteria for the study.
Professional Blogger
How Professional Blogger Met Criteria Sought
Jeff is an independent consultant, U.S. based who blogs about informal learning.
Jeff has been blogging since 2000. Posts regularly (41 times over a 4 month period). His comments level averaged 2.24 comments per post. Technorati grants his blog an authority of 113. (number of blogs linking to Jeff's blog site). Alexa reports that 43 sites link to Jeff's blog site for a total of 408 links.
Jill is a training and development researcher in the U.S. who blogs about Web based training.
Jill has been blogging since 2007. She blogged 47 times over a 4 months period. She averaged 7.51 comments per post. Technorati grants her blog an Authority of 53. Alexa reports that 149 site link into her blog for a total of 455 links.
Sources Used:
Technorati measures a site's standing and influence in the blogosphere. (Alexa, 2010)
Alexa provides Web site traffic and statistical ranking information.
Table 2: Participants in the Study (2009)
The Networked Student
Figure 3: The Networked Student four primary categories include academic social contacts, synchronous communication, information management, and really simple syndication.
The networked student follows a constructivist approach to learning. He or she constructs knowledge based on experiences and social interactions. Constructivism encourages greater participation by students in their appropriation of scholarly knowledge. (Drexel, 2010).
Blogging is a key component of the personal learning environment through which the network student responds to and collects the opinions of others. Network students identify blogs that target a specific unit of study, and they have the option to respond with opinions of their own. (2010)
Edublogging's Capabilities as a Distance Learning Platform
Pointing out by case example how West Texas A&M University utilized a pilot study to determine students' use and perceived value of an edublog designed to support and expand studio art instruction. This pilot study substantiates how distance education in the form of an educational blog enhanced motivation, increased visualization, provided interaction and valued individualization.
Student use and evaluation of an edublog
West Texas A&M University developed an educational blog designed to support and expand studio art instruction. The studio art course was a ceramics class. The edublog contained an initial curriculum for the first three course projects, (slab, pinch and coil). The sample finished projects were available for view. Students commented in their feedback that seeing a project in steps and then being able to view the finished result was a major motivation.
The art instructor was able to use effective written communication and post that information for a student's review. Each course project, slab, pinch and coil etc. became its own blog page. The student feedback on how the content was structured and delivered via the blog was assessed as being between helpful and very helpful. Video demonstrations allowed students to view, review (pause) and play back the ceramics project's steps. Students were able to better visualize how to construct a ceramics project. The ability to pose the art instructor questions and offer comments allowed for an additional level of interaction (in addition to art instructor and student art room interaction). While the ceramics course progressed each student had to create and complete 13 ceramic projects. Individualization was achieved and validated further by positive student feedback. There was direct evidence that the edublog helped students become more articulate ceramic artisans. This was primarily due to learn by example blog approach, assisted by video and written instructions. (Jan Ray, 2006)
Edublogging Working Examples
High School Level
The instructor and student edublogs are designed and developed by Paul Turtola, English Teacher. The blogs are hosted and maintained on Edublogs Weblog hosting site. Mr. Turtola's CyberEnglish Blog is the blog name and reference point for Mr. Turtola's scholars at Joseph A. Foran High School in Milford, CT. Â Mr. Turtola's quotes from the Edublogs Web site underscore the effectiveness and student acceptance of edublogging.
"This is my second year using Edublogs as my English class website, and I feel that its importance as a learning tool for my scholars grows in leaps and bounds each month. Each of them now has their own blog so that they may publish work and receive valuable feedback from peers and others that belong to the blog community. Edublogs allows for my scholars to be more careful and deliberate when writing essays and smaller assignments. They tend to take better care of their work because they are more considerate of an unknown audience and it's not the same old routine between themselves and a single reader, the teacher." (Edublogs, Paul Turtola, Joseph A. Foran H.S.)
University Level
Assistant Professor Charles Blattman has created an educational blog that serves as the main instructional communication source for the course he teaches with Yale University's Department of Political Science & Economics. The educational blog is very comprehensive in scope and purpose. The Africa Poverty and Western Aid edublog Web site contains 1) Course overview, 2) Requirements, 3) Critical book reviews, 4) Weekly assignments, 5) Instructor/Teaching Fellows contact information, 6) Lecture/section information (grading, registration), 8) The entire lecture slide set and 9) Syllabus. (Yale University, 2010)
Since this is a writing course the dissemination of information for professor-student interaction is outlined on the edublog in a well structured, easy to follow manner.
Professor Chris Blattman is a subject matter expert in public policy, economic development, civil war, and political participation. He utilizes survey and statistical methods to arrive at his results. Professor Blattman is a consultant and adviser to the World Bank (Human Development Group), the UN Peacebuilding Fund, Uganda's Office of the Prime Minister, and Liberia's Ministry of Internal Affairs. (Chris Blattman)
Figure 3 African Poverty and Western Aid edublog http://wordpress.commons.yale.edu/plsc170_spring2010/
Summary and Conclusions
The course project provided more than just anecdotal information about the topic of educational blogging and its role in distance education. The significance of the networked teacher, developing a personal development learning plan provided insight into the business and technical justifications for why edublogging is becoming so widely embraced across the training and development spectrum.
The Schneider study analyzed what it means to be a focused professional blogger in the field of training and development. In addition, the credibility of blogs intended for the training community were examined closely for measurable results. The edublogger was further determined to be a person with a stake in education who writes a blog about education-related topics.
Reaching a conclusion on Edublogging and Distance Education is not an easy task. The constant ebb and flow of the blogosphere coupled with major changes in educational directions makes this a formidable decision. Refer to the future study of Edublogging and Distance Education at the end of this course project to get a better idea of how much more effort will be required to effectively measure the present state inexact science of determining the results of educational blogging.
Recommendations for Further Research
This course project has several recommendations for future study which follows this empirical study. Further research in the field of distance education is guided by the empirical study by Olaf Zawacki-Richter summarized in the next two based primarily upon the Delphi study conducted by Olaf Zawacki-Richter, at FernUniversität, in Hagen, Germany (Research Areas in Distance Education: A Delphi Study, 2009). What is appreciated most about his study was the balanced rationale he utilized between the most important areas of research in juxtaposition with the most neglected areas of research in distance education. This research method derived three broad levels of perspectives with 15 research areas that organize a body of knowledge in distance education.
The three broad levels of perspectives of distance education research according to Zawacki-Richter are:
Macro level: Distance Education and Theories
Meso level: Management, Organization and Technology
Micro level: Teaching and Learning in Distance Education
The table on the next page shows the three levels along with the 15 research areas.
Zawacki-Richter reached two important conclusions about distance education. (2009)
The field has been dominated by research in the areas of technology, increased interactivity through new media, and instructional design issues.
The results suggest that there is a shift from technology-centered research to areas that focus on management and change in distance education institutions. It can be concluded that all aspects related to educational management are growing in importance (strategy and leadership, change management, quality assurance, costs etc.). (Zawacki-Richter, 2009)
Edublogging Future Study
There are six emerging questions and recommendations for future study as it relates to Edublogging and Distance Education, 1) Blogger Evolution and Self-Directed Learning, 2) Gender and Social Media, 3) Reader Participation and Contribution, 4) Qualitative Assessment of Blog Content, 5) Responsibility to Verify Facts and 6) Value Judgments about Media and Copyright.
A study on how a blogger hones their skills would be valuable. The evolution of the professional blogger and how they can grow their readership base is a constant source of pursuit in the blogosphere. This could produce a future study that investigates the correlation between self-directed learners and bloggers.
The second set of questions relates to gender and how it influences the use and adoption of social media. Female bloggers seemed more concerned about community. They also interacted more with readers that left comments on their blogs. Some research is required to ascertain aspects of social media and gender in order to know how this difference is manifested.
The third set of questions relates to how and when readers chose to post comments. What motivates a reader to write a comment against a blog post? The behaviors of blog readers require further study and analysis.
The fourth area of future study relates to blog content assessment and quality assessment tools. Work is underway as it relates to linguistics, mode and pattern of speech, how is intelligence communicated and interacted upon.
The fifth future study correlates to responsibility. Verification of the validity of information is the bloggers responsibility. This problem is currently seen with Wikipedia. Anyone can edit a Wikipedia page. Who is the reference validation point for a blog if it isn't the blogger, the reader?
The sixth future study relates to copyright and how is information value perceived and measured. A Creative Commons license on a blog page makes a strong statement about copyright but what fortifies and strengthens that attribution? Future study is needed to learn how
netizens make distinctions on the value of media sources.