Research and Blogging

One of the internet-based applications of interest to me, as a future middle school math and science teacher, is the use of blogging in the classroom. I believe that blogging may have the potential to positively impact science classrooms in particular. Collaboration and sharing is possible with blogging, which can add an important aspect of social interaction to the learning process. What does research say about the use of this tool? To answer this, I have read research articles related to use of blogging in the classroom; three are summarized below.

An article by Beldarrain (2006), focuses on the use of different online collaborative applications in distance learning situations. The article summarizes blogs, wikis, podcasts, and social software and discusses the use and benefits of each in distance learning classrooms. Although many applications are described by Beldarrain, I will focus on blogs, podcasts, and wikis.
Blogs can have many uses: exploring topics, honing writing skills, storing student work (similar to a portfolio), reflecting on learning, and storing classroom information. Beldarrain points out that blogs can be student- or instructor-managed. Podcasting is another emerging internet tool, which involves broadcasting audio or video files. This specific tool allows content to be delivered in unique ways and may uniquely engage distance learners. In some cases, it may also be appropriate for a distance learning instructor to require students to create their own podcasts.

Next, the author describes a wiki as “a collection of Web pages that are linked to each other, and reflect the collaborative works of many authors.” A wiki is different from a blog because it is not in chronological order and are usually more collaborative in nature; wikis also tend to be perceived as more formal and permanent in nature than blogs. Therefore, wikis are another distinct tool distance educators can use to enhance the learning experience of students. Beldarrain contends that blogs and wikis are both learning tools that allow increased learner control. Knowledge can be constructed in distance learning situations by allowing the students to use these tools.

After explaining the uses and advantages of these and other online learning tools, the author describes several considerations for implementing their use in the distance learning environment. Regardless of the specific application being used, technologies should enhance contact between students and faculty and cooperation among students. Active learning techniques are critical, as is prompt feedback for students. Other important guidelines for instructors are to emphasize time on task, communicate high expectations, and respect diverse ways of learning. Also required for success of technological changes are components of monetary support, comfort with the tools on the part of instructors, and appropriate leadership. Beldarrain also discusses how various learning theories are being affected by newly available online tools. The author concludes that the use of these various internet applications can serve to create a stronger learning community within a distance learning course.

The distance learning situations described by this article are quite different learning environments from most traditional classrooms. However, distance learning classrooms are likely to be the first to explore new technologies that might be of great use in other educational settings. Educators in traditional settings can take some specific points from this article and use them in designing instruction that uses technologies. The distance learning applications described can be used in traditional settings with similar purposes and, perhaps, similar outcomes. The creation of blogs and wikis in traditional classrooms can give students an effective way to collaborate with others in their own class. Collaboration can also occur with students from other classrooms across the nation or world. Using the internet can give students a broad audience for writings; compared with a teacher as the primary audience of work, this may prove to be motivating for students.

In addition to simply using the tools described in this article, instructors can use other ideas discussed by Beldarrain within a traditional classroom. The guidelines described in the article are applicable to any specific example of internet-based learning tool. If these tools are not used in effective ways (i.e. by utilizing active learning techniques, high expectations, prompt feedback, and respect), they are not likely to contribute to increased learning. If an instructor can, however, use the guidelines Beldarrain sets forth, the tools outlined in this article can become important parts of both distance learning and traditional classrooms.

Ellison and Wu (2008) conducted a study to examine student perceptions of blogging. Their research sheds light on some important questions related to use of blogging in the classroom. The researchers especially tried to determine what particular aspect(s) of blogging were the most useful for helping students understand course content. To gather data about student perceptions of blogging, fifty-two college students completed several writing assignments. Some of these were completed in traditional format; others were completed using online blogs (both with and without peer feedback). After these assignments were completed, students completed a survey to gather their perceptions of the blogging process.

The study showed that reading other students’ blogs was more useful for students than writing their own entries or reading comments of others on one’s own blog. Apparently, students found exposure to the perspectives of others one of the most important aspects of blogging. Another major finding of the study was that a great deal of guidance is needed from instructors in order for blogging to be part of a successful learning experience. Some students found that the interactive aspect of the assignments were enlightening, while others felt they were not worthwhile. In particular, students need guidance about how to review and critique the work of others. In this study, students were not given support about how to appropriately critique the work of others, making the process uncomfortable and/or frustrating for students.

Open-ended questions in the study’s survey generated some other interesting feedback about the use of blogging for educational use. Generally speaking, participants in the study approved of the medium of blogging, enjoying the convenience and relevance of the process. Another interesting idea reported in the survey was that blogging encouraged a less formal voice from the students than traditional writings require. Therefore blogging may potentially result in writings that are more authentic but potentially less thoughtful than assignments given in a traditional format.

This study was conducted amongst college students, so its results may not be generalizable to use of blogging for younger students. In addition, the article focused on student perceptions, not on measureable learning outcomes. Despite these limitations, the article does contain important ideas that instructors could use while incorporating blogging into any type of classroom use. Since the students in this study reported highest learning taking place from reading the blogs of others, instructors should be sure that this is an aspect of any blogging process in the classroom. Students are likely to gain some benefit from writing the blog itself, although perhaps its benefits would be similar to traditional writings. However, if students are collaborating with others, new perspectives can be gained. Teachers should not get so tied up in the writing process that students are deprived the chance of reading one another’s work.

One other major point this article provides educators is that students require support to make use of internet tools. Students need to know exactly what “voice” is required by the assignment. This clearly could vary based upon the learning objective under consideration. For a science blog, for instance, a teacher would need to make scientific writing procedures known to students before expecting them to incorporate this specific style of writing into a blogging situation. Additionally, the social aspect of blogging can only be used effectively if expectations and appropriate behavior are clearly delineated for students. Students of all ages struggle with giving constructive feedback to others. Specifically, instructors must teach the “difference between constructive criticism that focuses on the content of the work as opposed to attacks on character.” (Ellison & Wu, 2008). By requiring students to read the work of others and by giving strong support for the collaborative process undertaken, instructors can use the research reported in this article to make blogging a potential classroom success.

Chung et.al (2007) conducted a different study, focusing on the uses and perceptions of blogs. This research illuminated some other aspects of blogging. This study was specifically geared toward blogging amongst journalism educators and professionals. Specifically, the authors sought to compare the frequency, perception, and use of blogging between educators and professionals within the journalism field. Surveys were conducted of both educators and professionals, in order to obtain a picture of the role blogging currently and ideally should play in the education of journalism students.

The study showed that professionals in the field of journalism use blogs far more frequently than educators do. Journalism professions particularly took part in the following specific blogging activities more frequently than educators: posting entries on blogs, reading blogs posted by others, and posting comments on the blogs of others. Perceptions of blogging were also studied. Both professionals and educators had similar perceptions about the credibility, quality, future role, and usefulness of blogging in the field of journalism. Educators, however, tended to have more apprehension about the threat blogging poses to their future job security. The educators, as a whole, tended to have similar perceptions of blogging. The professionals in the study had more varied views on the topic, based upon their specific job descriptions. Although perceptions had some variation among the groups studied, the authors conclude that the field of journalism as a whole is recognizing the emerging significance of blogging.

The scope of this article was even more limited than the first article discussed, as the focus was solely on the profession of journalism. Despite this, instructors can apply the research findings of Chung et.al to various blogging projects within the classroom. First of all, the research contends that many individuals within the field of journalism concur that blogging is of rising significance. This gives research support to the use of blogging for journalistic purposes. Though more research is needed, professionals and educators in other fields may share these views; this means blogging has the potential to be an important educational tool in various settings. One other specific idea an educator can take from this article is to strive to connect any online collaborative process to the authentic processes that occur in the real world. If there is a major disconnect between the classroom and real-world experiences, the significance of the blogging process is greatly diminished.

Another implication from this article is that educators who use blogging or other collaborative online processes in the classroom should carefully define the purpose of the activity; such purpose should be made clearly known to students. For example, a science teacher may require students to keep a blog of results of experiments, in order to compile data to share with students in another classroom. Or a science teacher may require students to complete formal write-ups of experiments to publish on a class blog or wiki to share with the general public. These two processes would be greatly different and students should understand what is expected and the specific purpose of a blog before being asked to use it.

These three articles give a respectable research basis for use of blogging and other collaborative tools in the classroom. More research is needed within the specific realms of my personal interest, but myself and other educators can certainly benefit from the ideas summarized within this paper.

References:
Ellison, N., & Wu, Y. (2008). Blogging in the Classroom: A Preliminary Exploration of Student Attitudes and Impact on Comprehension. Journal of Educational Multimedia & Hypermedia, 17(1), 99-122. Retrieved December 14, 2007, from Education Research Complete database.
Chung, D., Kim, E., Trammell, K., & Porter, L. (2007, Autumn). Uses and Perceptions of Blogs: A Report on Professional Journalists and Journalism Educators. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 62(3), 305-322. Retrieved March 3, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database.
Beldarrain, Y. (2006, August). Distance Education Trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and collaboration. Distance Education, 27(2), 139-153. Retrieved March 3, 2008, from Academic Search Complete database.

Blog Post 8

If you are in my group and looking for my blog post due tonight, I am very sorry to say that it will not be posted until tomorrow morning. No brain cells left after this week at school...will rest up tonight, finish up the paper, and have it posted well before noon tomorrow.
:-(

Social Development Theory and Internet-based Applications

Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory is a general theory of cognitive development. The major focus of Vygotsky’s theory is the belief that cognition is developed as a result of critical social interactions. Every person’s cognitive activity originates from relationships with other individuals. Vygotsky’s conceptualization of social development affects many aspects of an individual’s existence: social roles, interactions between people, and interactions within each individual’s brain. Vygotsky claimed that these interactions build cognitive abilities in the critical areas of voluntary attention, logical memory, and formation of concepts. The most fundamental aspect of Vygotsky’s theory is that social interactions underlie all cognitive development.

In addition to the importance of social interactions, Vygotsky’s theory addresses another component of cognition. Vygotsky’s theory states that cognitive development must occur within an individual’s zone of proximal development (ZPD). This theoretical zone refers to learning within a particular range – content is neither too easy nor too challenging for the learner. However, learning oriented toward an individual’s ZPD will not be fully attained without full social interactions. Learning within one’s ZPD requires interaction, either with an adult/expert or with peers. The ZPD describes a range of learning in which maximum potential can be reached, if adequate social interactions occur. Cognitive tasks must be within one’s ZPD in order for learning to occur.

To summarize, Vygotsky’s Theory of Social Development hinges upon two principles. First, cognitive development requires social interaction. In addition, learning potential at any age is limited to cognitive tasks within an individual’s ZPD. Cognitive tasks are considered below one’s ZPD if they are so easy that an individual could complete them independently (i.e. without any social interactions). Cognitive tasks are considered above one’s ZPD if they are so challenging that an individual is unable to complete the activity, even with maximum social interactions. Between these two extremes lies one’s zone of proximal development. When cognitive tasks fall within this range – AND proper social interactions take place – cognitive development can successfully occur.

Educators can apply this theory to instruction that incorporates Internet-based applications. One way would be for a science teacher to promote learning using some type of online collaboration tool. Many teachers currently have students use science journals to document questions, experiments, and findings. This links science with writing and literacy, which is an important component for learning in our society. I believe that allowing students to “publish” some of this work in a class wiki or blog would be highly motivating for students. It would furthermore allow for greater social interactions. It would give them the sense of actually DOING science, instead of just filling out worksheets or reading a textbook. In the real world, success in science is based upon discovering something and then sharing it with the world. Internet-based tools could give students a chance to do this within the classroom. Thus the increased social interactions would help students build the cognitive connections that constitute scientific learning.

Another way educators may apply this theory would be within instruction in a foreign language. Traditionally, second language instruction is done by one instructor (fluent in both languages) to a group of about 20 students (fluent in only one language, with the goal of becoming at least proficient in another language). This set-up is not conducive to cognitive development, according to Vygotsky’s theory. Within this situation, adequate social interaction cannot be provided. Each individual cannot receive enough interactions with the proficient adult to develop the cognitive abilities required for language acquisition; interactions with peers may increase other areas of cognitive abilities, but would not likely contribute to learning the foreign language. Perhaps a more social approach to teaching foreign languages could be accomplished using Internet-based applications. One web application (www.livemocha.com) is free and provides opportunities to practice speaking, reading, writing, and listening to another language. All of these features allow students to socially interact with real people who are native language speakers. Another web application that could be used is a Virtual Reality site such as Second Life, in which avatars can “visit” other cultures and interact with native speakers in several ways. This may be an even more immersive approach (and thus may result in greater learning) than the Web 2.0 site mentioned above. However, using either of these applications to teach a second language would allow for greater social interactions than are available in the traditional classroom setting. According to Vygotsky’s theory, this would allow true learning to take place.

Both of the aforementioned possibilities for using Vygotsky’s theory in an Internet-based learning environment involve increasing the social interactions that precede cognition. Instructors would still be responsible for ensuring these interactions took place in sufficient amount and in appropriate manners. Educators would also need to ensure that learning was taking place within an individual’s zone of proximal development. Perhaps this could even be accomplished more easily using the Internet tools described. For instance, students could be assigned certain scientific experiments and write-ups in ways that require collaboration with peers to achieve. A foreign language teacher could ensure that student tasks assigned on the web (either a Web 2.0 or Virtual Reality site) are within an individual’s ZPD. These two examples demonstrate that cognitive development can occur within the major tenets of Vygotsky’s theory using Internet-based applications in the classroom.

Source for theory description: http://tip.psychology.org/vygotsky.html

Challenges of Intermet Usage

A classroom in which each student has a computer with Internet access would be such an exciting opportunity for myself as a teacher and for the students involved! However, this “blessing” would clearly not come without some struggles. I believe the biggest challenges are those of privacy, safety, copyrights/fair usage. The privacy of students must not be compromised by any classroom internet usage. The privacy issue may get cloudy at times, as the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act requires parental permission to gather any personal information from children under 13. Teachers may, however, give consent by acting on behalf of a parent during any online school activities. However, to protect students’ privacy, a teacher should monitor the websites students visit and should be aware of the privacy policies for specific sites – particularly those requiring a log-in. To help meet this challenge, I will use the following website, which gives specific tips for teachers for how to manage the privacy of students: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/tech/tec10.shtm.

The issue of safety is also a major challenge. Pornography is rampant on the internet and school filtering systems can be inadequate. As a teacher, I must teach responsibility for online actions. Students should be taught how to deal with problematic websites in appropriate ways. As a teacher, I must meet the challenge of finding ways to “reduce exposure to inappropriate material and how to give young people skills to mitigate any possible effects they might experience from encountering sexually explicit or inappropriate material online.” (http://books.nap.edu/readingroom.php?book=youth_internet&page=ch10.html)

Finally, having a classroom in which each student has a computer with internet access requires meeting the challenge of teaching students to understand the complex copyright issues that currently exist. With the vast amount of information on the web, students must learn to determine what materials are under copyright protection. Students using the internet in the classroom must learn how to determine what information is relevant and valuable, but then must also learn when and how it is appropriate to use.

As a teacher, I hope to be able to meet each of these challenges (as well as many others not mentioned here…) in order to make the use of the internet private, safe, and lawful.

Internet-based group work

This week I did learn a great deal about mapping mashups, which was the goal! I feel as though the group experience actually did help me learn more about this topic. Before I talked about the topic with my group, I felt somewhat confused about what a mashup really was and what mapping mashups might be able to do. Other group members fortunately had some questions at first too, so we were able to work together to answer our mutual uncertainties and develop understandings of the topic we were investigating.

I definitely do see the value of Internet-based group work. I feel as though using tools like Skype and a wiki make it nearly as easy as live group work can be. I have done online group work before using WebCT, without any instantaneous communication; that experience was frustrating and definitely hindered my learning in that setting. This experience was completely different for me! Our group was able to talk using a conference call on Skype and could work on editing our presentation at the same time. We were able to ask questions and find answers and all contribute to our final product. I felt fortunate to be in a group with other students who have similar work habits as myself, which minimized frustration with the group process. Taking part in Internet-based group work can be an effective process and this project helped me see many of the benefits.

To make the group experience more productive, perhaps we could have even more clearly defined our roles within the group. We did each have specific goals to accomplish between meetings, which helped us all know how to contribute. But perhaps we could have been even more productive if we had found a different way to split up the work. Still, I feel as though we were very productive and successful as a group.