Research: Blogging in the Classroom

            Secondary mathematics teachers focus on students learning computations. They tend to concentrate on the mathematics used to solve a problem or understand a concept.  Students often miss the opportunity to include writing in their math classes which can help them express their ideas and deepen their understanding of the content.  Students can use chats, forums, and blogs as avenues to express their writing so they can convey their reasoning and expand their understanding beyond calculations.  “When students write about mathematics, they express not only their understanding of the operations they perform, but also, more importantly, their reasoning for performing those operations” (Cooper, 2012, p. 80). 

            MacBride and Luehmann (2008) define blog posts as “primarily textual, but they may contain images, photos or other media content” (p. 173).  Secondary school teachers should consider blogging as part of their classroom because it is an engaging form of communication among teenagers.  Lenhart and Madden (2005) report that 19% of youth between the ages of twelve and seventeen have created their own blog and 38% read them.  Educators cannot afford to miss out on an opportunity to include this technology in the classroom to increase student learning.  This form of technology has numerous benefits for both the student and instructor.  This paper will focus on why educators use blogs in their classroom as well as the advantages of blogging. 

            Several themes emerged from the readings involving reasons why teachers use blogs in their classrooms.  Those that will be focused on are to increase collaborative learning and nurture a community of learners, create a student-centered learning environment, and provide a place for reflection. 

Collaboration is seen as a major motivator for teachers to incorporate blogs into their classrooms.  Beldarrain (2006) states that the 21^st century learner prefers working with groups rather than by themselves.  Discussions that happen in the classroom are typically teacher-student centered.  But, with the use of blogs, there is an opportunity for this to change to a student-student centered dialogue (Yang & Chang, 2011).  Yang and Chang (2011), state “the blog is a vehicle to ensure that everyone has a voice and is a valued member of the learning community” (p. 127).  Through this collaboration, students have the chance to engage in peer learning by reading peer postings and leaving comments that will ultimately enhance the value of student-student interaction.  The classroom is now open to every student all of the time.  Mentoring between students can happen much easier and teacher-student relationships can be developed faster.  “These aspects of the classroom climate are important because students are more likely to share ideas and express concerns when they are comfortable with their classmates and the instructor” (Cooper, 2012, p. 83).

A study conducted by MacBride and Luehmann (2008) chose a Pre-Calculus class taught by Mr. Doug Kirk to explore blogging practices in terms of intent, use, and perceived value.  The largest benefits in terms of collaboration using blogs were they increased socialization between students as well as offered Mr. Kirk to use them as a diagnostic tool to see where his students were having difficulty.  He stated that because of the blogs he was able to develop a rapport with his students much faster than if he only had interaction with them in the classroom.  It is also interesting to note that because the blog was public, there was not only collaboration between student-student or teacher-student, but from a global learning environment.  Mr. Kirk stated, “My classroom walls are made of glass.  And the world comes in on a daily basis” (MacBride & Luehmann, 2008, p. 180).

As students begin to learn from each other, the teacher becomes a partner in the learning process as opposed to the sole provider of information (Beldarrain, 2006).  Ellison and Wu (2008) suggest, “the participatory and decentralized structure of blogging may discourage the “sage on the stage” approach to teaching and instead recalibrate communication patterns so that knowledge-sharing is increasingly student-to-student and student-to-instructor” (p. 106).  However, it was noted in several readings that even though the teacher takes on a role as facilitator, there still needs to be clear expectations for students to be successful.  In order for engagement and collaboration to flourish, it is imperative that a particular set of questions be asked (Walatka, 2012).  Three suggestions to provide for better blogging are to require a specific length for blogs, have the instructor model substantial comments, and require the teacher to praise strong comments or discussions on the blogs.  When Walatka (2012) applied these three ideas to his classroom, he concluded that student commenting is beneficial.

Collaboration through blogging also has been shown to motivate students to pay more attention to their online work versus work handed solely to an instructor.  When you could potentially be writing to the entire world, there is a strong incentive for additional significant student effort.  In a study involving undergraduate and graduate students from Taiwan, students were required to create their own blogs and respond to specific topics regarding the course.  It was found that the students showed remarkable motivation to learn from peers through blogs (Yang & Chang, 2011).  In addition, students’ exposure to a broader audience for their work and more feedback from peers’, encourages greater student investment in what they write and in the writing process as a whole (Purcell, Buchanan, & Friedrich, 2013).  Cooper (2012) states, “Offering students a real purpose for their writing and a real audience is especially significant in the math classroom, because students often feel that what they learn in the classroom does not connect to the world in which they live” (p. 82). 

                Another reason why teachers are incorporating blogs into their classrooms is it offers a place for students to reflect on anything from classroom material to their thoughts and feelings on the course.  This reflection can be beneficial to both the student and the teacher.  Some courses may only be a semester long.  Trying to incorporate all of the material in such a short amount of time and still have enough time for reflection can be difficult.  A blog offers a solution to this time constraint.  The classroom can be extended beyond the walls and give students that opportunity for absorption that they may not have had during the regularly scheduled class time.  In terms of benefitting the teacher, blogs give them a chance to reflect on students that are struggling in their classes.  Mr. Kirk explained, 

Having  the scribe post has allowed me really deep insight into one kids head every day . . . when the kids have to scribe what happened in class today, they are forced to wrestle with the material and try to present the best they can what they do understand. (MacBride & Luehmann, 2008, p. 180).

            Blogging also encourages reflections by providing simple access to earlier writing.   Because blogs are written in electronic form, it is very easy for students to go back to previous works for reflection, revisions and analysis of their work.  Students can also edit prior assignments based on new learning (Ferdig & Trammell, 2004). 

Blogs provide a medium where writing can occur and for the subject of mathematics this can be extremely beneficial.  Cooperative learning takes place and students make decisions how to communicate with each other.  Writing to a real audience offers the opportunity for students to take greater pride in their work and can motivate them to produce quality assignments.  Writing in this form gives students the chance to grow mathematically, become better problem solvers, and think more critically.

Beldarrain, Y. (2006). Distance Education Trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and collaboration. Distance Education, 27(2), 139-153. doi:10.1080/01587910600789498

Cooper, A. (2012). Today's Technologies Enhance Writing in Mathematics. Clearing House, 85(2), 80-85. doi:10.1080/00098655.2011.624394

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.

Ferdig, R., & Trammell, K. (2004).  Content Delievery in the ‘Blogosphere.’ The Journal Online. 31(7), 12, 16-17, 20.

Lenhart, A., & Madden, M. (2005). Teen Content Creators and Consumers: Findings from the Pew Internet and American Life Project

MacBride, R., & Luehmann, A. (2008). Capitalizing on Emerging Technologies: A Case Study of Classroom Blogging. School Science & Mathematics, 108(5), 173-183.

Purcell, K., Buchanan, J., & Friedrich, L. (2013).  The Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing and How Writing is Taught in Schools:  Findings from the Pew Internet and American Life Project

Walatka, T. (2012). Hub-and-Spoke Student Blogging and Advantages for Classroom Discussion. Teaching Theology & Religion, 15(4), 372-383. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9647.2012.00830.x

Yang, C. C., & Chang, Y. S. (2011). Assessing the effects of interactive blogging on student attitudes towards peer interaction, learning motivation, and academic achievements. Journal Of Computer Assisted Learning, 28(2), 126-135. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2729.2011.00423.x

Theory

Engagement Theory

“Why do we have to learn this?,” “When am I ever going to need this?,” “Is this going to be on the test?” These are all questions heard in high school classrooms across the country.  Those that are good at math, like the material, are engaged and are intrinsically motivated to do well and be successful.  What about those that do not like mathematics? I work hard to keep my classroom fun and energetic.  I tell stories to help them remember the process we are working on.  I make up songs to engage them and create rhymes to help them recall the concepts.  If students were engaged through another avenue, they may not need me to be the cheerleader in front of the room.  They would be motivated on their own to complete their work, all while being actively engaged.

According to Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999), engagement theory’s fundamental idea is students must be “meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks” (p. 1).  It is the belief with this theory that students can be engaged through opportunities using technology that may not be possible otherwise.  Engagement is successful when students’ activities are creative, require problem solving, reasoning, decision making, and evaluation.  The learning environment of the classroom allows students to be innately motivated.  The main idea of engagement theory is broken into three components:  relate, create, and donate (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999).

Interpersonal and collaborative skills are acquired during the relate stage.  When students collaborate with each other they are required to talk through the problems, and collectively come up with a solution.  According to Shneiderman, Alavi, Norman and Borkowski (1995), “verbalization of problems has often been demonstrated to be advantageous during learning and is an important job skill to acquire for modern team-oriented organizations and relationships” (p. 21).  The traditional format of many schools is to complete independent work, even though the workplace requires the opposite.

Collaboration has a variety of benefits and advantages.  Not only can students work with others in their own classroom, but through technology they now have the opportunity to connect with others from around the world and gain a different cultural perspective.  Instructors can use the engagement theory to incorporate blogs and class websites to achieve this type of collaboration.  Educators can use Google Sites and Weebly to provide a place to post assignments, class documents, and announcements. Edmodo can also be used to present assignments and associated materials, grade student work, and communicate with students.  It also offers them a place to upload work and communicate with peers (Walser, 2011).  According to Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999), collaboration also increases motivation in students and decreases drop-out rates.  Incorporating technology with collaboration can provide powerful results.

According to Poelzer (2014), an online book discussion was created using Moodle for a 7^th grade classroom.  Throughout the Moodle course, students shared their opinions, made personal connections with the stories, and discussed, compared and contrasted texts.  A mother of one of the boys in the class commented that her son, “would rather cut off his right arm than sit down with a book” (Poelzer, 2014, para. 12). Technology provided a learning environment where he felt motivated to read the assignments and involve himself with the online discussions because he did not want to miss out. 

Besides Moodle, blogs, and class websites, there are a variety of ways collaboration can be incorporated with technology to engage students.  Web conference boards, chat programs, and gaming are also avenues instructors can employ.  Gaming, specifically, “can help make learning more engaging and relevant in ways that static textbooks simply cannot” (Levine & Gershenfeld, 2011, p. 25).  However, regardless of the technology, students will need guidance with their time management skills, with their leadership ability, and consensus building.  These are all 21^st century skills that are needed and required in the current workplace. 

The second component of engagement theory is the create stage.  During this stage, students analyze a problem creatively and with purpose.  In other words, in the traditional classroom, students are basically robotic in their learning.  They regurgitate what the teacher has presented to them, or memorized what is expected.  However, in the create stage of engagement theory, students take control of their learning by creating their own projects, applying their ideas, and focus their efforts in order to problem solve.  Computers and the world-wide-web have opened up a whole new world of resources and projects.  No longer are teachers bound by their possible out of date textbooks.  With access to digital libraries and ebooks, students can create projects that were not possible before.  One example of how educators can use the create stage of engagement theory in the classroom is for students to create an encyclopedia or online textbook for their class.  This has been done at the graduate level where students have created an Encyclopedia of Virtual Environments. It was also accomplished in a 5^th grade class that produced a database on the animals of Africa for third graders (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999).

The final component of engagement theory is the donate stage.  The projects that are shaped during the create stage are intended to help a community organization, school, church, library, museum, government agency, local business, or needy individual.  The intent is to have students work on a project that has a practical focus (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999).  Some examples of authentic projects that have been completed are students have worked on campus related projects and developed scheduling systems for the bus service and television station.  They also kept records for the scuba club, organized carpools, and created an accounting system for a physics department (Shneiderman, 1998). 

In conclusion, the engagement theory through relate, create, and donate stages, is intended to produce successful collaborative groups which work on tasks that are significant to someone beyond the classroom.  Technologies such as websites, blogs, gaming, digital libraries, and ebooks are just a few mentioned that can engage students and provide a place for such collaboration and projects to exist.  Engaging students can be challenging, but with the use of these technologies, students can be motivated, connected, and ultimately allow success in our students!

Kearsley & Shneiderman, B. (1999). Engagement Theory:  A framework for technology-based teaching and learning.  Retrieved from http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/engage.htm

Levine, M. H., & Gershenfeld, A. (2011).  The Video Game-Learning Link:  Isn’t It Time We Leveled Up?  Education Week, 31(11), 24-26.

Poelzer, T. (2014).  Using ICT to Engage Reluctant Male Learners in Literacy Activities.  Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol3/312-poelzer.aspx

Shneiderman, B. (1998).  Relate-Create-Donate: A teaching/learning philosophy for the cyber-generation. Computers & Education, 31(1), 25-39.

Shneiderman, B., Alavi, M., Norman, K., & Borkowski, E.Y. (1995). Windows of Opportunity in Electronic Classrooms. Communications of the AMC, 38(11), 19-24.

Walser, N. (2011).  Spotlight on Technology in Education.  Harvard Education Press Cambridge, MA.