Student Blogging in Middle School #blogging #edchat

Not a day goes by in education without the mention of technology, 21st century teaching and learning, Web 2.0 or social media. However, the rise of blogging cannot be ignored. Blog use in education has grown considerably in the last decade, and the amount of research that has focused on the use of blogs in education is significant. Churchill (2009) notes that blogging can be effective educationally where “a teacher can create an ambience in which students feel themselves to be important parts of the classroom community” (Churchill, 2009, p. 183).

According to Scheidt (2009), blogging became popular after the opening of two commercial services, Livejournal.com and blogger.com, in 1999. A blog is simply a web-based journal in reverse chronological order, which allow users to create, publish and share information with others (Dyrud, Worley, and Flatley, 2005) noted that there were over 4 million of these simple online journals on the worldwide web by 2004. As a result, doors were opened to the instructional, technical, ethical and organization criteria, which is necessary to content and pedagogy in the classroom (Papa, 2010).

Educational blogs range from school websites, class websites, class blogs, educator blogs, professional learning and for ePortfolios. Such blogs allow students to post text, share hyperlinks, images, and multimedia and to create an asynchronous location where readers can provide feedback, hold discussions, and foster a collaborative learning environment (West, 2008). When blogs are used, students are given opportunities to connect what is being learned in the classroom (Hungerford-Kresser, Wiggins and Amaro-Jiménez, 2011).

Read Write Think (2014) notes that teaching with blogs provides the opportunity to engage students and to share their writing with an authentic audience. When students blog their writing becomes an “integral part of a lively literacy community” (Read Write Think, 2014). More important is the transparency of learning, which occurs with blogging. Student bloggers, as with all bloggers, have the opportunity to write not just for their teachers but also for a global audience.

Essential to student learning is student “buy-in.” Yang and Chang (2011) proposed dialogues in the form of blogging are associated with positive attitudes towards. Ellison and Wu (2008) conducted a study that investigated students’ attitudes toward blogging in the classroom and its effect on comprehension where the majority of the participants showed positive attitudes toward blogging.

Hossain and Quinn (2013) suggest blogs be incorporated into middle school mathematics education to improve teaching and learning of mathematics. Technologies such as blogs can be used widely and responsibly, with the goal of enriching students’ learning of mathematics (NCTM, 2000). And with the average teenager using some form of digital media between 15 and 20 hours per day through “multitasking,” or using several different types simultaneously (Rosen, 2011), venturing into blogging in the middle school classroom became a focus of this study.

This case study was conducted in a seventh-grade mathematics classroom to compare the intended and actual educational outcomes of blogging in the mathematics classroom.

Audience and Setting

For this study, 104 seventh grade math students utilized classroom blogs via Edublogs. Students in this study included both male and female students ranging from ages 11-13. All students participated within the regular education setting with the exception of two special education students. These two students were given access to the blogs but due to their individualized education plans, they were not required to participated in the mathematical blogging.

All student blogs were connected to the teacher’s main blog and monitored daily for activity; posts and comments. Due to the school’s acceptable use policy, blogs were only accessible via the teacher (administrator) and the individual student. No blogs were accessible to outside persons unless the exact link, username and password were available. Blogs were not searchable via the worldwide web.

Study

Beginning second quarter of the year, students began blogging regularly for math class. In the initial phase of implementation, the mathematics teacher implemented class time to model and explain Edublogs access, the concept of blogging, posting, commenting, safety and security to students. Students were assigned tasks, which required the usage of the dashboard features to provide students with ample practice time prior to vital assignments being required.

Within the class blog, the teacher posted assignments and modeled blogging for students regularly. In the initial phases, students were required to access blogs and complete assignments in class to help students troubleshoot, if needed. This was done using students personal devices and/or school owned iPads.

All blogging assignments were graded as either a responsibility grade or as an assessment grade. All assignments were mandatory, however, student commenting was optional. Commenting was proposed as an option for students as were optional blogging posts. However, the teacher monitored all posts and comments.

Expected Outcomes

The primary expectation with blogging was to serve as a digital portfolio of student assignments and achievements (Liu & Chang, 2010). To celebrate student learning, students and teachers were asked to prepare for a day in which parent and community members would be invited into the middle school. Knowing blogs could be used to organize student work, blogging, via Edublogs, was designed into the classroom curriculum.

Blogging can help the flattened classroom as described by Morris (2013) to expand to one, which collaborates globally. In the traditional face-to-face classroom, the audience a student has is typically made up of teachers, his/her classmates and parents. Edublogs gives a platform for students to share their work to a larger audience with teacher discretion. This widened audience allows for "an avenue for feedback and self-improvement through commenting" (Morris, 2013). Edublogs was recognized as platform that allows this to happen.

A third expectation for the incorporation of blogging into the math classroom was the desire to peak student interest in learning. Hossain and Quinn (2013) found that college students and pre-service mathematics teachers responded positively to blogging in their Euclidean geometry course and further suggested that middle school teacher should consider the implementation of such activities in their own classrooms as middle school students might also find blogging to be effective and enjoyable. Hungerford-Kresser, et al (2011), considered blogging assuming that “the generation of tech-savvy students would enjoy this particular medium” (p. 326).

The last expectation, but certainly not the least, was that Edublogs was going to provide a safe and secure learning environment for students. Edublogs, specifically, is recognized as a blogging platform created only for education; creating a safe and secure space for online learning; social interaction, content with discussions, social communication, announcements, assessment tools, resources and sharing (Papa, 2010).

Results

All seventh grade math students were expected to blog using Edublogs with the exception of two special education. The expectation was to showcase mathematical applications, understanding, meaning and thought via their personal student blogs; an online diary and portfolio of their mathematical learning. Although all students were expected to participate regularly, with a minimum expectation of posting mandatory assignments, not all students participated. These students do not have an e-portfolio for day of learning.

The technology needed for the blogging included Internet access, a device, and an online blogging service. For this case, Edublogs was utilized which included the creation of a free account for the teacher. As noted by Hungerford-Kresser, et al. (2011), the integration of technology is not always a smooth process, even for the experienced.

Edublogs (2014) asks users to consider a few questions when choosing a blogging platform: Will the blogs be blocked by school or home filtering software? Are privacy options available? Edublogs (2014) also claims to have a very high and secure platform, which does not allow for spam or the sharing of personal information. The students and teacher had no problems with these technological aspects and found the platform to be very safe and secure. Any technology problems encountered were based on the student’s comfort level with the technology; nothing was unresolved.

Fryer (2005) describes a blog as an online journal or diary, which is accessible to a global audience and generally allow readers to post comments on blog entries they read. With the creation of over 100 student accounts, it was apparent that all student blogs would be accessible to the worldwide web and searchable; a global audience. As a teacher, this means exposing students to such Internet issues as cyber-bullying, libel and slander. Taking this very important factor into consideration, the school’s acceptable use policy and the fact that educators must consider student privacy and safety presented by blogging, a purchase was required to ensure that student blogs would be not be searchable or posted to the Internet via Edublogs. Blogging became internal which had an impact on the blogging experience.

The challenge posed with blogging internally, with no outside exposure, was the minimal exposure of the blogs, the lack of feedback received and the lack of asynchronous discussion; identified as characteristics to effective blogging by Churchill (2009). Initially students were eager to comment on their classmates’ posts. However, as time progressed there was minimal commenting with the exception of the teacher comments, which led to a decrease in enthusiasm despite positive feedback. Students were not as excited about reading and commenting classmates’ posts. The enthusiasm for blogging appeared to disintegrate

The teacher made a few attempts to overcome the challenge of a limited audience. The first attempt was to use student work on the personal/professional blog of the teacher. The teacher used student posts as “guest bloggers”. These posts were shared via various social networking sites. Students were excited to hear when one of their pieces was shared “globally.”

The teacher also recognized that students were not reading and commenting on one another’s blogs. Students were invited to comment but little activity was seen. The teacher was then considering inviting parents and other teachers to visit the blogs, however, was unsure of the parent security.

Using Edublogs proved to be a safe and secure learning environment for students. True to the blogging claims it offered a safe and secure space for online learning; social interaction, content with discussions, social communication, announcements, assessment tools, resources and sharing (Papa, 2010). However, implementation was limited to math class and to a small population of seventh grade students at the middle school. One may wonder how these claims would be altered with a larger population.

Reflection

Blogging from the perspective of the teacher proved to be beneficial, yet also had its faults. As a teacher and blogger myself, this made me reflect on why I liked blogging and why I found it to be exciting. It comes down to the fact that I am writing for an audience. Peter Witt (2013) writes, "Blogging is as much about sharing with one another as it is about getting your voice out."

As future teachers are looking to blog with their students, it is recommended that the school’s acceptable use policy is read and followed. Despite the Edublogs (2014) claims of being free to educators, it was necessary for the teacher to spend a small amount of money to ensure the utmost security for the students. Asking the technology specialist and/or administrators of the school would be good practice. This seemingly minor challenge, proved to be limiting in terms of the visions for blogging in the middle school math classroom. However, safety and privacy is a valuable lesson for all.

Limiting the global interaction and writing for an audience other than the teacher appeared to have a plummeting affect on the blogging experience with students. One of the benefits of blogging is making learning transparent. With the minimal audience, the true experience of blogging was not gained limiting this study’s validity.

With that said, the internal blogging did have it’s benefits. Students appeared to be motivated in presenting their best work and noted that the work of their peers was helpful in knowing what was expected. Students were reading the work of others, but just not commenting. This “interaction” outside of the classroom provides access to the curriculum, which might not otherwise be available in a typical classroom environment. Downes (2004) argued that blogging, as a practice is more about reading than about writing; another lesson to consider when teaching the basic skills that students need to be literate citizens in the 21st century (Read Write Learn, 2014).

Another consideration for teachers as they venture into the blogosphere, is how to make blogging not appear as yet another task. Like Hungerford-Kresser et al. (2011), the assumption was made that the incorporation of technology would make blogging a positive experience for students. Initially, students were enthused to be using their devices (i.e. smartphones, iPads, tablets) in class; the “newness” appeared to wear off. As blogging assignments were proposed to students, the signs of enthusiasm appeared to dwindle. Churchill (2009) recommends maximizing the blogging experience by incorporating other Web 2.0 tools. Using one Web 2.0 tool may not be enough to differentiate for all learners.

MacBride and Luehmann (2008) propose “the realized benefits of classroom blogs depended largely on how teachers choose to structure and use the blog” (p. 182). Simply using technology will not guarantee student engagement, learning or the effectiveness as a pedagogical tool. In looking to use blogging with students, teachers must maintain their focus on planning and decision-making as it relates to their goals and standards. Despite the flexibility and the literature, which share the benefits of blogging in the classroom, teacher awareness of student needs should remain the utmost priority. Macbride and Luehmann (2008) warn teachers “that the benefits purported in the literature will not be automatic” (p. 182). Lesson learned.


References

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