Abstract

Blogging is characterized by an individual exploration of ideas of personal interest through frequent online posts, documenting ideas as they emerge over time. Community emerges as bloggers read and link across blogs, based on shared interests. Blogs have gained acceptance in higher education for a variety of instructional activities, among which, reflective journal writing is popular. In this study, we examine a project in which blogs were implemented within an online graduate course in order to create opportunities for students to reflect on their academic, professional and personal interests, with the goal of establishing consistent blogging that exhibits the timely, frequent and interest-driven practices of blogging practices outside educational contexts. Students enrolled in an online graduate course maintained individual blogs in which they were prompted to write about their interests and experiences as graduate students. Through an analysis of the patterns of prompt use and blog content, as well as data from a post-course survey and an online discussion, we explore how to support student engagement with blogging practice within an educational setting. Findings suggest that

Citation

Freeman, W. & Brett, C. (2012). Prompting authentic blogging practice in an online graduate course. Computers & Education, 59(3), 1032-1041. Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved August 5, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/66446/.

Keywords

• Distance education and telelearning
• Distributed learning environments
• Electronic Publishing
• Graduate students
• Graduate Study
• higher education
• Interests
• Journal Writing
• learner engagement
• learning communities
• online courses
• pedagogical issues
• post-secondary education
• student journals
• Web Sites