Running head: THE EFFECTS OF BLOGGING IN SCHOOL

Internet Integration Research: The Effects of Blogging in School Sabrina Robertson Georgia Southern University June 22, 2011

THE EFFECTS OF BLOGGING IN SCHOOL

Technology has drastically changed the way people communicate, learn and interact with others around the world. The creation of the internet was once viewed as impossible, and has now taken the world by storm through the use of the World Wide Web (Anderson, 2011). Education is greatly impacted by the technological advancements in our world, and teachers are adapting to the new age of teaching and learning. An internet tool that has become more widely used in schools and has gained the interest of millions worldwide is the use of weblogs commonly referred to as blogs. Blogs allow individuals to publish various information on the internet without the installation of software (Copeland, 2011). Blogs enable users to express and share their personal or professional ideas, photos or videos online and the inclusion of blogs in schools have been incorporated in different capacities. However there are lingering concerns about blogging in schools as blogs are often attributed to poor writing skills and grammar. Chris Lehmann, principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia expressed concerns that questioned the added value of blogging in schools (Ramaswami, 2008). Although blogging has not been around long, there is information that will be revealed throughout this research paper to show the positive and negative effects of blogging in schools. While there are both positive and negative connotations associated with blogging, we will take a closer look at the positive side of this internet application. The potential applications of blogging in education is an alternate way for students to write content related dialogues and post their thoughts, ideas and comments to class discussions. Barry Bachenheimer, director of instructional services for Caldwell-West Public Schools in New Jersey, is an advocate for

THE EFFECTS OF BLOGGING IN SCHOOL blogging in schools. Bachenheimer along with other high school teachers conducted a study to show that blogging could improve students writing skills by making them write more frequently and comment on one anothers work (Ramaswami, 2008). The research study consisted of five high school teachers from Bachenheimers school district who focused their research on the study of technology and its effects on student achievement. The scientific question posed by an 11th grade English teacher asked two questions. Could blogging help students in the construction of a research paper? Would writing blog entries throughout the research process improve the quality of the final draft that

students submitted (Ramaswami, 2008)? In this experiment, students used blogs as a means of journaling to brainstorm ideas to support their arguments. Students interacted with each other and were observed writing throughout the day whether it was before, during or after school. At the conclusion of the research study, students shared that blogs helped them organize their thoughts, develop their ideas, synthesize their research and benefit from their classmates constructive comments (Ramaswami, 2008). See the results below from a survey that was taken by 25 students in the English class. Blog posts helped them articulate ideas better Blogs helped them determine what to sayHardest part of writing a research paper is starting it- 84% Blogging helped them begin writing their papers60% 74% 68 %

After researching popular blogging sites such as Word Press at wordpress.com and Blogspot at blogger.com, I created a blog of my own. Blogspot allowed me to easily create an account using my email login information and seemed to be user-friendly, so I chose it as my

THE EFFECTS OF BLOGGING IN SCHOOL first blogging site. Creating my first blog was not difficult and I may have found a new interest for the summer that could carry into my own curriculum next fall. I was able to create a link to

my blog at http://srobertsonmusic.blogspot.com/ and plan to upload videos of my personal music performances to share with others in the future. Blogging has definitely taken on a new meaning for me and I am glad that this research activity has opened a door that I did not think I would have opened. There are different websites that host bloggers and many schools have enabled blogging as a part of their school systems web connection. After creating an account with Blogspot, I found that uploading video files, photos, and messages was just as simple as other online programs that I use. With the increase move of utilizing mobile devices as a multi-purpose communication tool, I found several apps on my phone that support blog engines to include: WordPress, TypePad, Blogger (Blogspot), Tumblr, Windows Live Spaces and Joomia. Other merits of blogging in education are increased school attendance and motivation from at-risk learners. Although blogging does not reduce the transient rate of at-risk students, it can provide a virtual learning tool where learners post questions, thoughts, reflections and new learning, all in the same virtual space they have been using, which helps students move forward and make progress (Woods-Wilson, 2009). There are several barriers to implementing blogs in education. Some of the barriers include the increased need for computers in all schools, the lack of computer proficiency amongst students and teachers to use various internet tools and the lack of ability for students to interact with subject-related blogging outside of school. While there are pros and cons to blogging in education, I think the overall purpose for implementing blogging in the classrooms is to provide an alternate way of creating information

THE EFFECTS OF BLOGGING IN SCHOOL and communicating with students. Blogging is a great way to reach visual learners, but should be coupled with other teaching strategies and tools that reach aural and tactile learners. When approached correctly and strategically, blogging serves as a great reinforcement tool for writing skills that are necessary to succeed in life.

THE EFFECTS OF BLOGGING IN SCHOOL References Anderson, J. (2011). Imagine the internet. Retrieved from http://www.elon.edu/eweb/predictions/early90s/ Copeland, P. (2011). Choral journal. Digital Natives and Immigrant Choral Directors, 51(8),

Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2008/11/01/The-Prose-of-Blogging-and-aFew-Cons-Too.aspx?Page=1 Erickson, D. (2010). The effects of blogs versus dialogue journals on open-response writing scores and attitudes of grade eight science students. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA. Retrieved from http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml Publication Date: The date the document or article was published. Ramaswami , R. (2008). The journal. The Pros of Blogging, Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2008/11/01/The-Prose-of-Blogging-and-a-Few-ConsToo.aspx?Page=1 Vasinda, S., & Mcleod, J. (n.d.). Extending readers theatre: a powerful and purposeful match with podcasting. The Reading Teacher, 64(7). Woods-Wilson, C. (2009). Blogs as learning tools in a high school science class for at-risk learners: an ethnography. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Education, Capella University, Minneapolis, MI. Retrieved from http://www.proquest.com/enUS/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml