An Examination of Blogging in Schools

Brian Sharland – An Examination of Blogging in Schools

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BRIAN SHARLAND

AN EXAMINATION OF BLOGGING IN SCHOOLS

UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS – MA IN ICT AND EDUCATION PROGRAMME


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Table of Contents

Proposed Study ...................................................................................................................................... 3

Research questions .............................................................................................................................. 3

Literature Review ................................................................................................................................. 4

Research Design ................................................................................................................................. 10

Survey design ...................................................................................................................................... 11

Analysis of results .............................................................................................................................. 20

Summary of baseline data ......................................................................................................................... 21 Survey questions on issues to do with blogging ................................................................................. 24

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 54

Recommendations for future blogging approach in classroom and at home .......................... 60 Online Links .................................................................................................................................................... 61 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................... 61


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Proposed Study

Research questions

My overall research brief is as follows:

I would like to critically study pupils’ general experience of blogging in classroom and at home.

Through the use of interview and survey I will explore a number of issues related to blogging as

detailed in the questions below. I wish to explore these issues as I have been using blogging

myself as a teacher, to explore and write about various issues and I have also begun to use it in

class with my pupils. I have been encouraging pupils to blog personally and have also begun to

use blogging as a part of my own normal classroom activities, through getting pupils to blog

about what they have learnt about in class.

These investigations will hopefully help me to understand the place and value of blogging in the

classroom as well as look at issues which could affect the usage of blogging in the classroom.

This critical study will therefore serve as a ‘snapshot’ of some of the current activity and

attitudes related to blogging in the classroom. I will therefore be use to use this as a basis for

making recommendations for future blogging approaches, attitudes and possible policy.

From the research brief the following questions can be extracted. These are numbered to

enable cross-reference with lesson design, interviews and analysis and I will come back to them

in the results.


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1. How do institutional attitudes to blogging shape the experience of using blogging in the

class?

2. How do teacher attitudes to blogging shape the experience of using blogging in the

class?

3. How do pupil attitudes to blogging shape the experience of using blogging in the class?

4. How do parental attitudes to blogging shape the experience of using blogging both in the

class and at home?

5. Does having increased or reduced access to technology improve blogging usage and

experience?

Literature Review

In order to consider the impact of blogging on a set of pupils, I think it is necessary to first

consider what a blog is, as it is the central technological concept around which the study

revolves.

Before moving onto academic texts on blogging I began by using my account on Twitter, a

micro-blogging service to ask the question as to what is a blog. I felt as an exercise this would

work as a way of hopefully generating a slightly different definition of blogging through using a

blogging service such as Twitter. Twitter is a micro-blogging service which has grown in

popularity in the last few years and therefore is a good example of a blogging service with a

large impact and audience.

I decided to use a method of marking words called a hashtag in my short post called a tweet to

ask #whatisablog? (https://twitter.com/sharland/statuses/189043203431866369). I also used

the same hashtag to post my own tweet stating that: “#whatisablog A blog is online


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communication that is multimodal, expressing either official or personal points of view, as well

as facts” (https://twitter.com/sharland/statuses/189043707650125824).

When I accessed the hashtag to see what other tweets had been written using the same tag I

saw that the hashtag had already been used previously. A user called @obsoletedogma had

posted

“This is my blog. I blog on my blog & blog readers read it. #whatisablog”

(https://twitter.com/ObsoleteDogma/statuses/187566549492703234).

Another user called @b_fung had retweeted the original tweet by @obsoletedogma (a retweet

includes the original person’s tweet and their username in a new tweet) and had added their

own comment

“There are many others like it, but this one is mine RT @ObsoleteDogma This is my

blog. I blog on my blog & blog readers read it #whatisablog”.

(https://twitter.com/b_fung/statuses/187566790510002176)

A twitter user who follows me responded fairly soon with their own interpretation of what a blog

is. User @Jon_Torbitt stated that

“@sharland #whatisablog a method of communication that starts 1way and evolves into

a discussion on a specified topic”

(https://twitter.com/Jon_Torbitt/statuses/189044120751325184).


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This definition of blogging shows how blogging could be used as a non-linear discussion tool.

This possibly builds on Donelan’s definition of a weblog or blog as an asynchronous

communication tool (Donelan 2010). A blog is useful for soliciting opinions and contributions on

a topic; however, it could quite easily be used to expand on or develop an original idea into

something else.

In this short exercise of using real world tools blogging I was able to identify some aspects of

what a blog is: I was able, in a very short space of time to post a question in a structured format

using an online blogging tool and receive an appropriate response. The use of Twitter as a form

of computer-mediated communication to compare my own opinion with others is an example of

blogging which in itself gained rapid usable results. The definition provided by user

@Jon_Torbitt seems to match the process I went through in requesting a definition of blogging.

I was able to see from the two tweets, which had already been posted before I wrote mine using

the hashtag, that a blog for many people is something which is theirs and they have ownership

over it even if their blog is not necessarily unique in the world. From the response I received

soon after I posted my question I can also see that for some a blog is a place of communication.

These issues of connection, communication and ownership I feel are vital for considering the

impact of blogging on pupils and their experience of it in school. These issues I will come back

to later.

For a more technical definition of what a blog is Lanksher and Knobel (2006) state that it is a

“website that is updated frequently with new material posted at the top of the page” and that

blog entries or posts are ‘arranged in reverse chronological order so that the most recent post

appears first’. Their broad use of the term ‘material’ rather than ‘text’ is helpful as it allows one


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to consider that blogging may not just be about text but about content. This is seen in the

development of blogging tools in the last few years which do not rely on text only but encourage

or almost exclusively focus on non-textual blogging methods such as posting images to

Pinterest.com or videos to youtube.com.

Richardson (2010) backs this up by saying how the Internet now provides multiple avenues for

content creation. He sees blogging as a means of publishing content to the web. By using the

term ‘journals’ with the connotation of written work and then stating that “It’s not just blogs.

Multimedia publishing by the masses has exploded” (Richardson, 2010) he reinforces the idea

that blogging has moved beyond simple text writing into other forms, as discussed earlier. This

also indicates that for many users, although they do not see themselves as blogging online,

their actions, such as uploading video to YouTube or status updates to Facebook, form a part of

the blogging experience.

Creating video, image, audio or text-based content for a blog is therefore part of the standard

process of blogging. The purpose of blogging therefore needs to be explored regardless of

what content is posted. Willet (2009) argues for the use of a social environment in learning

where people with similar interests or goals can come together in ‘affinity spaces’ for sharing

knowledge. One could argue that a blog run by a pupil as part of a network of blogs allows for

the creation of an affinity space which is managed by the pupil especially in light of the

comments and further links which fellow pupils could pose. This forms a more philosophical

approach to the purpose of blogging.

Merchant and Davies (2009) offer a number of more practical suggestions for the learning

potential of blogs including link aggregation, project design and reflection and observations on

learning activities. I agree with them that blogs are multi-modal texts and this modality, which is


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more flexible then printed books, offers many more learning opportunities when used properly in

class. In my survey I will be looking at the usage of blogging for learning purposes rather than

the range of modal texts which are used, as the range of modal texts used are I believe,

secondary to the question of what the blogging would be useful for.

Dowdall (2009) links good critical literacy with social context and states that this can be viewed

as a social and political endeavour and lead to an increased ability to question social reality.

His approach could be a useful way of establishing the educational value of blogs in situations

where, due to a lack of understanding, blogs have not originally been viewed as worthwhile

learning tools in class. Blogging should be placed within an effective context but even more so

it could become the vehicle through which pupils not only learn but also demonstrate the critical

literacy necessary to be able to make value judgments about their own social reality and their

own learning context.

Creating an ‘affinity space’ online could lead to further complications. Davies and Merchant

(2009) briefly outline the ‘moral panic’ resulting from more traditional views about schooling and

the impact of new communicative practices. Although blogging has been around for a number

of years awareness of it continues to grow in the school sector. Davies and Merchant suggest

that there are many pupils who are ‘uninvolved’ in digital text production (which I feel refers

exactly to blogging) and that critical reading and nuance in dealing with online texts through

skilled teachers would improve safety.

Another issue to consider is the ‘Digital Divide’. The Digital Divide is the gap between groups of

individuals distinguished by a range of factors with regard to access to or knowledge of

information communication technology (Chinn & Fairlie, 2004). A better way of understanding

the impact of the Digital Divide is to look at a more positive response to the Digital Divide, which


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is the term ‘digital inclusion’. Digital Inclusion as defined by Seale (2009) is when all members

of society have access to the affordances provided by technology. Seale raises the issue of

‘technological determinism’ which takes the view that simply through the application of

technology resources to a context the context will improve. Although Montagnier and

Wirthmann (2011) state that low income is the single most important factor for non-access to a

computer at home, both they and Seale in her list of social exclusion factors identify many

issues which could form a part of digital exclusion.

Extending blogging into the classroom therefore has issues when considering whether pupils

have access to technology at home in order to blog. This has implications for the class teacher,

as they will need to consider the methodology of blogging in use at home in order to inform

class use. I will investigate this issue in the survey through questions on access at home.

A further complication of the Digital Inclusion issue can be seen in circumstances where

teachers and pupils are unable to use readily available technology to blog. In my classrooms I

encourage pupils to use mobile phones as part of their learning environment; however, a

number of schools ban mobile phones (Telegraph article May 2012) and there is evidence of

some shift towards that view amongst some teachers and schools (Offerton School Policy).

This may lead to a situation where pupils, despite having the economic capability to gain access

to technology such as a mobile phone, which could be used for blogging purposes, could then

see that usage banned. These pupils would then form a part of the ‘Digital Divide’ through

institutional attitude towards technology.

As a potential balance to the issue of digital access and divide are the benefits of blogging as a

collaborative communication tool. Olson and Olson (2010) discuss groupware as systems

which support groups, often embedded in an organization. Although they do not initially


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mention blogging as a form of groupware, blogging systems which allow for multiple users

blogging together such as http://Wordpress.com or http://Posterous.com I feel would fit the

definition of a groupware system. Olson and Olson do include blogging as a form of

communication tool and hence I would place blogging as a form of computer-mediated-

communication which would enable pupils to collaborate with that mediation of the format of

blogging.

Olson and Olson describe a list of issues for adapting groupware in context and the third one is

‘Disruption of social processes’ (Olson and Olson 2010). They see groupware as having the

potential for threatening existing structures and demotivating users crucial to its success. In the

research I hope to see whether collaboration through commenting on blogs has a positive affect

on pupils and whether using blogging in a class context is a positive experience or not.

Ramage (2010) does suggest, though, that evaluating collaborative technologies is not easy

and that it’s not about establishing whether a specific technology is right or wrong and is more

about the evaluation process. I will therefore not be seeking to establish whether blogging is

more effective or not than other technologies but simply use anecdotal qualitative answers from

pupils to ascertain the overall impact of blogging. I intend to use Ramage’s strategy for

evaluating communication technologies as part my conclusion.

Research Design

I will be using a fixed research design. I will be using surveys which will therefore require a

fixed structure to ensure consistency in application.


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Survey design

The major focus of the critical study will be using surveys across as many different schools and

age ranges as possible in order to gauge accurate and consistent opinion. I will aim to survey

pupils, staff and if possible parents. All participants will receive a single survey.

These are the questions used for the survey as well as justifications for each question.

q1: How old are you?

Pupil can choose between age 5 and 18. This is required in order to identify impact of blogging

at different age groups.

q2: What school year are you in?

Pupils can choose between years 3 and 13 although I suspect the majority of answers will come

from older pupils. This will also allow me to segment the answers based on year group.

q3: What type of school do you attend?

Although there are many different types of state school I have decided to ask simply for pupils to

choose between state and independent.

q4: Which area of the UK do you live in?


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I have used broad geographical areas such as London or Midlands for pupils to identify where

they live. Although some pupils may live in one area but attend school in another I feel this

number will be low enough not to affect results.

q4: What do you mostly use the internet for?

The range of answers are as follows and pupils can choose more than one

● Reading news

● Shopping

● Playing games

● Communicating with others through email

● Communicating with others through social networking

● Communicating with others through blogs

● Watching videos

● Listening to music

● Other:

This will show what pupils are generally using the Internet for. As pupils will be allowed to

choose more than one activity, I will be able to see where the largest proportion of activities

exists.

q5: What technology do you have access to at home?

Answers are as follows and pupils can select more than one:

● Mobile Phone (not a smartphone)

● Smartphone such as Blackberry or Apple iPhone

● Computer (PC or Mac)

● Laptop


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● Tablet

I have chosen to focus on technology which is possible to use for blogging purposes. I am

interested in seeing what pupils do have access to at home and to be able to correlate that with

levels of blogging.

q6: When expressing your ideas online how confident do you feel in putting them

across?

Pupils must choose on a 1 to 5 point scale with 1 being unconfident and 5 being extremely

confident. I am interested in scoring what level of confidence pupils feel they have as this is

relevant to the blogging experience.

q7: What might prevent you expressing your ideas confidently online?

Answers are as follows and pupils can choose more than one

● Expectations and opinions of friends

● Expectations and opinions of teachers

● Expectations and opinions of parents

● Not knowing who is reading

● Other

This question will hopefully demonstrate what sort of limitations pupils are either placed under or

place themselves under when communicating online. This question is also related to the next

question as well as two final questions asking whether blogging could improve confidence.

q8: When expressing your ideas in class how confident do you feel in putting them

across?


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Pupils must choose on a 1 to 5 point scale with 1 being unconfident and 5 being extremely

confident. I am interested in scoring what level of confidence pupils feel they have as this is

relevant to the blogging experience.

q9: What might prevent you expressing in writing your ideas confidently in class?

Answers are as follows and pupils can choose more than one

● Expectations and opinions of friends

● Expectations and opinions of teachers

● Expectations and opinions of parents

● Not knowing who is reading

● Other

I am interested in seeing whether there is a disconnect between pupil confidence in class and

online and how blogging could be related to this, as well as what limitations pupils operate

under.

q10: When you write something online are you aware of the audience?

Answers:

● Yes

● No

With this question and the next I would like to see whether pupils are aware of the online impact

of what they write.


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q11: What audiences are you aware of?

Pupils can choose more than one:

● Friends

● Family

● Teachers

● Class

● Wider Internet

● Other

With the previous question I am looking to see whether pupils are aware of the impact of what

they write through understanding what audiences they are writing for.

q12: Why are you aware of the audience?

Pupils are given a paragraph textbox to write their own answers in. For those pupils who are

not aware of audience this will encourage them to consider why not.

q13: Do you know what blogging is?

Answers are either yes or no. This will separate pupils into those who do and don’t understand

what blogging is, as a number of questions need to be asked about current blogging habits.

q14: For this question pupils are given a web link to a site explaining what blogging is

and then are asked what they think blogging could be used for


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Pupils can answer using a paragraph textbox. This will give pupils the opportunity to offer their

own opinion on the usage of blogging.

q15: Please choose what type of blogging you do

Answers are as follows and pupils can choose more than one:

● I write blogs for a combined class blog

● I have a personal blog which I use only for class

● I have a personal blog which I use for my own blogging

● I have a micro-blog

● I know what blogging is but do not currently blog

● Other:

This question will allow me to identify the core reasons pupils use blogging for. I am less

interested in topics which they blog about due to the high potential variety but more interested in

purpose.

q16: If you are blogging which blogging services do you use?

Answers are as follows and pupils can choose more than one:

● Twitter

● Facebook

● Posterous

● Wordpress

● Edublogger

● Weebly

● Blogspot

● Kidblog


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● Google Sites

● Tumblr

● Other:

Although possibly less relevant from academic perspectives I am interested in seeing what

services pupils use as the services listed here feature mostly free but some paid options as, well

as general blogging services as well as others aimed at the educational market.

q17: What do you blog about in class?

Answers below and pupils can choose more than one:

● Homework

● Reflecting on class work

● Examples of work

● Other

This question looks at key activities for pupils in class when blogging.

q18: What subjects do you use blogging in?


● English

● Maths

● Geography

● History

● ICT

● Computing / Computer Science

● Art / Textiles


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● Food Technology

● Physical Education

● Business Studies

● Sciences

● Other:

I am interested in seeing where pupils predominantly use blogging, as the traditional subject for

using it will be ICT.

q19: Do you blog in classes where the teacher does not use blogging?

Pupils can choose only one:

● Yes

● No

This question is part of my aim to understand barriers and attitudes towards blogging in class.

q20: Have any of the following people prevented you from blogging or expressed

unhappiness with your blogging?


● Teachers

● Friends

● Parents

● No one has ever prevented me from blogging

This question forms part of my aim to identify issues or attitudes which might prevent pupils

from blogging.


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q21 through 24 : Have you ever been unable to blog due to a lack of technology at home /

in class?

Answers:

● Yes

● No

This question as well as the simple follow-up question asking pupils to expand on their answers

look at what issues such as lack of technology access could prevent pupils from blogging.

q25: If you are using blogging in class how has it helped you?


● It helps me remember facts and information

● It helps me think about the work I have done

● It helps me collaborate with other pupils in better ways

● It helps me get better feedback from my teacher

● It has helped me improve my writing skills

● It has helped me improve my confidence

● It has taught me how to interact better online

● Other:

q26: Do you ever comment on other pupil’s blogs?

● Yes

● No

I am interested in seeing whether beyond personal blogging pupils do engage with blogs written

by others.


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q27: When you receive comments on your own blog do these help you or not?

● Yes

● No

● I haven’t received any comments on my blog

I would like to see whether comments received on blogs are helpful or not as part of exploring

the usefulness of blogging as a collaborative tool.

q28 to 31: The last four questions are paragraph text answer questions

● How can blogging in class be improved?

● How can blogging at home be improved?

● Do you think blogging could improve confidence online?

● Do you think blogging could improve confidence in class?

In these questions I am looking for qualitative statements from pupils on the potential benefits

and outcomes of blogging.

Analysis of results Over a period from the 3rd of June to the 20th of July my survey was completed by 243

respondents across a number of schools in the UK. All results were achieved through

communication via Twitter with a number of teachers who then shared the link to the survey with

their pupils. As these schools were spread over a wide area I was unable to go to these

schools to assure the quality of results, although some results are from my own pupils. In

reading through the full set of results I can see that some pupils either misunderstood the

question or selected answers which were inconsistent with other answers elsewhere. An


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example of this is that a number of respondents put their age as 5 (which was the first option in

the list of ages) but no respondents were younger than in year 7 in school.

Many of the questions had spaces for respondents to put their own thoughts or opinions in.

Where I have used them in the analysis below I have copied them in exactly as written in the

survey, including spelling and grammar errors and have italicised their responses. All answers

used by the respondents have been cross-referenced with their survey result number. A copy

of the survey data is available in the appendix under links to online information.

Summary of baseline data

The question ‘How old are you?’ showed a tight range of ages in the profile (excepting the 11

who answered 5 years old) with a few aged 11 and 16 and one 18 year old respondent, the

majority were aged 12 to 15. This is a useful spread when considering that the majority of

‘blogging’ takes place through social media sites where the minimum age for signing up is 13

(Facebook.com 2012). It is also useful to note that although this limit exists a number of

children choose to ignore it (Time.com 2011).


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As expected, the age range was largely similar in results to the question ‘What school year are

you in?’ which showed that the majority of respondents were in years 7 to 10. The range of

years covers pupils who are in Key Stage 3 after leaving primary school up to the first year of

GCSE.

8/2/12 Edit form -‐‑ [ Blogging survey for pupils ] -‐‑ Google Docs

1/10https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/gform?key=0Avu-‐‑HXaqPj0idFY4SlFXOVJySjlNU1E0YzZObE…

243 responses

Summary See complete responses

How old are you?

5 11 5%

6 0 0%

7 0 0%

8 0 0%

9 0 0%

10 0 0%

11 6 2%

12 40 16%

13 70 29%

14 57 23%

15 54 22%

16 3 1%

17 0 0%

18 1 0%

What school year are you in?

3 0 0%

4 0 0%

5 0 0%

6 0 0%

7 37 15%

8 69 28%

9 55 23%

10 78 32%

11 1 0%

12 1 0%

13 1 0%


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The question ‘What type of school do you attend?’ yielded only 6% of respondents from

independent schools which meant that it might not present me with the opportunity to compare

independent and state school opinions on blogging however it does provide value in showing

that the responses do cover different sectors of education in the UK.

In my initial questions I asked ‘Which area of the UK do you live in?’. Looking at the spread

of respondents the south of England, encompassing London, South East and South West, with

45% of respondents was the largest block. Correlating answers with economic status in each

area may not be possible due to relatively small samples.


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Survey questions on issues to do with blogging

In the next section of questions I looked at the use of the Internet and technology by the pupils.

The question ‘What do you mostly use the Internet for?’ showed that the top three activities

for pupils were; communicating through social networks, listening to music and watching videos.

Modern teenagers could regard this set of activities as a ‘stereotype’ of Internet usage.

Although it is possible to regard social networking as blogging, only 14% of respondents listed

communicating through blogs as one of their activities. This failure to connect social networking

and blogging is an interesting result to come from the survey.


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For the next question ‘What technology do you have access to at home?’ pupils indicated a

high usage of smartphones (76%) versus standard mobile phones (40%). There may be a

small difference between this result and reality as pupils may have defined a normal phone as a

smartphone. Interestingly, laptops at 88% were higher than desktops at 65%, hinting at a very

mobile use of technology at home alongside the high use of smartphones at 76% and tablets at

38%.

For the next set of questions I wanted to look at how pupils view their own confidence in

communicating online and in class and compare the results. This would help to show if there

was any disparity between online communication and class-based communication. For the first

question on expressing ideas online the grading was across 5 points from unconfident to

extremely confident. Points 1 to 2 yield a percentage of 7% lacking in confidence with 35% in


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the middle versus 57% on the confident end of the scale. When comparing to the question on

expressing ideas in class points 1 to 2 yield a percentage of 22% on the unconfident end of the

scale with 50% on the confident end of the scale and only 27% in the middle. Although the

discrepancies are minor it possibly indicates that overall pupils do feel more confident in

expressing their ideas in an online environment. This is evident in the comparison chart below.

What could balance this, though, is that those who are answering here by and large seem quite

confident in expressing their ideas online and this confidence may remain in class.


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For both questions on expressing ideas confidently online and in class I also asked what factors

might prevent them expressing their ideas confidently. The options presented were the

expectations and opinions of friends, teachers, parents and not knowing who is reading, as well

as other reasons. For both class and online contexts the expectations and opinions of friends

was a very high factor at 60% for online and 69% for class. This is unsurprising as it indicates

again that peer pressure remains for pupils a key issue in being able to communicate and

express their opinions online. Further research would be useful on the role of social networking

in this.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

1 2 3 4 5

Frequency Chart Comparison - Comparison between Confidence

Online and in Class

ideas online

ideas class


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A noticeable difference shows in how the influence of teachers are viewed. Online the

expectations and opinions of teachers affect only 10% of pupils in the survey but in class they

affect 53% of pupils. Class influence I would expect to be high, although it is interesting to see

that it is still lower than peer influence. Online the influence of teachers is currently a factor but

is probably limited as learning increasingly moves online in the form of online assessment, blogs

and collaborative work. This indicates that perhaps teachers need to establish a better and

more obvious presence in online communication and collaboration by pupils.

The expectations and opinions of parents affecting pupils in expressing their ideas remains

quite low (26% online and 12% in class) which could indicate a lack of engagement with what

pupils are saying online and in class. As for ‘not knowing who is reading’ this was reasonably

high in affecting online communication (52%) where communication can happen in the open

versus 16% in class where pupils are more able to identify and perhaps ‘control’ what they are

saying.

For the question on what might affect them expressing their idea online for the ‘other’ option a

number of interesting answers were given. I have analysed some of them in brief below but

have also grouped them into those who seem to express worries about both personal

confidence and safety online versus those who are extremely confident online to the point


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where nothing affects them at all. This indicates a wide disparity between teenagers from those

who lack confidence to the highly confident. This is an issue which teachers need to take into

consideration when rolling out work which entails online communication or collaboration.

Pupils who are concerned about safety and privacy:

‘What people will think of them’

‘random people that add you’ - answer 33

‘Family’ - answer 41 (and ticked ‘expectations and opinions of parents’ as well)

‘Wether others dislike it or not’ - answer 104

‘Who would care’ - difficult to analyse as might be sarcastic (answer 115)

‘TROLLERS’ - this person has referred to Internet trolls (Shin, 2008) as an issue in

affecting how they communicate online. This could show that for this person negative

comments by others affect how they communicate online. (answer 128)

‘Not being able to be anonymous’ - answer 137

‘Expectations and opinions of everyone in general’ - answer 201

‘Being followed by creepy people’ - answer 213

Pupils who are not concerned about what other people think:

‘Nothing’ mentioned by answer 40, 52, 63,119 as well as a comment ‘mothing my

opinion is my opinion’ (answer 54)

In the survey I was also keen on seeing how pupils view the nature of ‘audience’ (Bermejo

2007) when writing something online and therefore asked them ‘When you write something


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online are you aware of the audience?’.

This would indicate to a small extent whether they take into consideration the views and

opinions of others or simply the ‘effect’ of what they are writing on the screen. 88% of the

respondents showed that they were aware of an audience when writing something online. For

those who answered ‘yes’ I then asked a follow-up question about audiences they were aware

of (allowing multiple answer selection) and ‘friends’ came out top with 96%, followed by family

79%, class at 60%, wider internet at 58% and teachers at 46%. This indicates to me that writing

for the expectations of teachers, although at a reasonable level of just fewer than half the

respondents, is still lower than writing for the expectations of friends. This does beg the

question as to whether teachers should be acting more like friends online? Ignoring the obvious

safety and morality issues this is evidently not possible but it does again indicate that when

pupils write online they are writing far more as part of a ‘social’ context rather than a learning

context.


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The reasons given by those who said they were not aware of the ‘audience’ when writing show

some interesting answers which back up some of the findings.

One respondent (number 3) said ‘Because my twitter profile is not on private’. This indicates

that for this pupil that they are aware that they are broadcasting in the open on the Internet

regardless of who can read what they say or not. Although this may be acceptable for personal

communication online this could become an issue when considering online communication for

school purposes.

In the survey I then moved on to a section on blogging in class. The first question was a simple

one to gauge the level of understanding of what blogging is. 90% of respondents were aware of

what blogging is, which showed a good level of overall understanding.


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For those who didn’t understand what blogging was I supplied a helpful link (BBC.co.uk 2010)

with a brief definition of blogging and then asked the respondents what they thought blogging

could be used for in class. The answers showed some good understanding of potential positive

uses for blogging in class. A selection below shows some interesting points.

‘To tell other pupils and teachers things’ - answer 23

‘we use something in class where we post sticky notes about what we are stuck on and

solve others problems, we could use this for blogging in class i think ............... ‘ - answer

26

‘helpful hints for evision’ - answer 79

‘sharing information’ - answer 81

‘expressing opinions and feelings’ - answer 96

‘saying what you thought of the lesson. and homework’ - answer 126

‘I could blog about school infomation and homework ect. This is an example of a blog i

could do in class’ answer 148

‘Your feelings and expressions about a certain class you've had’ - answer 157


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All the above points I have grouped as they show a good understanding by pupils as to the

potential uses of blogging in class. The answers give indications of pupils considering blogging

as a tool for sharing, recapping and evaluation.

‘to say what has happened and i can keep track if anyone makes fun off me.’ - answer

89

This respondent showed an example again of how pupils can be quite concerned about their

peer relationships when using online communication tools. For this pupil they see the Internet

as a means of making connections even though these connections may be negative. They

seem to only see the potential of blogging as a means to monitor their connections with other

pupils for fear of bullying rather than using those connections positively.

‘i shouldn’t you should learn in class’ - answer 125.

‘i think we shouldn't have to do it in class. people in your class will know about it and

maybe make fun of you. i think if you want to have a bolg you should have it on your own

will not your school telling you to get one. its uneccesary to do it in class.’ - answer 164

Although these respondents were the only two I could find, they do indicate that some pupils do

not see blogging as part of the ordinary classroom experience. Whether it links to seeing online

communication as part of only their ‘social context’ rather than their ‘learning context’ is difficult

to tell but it remains an issue which teachers should take into consideration in the classroom.

Respondents who selected that they did know what blogging was were then asked to select

what type of blogging they do. This answer has some potential problems in it due to

discrepancies between the results here and in the next question. As an example in this


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question 14% of respondents said they had a micro-blog whereas in the following question on

what types of blogging services they use 50% said they use Twitter. Twitter is commonly

regarded as an example of a ‘micro-blog’ (Zhao, D. and Rosson, M 2009)

and this therefore indicates that the pupils who completed this survey may not be fully aware of

correct definitions and terms related to blogging. Having said that the higher number of

responses for ‘I have a personal blog which I use for my own blogging’ at 43% indicate at least

a higher trend of usage in that area.

The following question about which blogging services pupils use this at least gives perhaps a

better indication of usage patterns for both blogging and social networking services with

unsurprisingly high figures for Twitter and Facebook. Posterous, Wordpress and Google Sites

have small but reasonably significant usage figures. In my past experience these are services

often promoted as ‘class friendly’ forms of blogging. Usage of Tumblr is also reasonably high

and reasons for this could be many, including pupils wishing to follow celebrities who use

Tumblr.


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For my next question ‘What do you blog about in class?’ the results showed that my initial

offer of three options was perhaps limited. I was pleased to see that ‘reflecting on what you

learnt about in the lesson’ had a good result at 43% as it showed that blogging is being used as

a reflective tool by pupils in class. This provides good evidence of why blogging is a necessary

and valuable exercise in class as it demonstrates a good proportion of pupils view blogging as a

legitimate learning tool. There were a number of responses for ‘other’ and I have grouped some

of the key usable answers below to indicate other potential uses.

Pupils using blogging in class for self directed interests:

The following selection of answers indicates that a good range of pupils uses blogs in class for

self-directed writing on topics of their own choice. Whether this indicates a lack of direction or


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focus from teachers or not is difficult to tell although it could indicate that some teachers are

working on the basis of allowing pupils to blog on their own topics as a form of ‘self-directed

learning’ where pupils take responsibility for their own learning. As the topics in many of these

cases are not part of the set curriculum their learning through blogging on their own topics could

instead be regarded as informal learning. The fact that pupils are using their blogs in class for

things which interest them demonstrates that they have taken ‘ownership’ of the blogging

process through blogging about their personal interests. This ownership could be both a

negative and a positive result as pupils could see the value of blogging for themselves but not

see at as something with educational value.

‘My life and interests’ - answer 24

‘music’ - answer 29

‘gaming’ - answer 43

‘Minecraft (games)’ - answer 52

‘Dogs’ - answer 60

‘funny cats’ - answer 63

‘stuff we like’ - answer 66

‘anything that interests me’ - answer 191

‘our own choice of subject’ answer 195’

‘sometime we have the choice to make what we want’ - answer 207

Pupils using blogs as part of Teacher-directed learning

‘anything then teacher aprroves of’ - answer 59

‘whatever the teacher asks us to blog about, - answer 65

‘i did a history project about the history of fashion over a century and i blogged about

that as i had a lot of information and the subject interested me!’ - answer 190


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Out of the respondents fewer gave indications that blogging was used as part of teacher-led

activities although this could be because the options given for the question were already

focused on teacher led learning. These few do show anecdotally that pupils are using blogging

as part of activities set by the teacher.

A number of responses also indicated that they do not use blogging in class including this

example:

‘We dont because its blocked at our school’ - answer 108.

In later questions pupils also give further indications of technology restrictions in schools to do

with websites which could be used for blogging purposes. Although this is an anecdotal

response, it indicates an issue which can occur of access to resources online being restricted in

schools in various ways. I will explore these issues in more detail in response to findings of

these questions.

For the next question ‘What subjects do you use blogging in? I was not surprised to see that

ICT comes out quite high at 55%. The other major technology subject Computer Science is

fairly low at 4% which may simply indicate that not many of the respondents take this subject

rather than blogging is under-used in that subject. English at 21% had the other significantly

high result compared to other subjects. Due to the literary nature of the subject this may

encourage the use of blogging as a written form of communication in the subject. The majority

of respondents in the other column wrote that they did not use blogging in any subjects rather

than listing any specific subject.


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This disparity between ICT and other subjects is not necessarily a concern but shows that there

is room for the usage of blogging in other subjects. I could also speculate that as blogging is

reliant on digital technology that this is why blogging is possibly viewed as an ICT only subject.

For the next question ‘Do you blog in subjects where the teacher does not use blogging?’

the result indicated that by and large pupils are only using blogging in situations where the

teacher directs its use, with only 10% of respondents using it of their own accord. This is

disappointing but not surprising and indicates that blogging largely remains a teacher-directed

activity in class as opposed to a pupil-directed activity. This is a statistic which should hopefully

change over time.


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For the next question ‘Have any of the following people prevented you from blogging or

expressed unhappiness with blogging?’ I was hoping to see what factors could negatively

influence pupils own approach to blogging if they are blogging already. I wanted to see if there

was a split between home and school on this issue and the results seemed to indicate a small

split. Parents and family at 26% showed a higher response than teachers or friends as a

negative influence on blogging. Although this was a small split it does indicate that at home

blogging is viewed more negatively than at school.

In the next set of four questions I wanted to look at whether restrictions related to technology at

home and at school have affected blogging by pupils. For both home and school technology

restrictions come in fairly low, with 10% for lack of access at home and 16% for lack of access

at school. The difference of 6% between the two shows that technology restrictions are perhaps

more of an issue at school.


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The answers to the questions on what sort of restrictions are holding pupils back are also quite

revealing. For home access a few respondents indicated that lack of functioning technology

was a main barrier to blogging:

‘My laptop was broken, also my internet has failed at times’ - answer 99

‘When the Internet is down’ - answer 118

‘my computer wasn’t working and my phone was out of money’ - answer 151

This respondent has indicated that their parents due to an issue of e-safety or cyber-bullying

have presumably proposed the lack of technology access:

‘I’m not allowed on facebook because people bully me.’ - answer 122


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The next respondents indicate a cost issue similar to answer 151 above, which prevents them

from having permanent access to the Internet at home:

‘The service providers are too expensive so sometimes we have times at when we have

no internet’ - answer 128

‘i never had much technology in my home until my dad got a new job’ - answer 183

Although this next respondent doesn’t indicate whether cost is an issue, an outright lack of

suitable technology at home is a considerable issue and has a similar impact to a loss of access

due to financial reasons.

‘i cannot blog if i dont have a computer, or a phone to use’ - answer 129

Further respondents also indicated a lack of appropriate technology in the first instance due to a

lack for them of the right sort of device to blog with and for the second respondent a lack of a

suitable Internet connection:

‘I usually go on the internet on my iPod or an iPhone, and it's not easy to edit or write a

blog on something other than a Computer or Laptop.’ - answer 192

‘Sometimes, when are Internet Connetcion is down, certain sites I visit often, like for

instance, blogs, will not be reachable, as some require a strong Internet Connection to

be used/visited.’ - answer 199

As for technology issues which prevent access to blogging services at school a number of

responses were made which illustrate some crucial points.


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The following respondents illustrate two common issues of a lack of hardware resources and

available resources such as the Internet connection not being sufficiently capable to support

pupil activities. These are critical issues which schools need to get right in order to support

quality blogging activities.

‘I do History Club on Wednesday lunchtimes, and sometimes there are insufficient

laptops, or laptops that do not work, to go around the class.’ - answer 24

‘sometimes there is lack of numbers for computers so not everyone has a computer so

they cant blog’ - answer 65

‘because the internet was too slow’ - answer 31

‘No wireless internet access at a decent speed.’ - answer 225

The following are some of the responses focusing on the issue of blocking websites in schools.

This issue is both simple from the point of view of preventing access to undesirable content but

also complex in that false positive blocking takes place both intentionally and unintentionally.

Certainly these responses from the pupils indicate that for them school blocking procedures are

a hindrance to what they see as legitimate activity online.

‘because they have blocked most of the games and websites encluding facebook and

email’ - answer 32

‘because they have blocked lots of websites’ - answer 34

‘because most of the blogging sites have been filtered such as Facebook,Twitter and

more. ‘ - answer 35

‘because theres not computers in every class and were not alould to use are phones in

some classes unless asked to.’ - answer 46


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‘because i was doing a blog about a game, and suddenly the game subject was filtered, i

was not able to do that subject anymore.’ - answer 52

‘Pages we blog on are usually filtered, unless they are pages the teacher has

recommended them or we are using them. - answer 206’

Answer 46 above and answer 118 below also indicate a further issue with technology access in

schools which is the banning of mobile phones either in the whole school or in classrooms. This

again is a highly complex issue which demonstrates how one opinion ‘mobile phones should be

banned in school’ can affect the opinions of pupils and some educators who may believe

otherwise that mobile phones should be allowed in schools.

‘we are not allowed to use phones’ - answer 118

When it comes to understanding the use of mobile phones within classrooms there are multiple

areas of potential usage from using them as an aide-memoire in class to accessing educational

apps. Mobile phones can also be used as simple blogging tools through the use of a range of

dedicated applications available through most online app stores for modern smartphones. A

quick look at iTunes app store shows a number of apps such as Posterous, Wordpress, Tumblr

and Path which are all dedicated blogging apps as well as apps for services such as Twitter and

Facebook. Continuing to block the usage of mobile phones can will therefore ensure that pupils

are unable to use a further avenue of blogging in class.

For the next question ‘If you are using blogging in class how has it helped you?’ the

majority of the answers received showed fairly similar levels of response. Three answers were

slightly more in-depth and therefore merit discussion. 56% said that blogging helps them


44

remember facts and information, 39% said it helps them think about what they have done and

33% said it helps them get better feedback from their teacher.

These three responses show that for those pupils who are using blogging the activity largely

helps them with memory retention of what they have been learning in class. My own pupils

often use their blogging accounts to recap what they have learnt about in their lessons.

Although I did not explore the nature and use of multi-modal texts as part of answering this

question, as it would have taken an extensive series of questions, I am confident that the usage

of different modes of communication in blogging remains secondary to the key learning benefits

described by the pupils.

The pupils who said that blogging helps them think about what they have done have indicated

that reflection on what they have learnt about is an important aspect of blogging, as opposed to

simple remembering. Feedback from a teacher will obviously also assist with reflection through

teacher input on what a pupil has written about.

The remaining answers on improving confidence, writing skills etc. show that although the level

of response was not as high, sufficient replies were given. This demonstrates that pupils do see

blogging as having a range of benefits beyond simple assistance with recall and reflection.


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To complete the survey I asked four open questions related to blogging. Many of the responses

confirmed or repeated previous issues, although there were some further relevant points made

and these are analysed below.

How can blogging in class be improved?

Some respondents repeated concerns about lack of web sites related to blogging due to

blocking in a school context. This respondent saw it from a slightly different point of view.

‘Use newer technology of blogging (facebook).’ - answer 2

Whereas other pupils were seeing the lack of access to these sites as simply being blocked

from something they use this pupil defines Facebook for themself as a new form of blogging.

Although anecdotal, this perhaps reinforces the issue that some pupils at least correctly view

modern social networks as an acceptable alternative form of blogging.

This does also again feed into the argument regarding the appropriateness of social networks in

school and leaves teachers and schools with the responsibility to decide the best path forward

for their pupils.

The next two points pick up on a further issue to do with blogging in the classroom.

‘More time for blogging’ - answer 4

‘More organised’ - answer 5


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These two respondents indicate that for them they lack the time to blog in class and also that

blogging in class should follow a more organised approach. On time issues the respondent

seems to indicate that for them blogging is a very restricted activity in class and that it should be

more free in terms of time. This could support the usage of blogging not as a stand-alone

activity but as an activity which supports other learning activities in class.

The second respondent mentioned an issue to do with the organisation of blogging. With my

own classes I have used both set activities for blogging and allowing free time to blog. On a

basic observational level I have seen that only a small sub-set of pupils blog freely and actively

when given unstructured time to blog. More consistent blogging came through organised

activities although a few pupils indicated less enjoyment with structured blogging.

A counter-point to this argument of more organisation with regard to blogging came from this

respondent:

‘By presenting it as more of an option - or some kind of motivational reason - most

students see it as more writing or awkward and boring to do.’ - answer 88

Whereas structured blogging activities may yield advantages for those pupils who require a

more organised approach other pupils may still benefit from a looser approach to blogging in

class. A mixed approach would therefore seem sensible.

The next respondents state:

‘have the teacher blog back’ - answer 7

‘have the teacher comment on our blogs’ - answer 8


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This I think is a crucial example of how blogging can be made effective in a school environment

through encouraging the teacher to blog as well. Blogging is about communication and

collaboration and encouraging teacher contributions will ensure that communication and

collaboration takes place not just between pupils but also between pupil and teacher.

This emphasis on collaboration as a requirement for effective blogging was also picked up on by

the following respondent.

‘i think everyone should at least write one comment so all thoughts and views are

accounted’ - answer 13

In the survey I had also asked how many pupils comment on other peoples blogs and 47% said

yes versus 42% who said no. This shows that there is room to encourage pupils to comment on

other blogs. In the question on whether receiving comments on blogs has helped or not 43%

said it had helped.

Continuing with the issue of communication the following respondent wants to encourage pupils

to express their own opinion more in blogging. This I feel is necessary as part of establishing

effective communication online.

‘Pupils could talk about themselves more, and be more confident in submitting their own

opinion.’ - answer 24

The next respondent takes the idea of blogging as communication further by suggesting:


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‘We could blog on other pupils work to help them and give your opinion’ - answer 65

Although this could be easily achieved through the comments section on a fellow pupil’s website

this suggested methodology, although not very workable in class, is a good example of using

blogging as an evaluation and reflection tool in class. Encouraging commentary and feedback

through whatever mechanism is available should be encouraged in class.

How can blogging at home be improved?

As well as improving blogging at school respondents were asked about improving blogging at

home. Some respondents focused on an issue was has been described before of inadequate

hardware resources and internet connections which hamper blogging at home.

Although illustrating the point of e-safety again, this respondent is worthwhile highlighting:

‘Parents could be more relaxed in knowing that domestic blogging is not dangerous

when used correctly.’ - answer 24

The respondent identifies an anecdotal example of parents who do not trust ‘blogging’ activities

online. Whether their lack of trust is limited to blogging or simply social networking sites in

general is hard to tell; however, it does identify potential generational issues highlighted as well

by the 26% who felt that family, including parents, had prevented them from blogging or

expressed unhappiness with blogging in question 20.

Respondent 79 has a completely different take on parental involvement in blogging when asked

how it could be improved:


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‘it is sent to a sensor e.g. parent so things uploaded can be monitored’ - answer 79

This is an unusual response as it seems to be incompatible with a number of other comments

about opening up restrictions on technology. The pupil concerned who wrote this was in year

10 but gave their age as 5. It indicates that parental consideration and support remains a factor

for some pupils when blogging at home. Whether that parental consideration remains positive

or not is difficult to tell. The respondent’s answer also indicates that the censor could be

someone else and that a parent is merely an example. One could consider therefore that for

this pupil they are simply looking for a trusted ‘guide’ when using blogging services and that a

parent is therefore the best option.

This issue of privacy comes up again with the following respondents:

‘More privacy to who the blog is viewed by.’ - answer 84

‘blogging should show you all the possible viewers of you information ad blog.’ - answer

99

Privacy remains a key concern for many pupils when interacting online and this is also a

consideration teachers must acknowledge.

Lastly the following respondent’s answer shows that for them home blogging could be improved

simply by improving confidence. The question remains though about whether home blogging

would be the tool that raises confidence?

‘People actually being bothered to blog - if thier confidence was raised.’ - answer 88


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Do you think blogging can improve confidence in class?

A number of responses for this were fairly simple either ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘not sure responses

however like the previous two questions I will be looking for the qualitative answers.

The following respondent begins with a simple benefit of using online blogging as part of a class

situation. They indicate that it offers the opportunity for pupils to be able to express their ideas

without having to respond verbally. In a class context I think this could be an issue for teachers

as they would need to be sensitive to how to incorporate non-verbal blog-based contributions

into the class situation.

‘yes as you dont have to express your ideas verbally ‘ - answer 3

The following respondent indicates a potential positive in allowing ‘private’ communication with

teachers. This obviously brings up a safety and child-protection issue with pupils contacting

teachers in private, though I understand the reasoning in suggesting that pupils may be able to

benefit from having a more secure method of communicating with a teacher about work.

Considering the large amount of comments worrying about what other people think about what

they say this respondent makes sense, ignoring the safety issues.

‘Yes because it allows students to comment to teachers in private’ - answer 6

The following respondents pick up on the issue of pupils using communications platforms which

they are familiar with as being a reason for them feeling more comfortable with what they are

communicating. This shows that some pupils may be more interested in using systems which,

as they are more familiar with them, could give them more confidence online.


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‘yes because you are talking the way you are most comfortable and more people are

likely to understand what you are talking’ - answer 17

‘yes it can because i do not fell confindence in class showing the class my work.’ -

answer 30

Although the following respondents don’t reference confidence in their answer they do

acknowledge that blogging could help with communication skills which in itself can boost

confidence. This respondent also acknowledges that blogging could help with ICT skills as well

and this certainly is possible, as blogging requires not just simple writing skills but also image

and video editing, basic website management, advertising online and even programming skills

dependent on the blogging platform.

‘Yes, it helps with communication skills, and ICT skills.’ - answer 24

‘yes because you could slowly begin to talk more about the work in class and give out

your opinion which can sometimes help alot’ - answer 65

Finally these respondents look at the issue of commenting on blogs. The first respondent very

accurately portrays the two sides of the argument regarding commenting on blogs, by

acknowledging both their positives and negatives. Commenting can produce excellent debates

and friendships but can produce negative feedback through bullying. The second respondent

seems to understand that people can often ‘hide’ behind a screen, which produces negative

comments.

‘Yes, but with different pupils looking at the blog, depending on the comments or the

expectations of the blogger this could increase or decrease confidence


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e.g. - no comments could mean your boring or many means you interesting

- bad/hurtful comments or arguements via clashes of opinions.

- or could start debates and create friendships on mutual hobbies/interests’ - answer 88

‘no it's on a computer so is hiding behind a screen’ - answer 115

Do you think blogging could improve confidence online?

The following respondents identify a key benefit of online communication in the ability to

communicate with others who have different opinions to themselves. These people recognise

the positive benefits of this in improving confidence through the exchange of opinion. Most of

the following responses seem to focus on the nature of online ‘comments’ received in response

to work.

‘yes because people you dont know could have many different views to those around

you’ - answer 13

‘yes because nobody knows who you are so they can nottake the mick out of things you

say’ - answer 22

The following respondents instead see this exchange of opinions online as a potentially

negative experience. The rationale for this comes through ‘not knowing’ who is responding to

what they write online and their responses being negative.

‘no, as you dont know what people are reading what youre righting and may making

comments that are not very nice’ - answer 17


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‘Yes, but again there is the chance of decreaseing confidence - similar reasons to

blogging in school, except there can be worse comments and there is a bigger range of

people and their opinions on the internet

e.g. generation gaps/ differences.’ - answer 88

This disparity between how pupils see the potential ‘benefit’ or ‘disadvantage’ to themselves of

online communication is an important issue related to online blogging and is an issue which

teachers need to be aware of.

Teachers who are therefore working with blogging in class should be mindful of this disparity.

The attitude they should develop could be based on the following respondent’s approach.

‘It depends on the feedback given.’ answer 24

The previous respondents who either seemed not bothered by what people had to say (answers

13 and 22) and the respondents who seem extremely bothered by the potential negative

comments others could leave seem to be on the extreme end of understanding how to deal with

comments received online in that their negative or positive outlook is decided on before any

comments or response are received from other users online. Answer 24 suggests a better

method of dealing with online comments or feedback by getting the pupil to assess the nature of

the feedback and then presumably respond accordingly.

The following respondent makes the point that blogging will lead to pupils expressing their

opinions and interests. I see this as a possible recognition that the activity of blogging will lead

to pupils being challenged to open up about what they think. This therefore may be seen as a

simple acknowledgement of a benefit of blogging.


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‘Yes because the blogging make the students express their opinions and interests’ -

answer 37

Conclusion

I would like to use aspects of Ramage’s (2010) criteria as part of the conclusion on blogging in

schools. The criteria I have chosen to use are as follows:

Effectiveness: In order to understand the effectiveness of blogging within a school context I

can point to my use of Twitter to solicit assistance from other teachers. In a relatively short

space of time I was able to gather well over 200 responses to the survey from a wide range of

schools. I had also written a supporting blog on my own site to explain what I was doing.

Ramage references the use of mobile devices as a means of commenting on blogs and, as has

been seen in the results, pupils have commented on the ban of mobile phones in the classroom.

This indicates that to increase the effectiveness of collaborative communication phones should

be allowed in school.

Usability: Although I did not investigate the ease of use of certain services, some pupils did

comment on feeling comfortable using blogging as they are familiar with the activity. Looking at

the high usage of services such as Facebook and Twitter, this would indicate that pupils are

familiar with those services and are therefore comfortable using those services.

Standards: Pupils indicated a good use of a range of services online which they used for

blogging. Although interconnection between them for the purpose of cross posting information


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or using information from one service in another can range from good to patchy pupils can use

some services which are interconnected. As was indicated fairly frequently in the survey

results, however, services such as Facebook are banned in school and in some cases at home.

In terms of allowing ‘standards’ related to blogging, where pupils are able to freely apply

effective blogging and writing skills across a range of services, to proliferate in schools this

blocking of services may be counterproductive.

Individual effects: The survey results showed a range of individual effects of blogging from

accepting and using it to being wary of it and rejecting it. Institutional attitude towards blogging

through blocking services has an impact on the individual effect of blogging and shows that

pupil’s approach to blogging can be adversely affected. The inclusion of some negative opinion

regarding blogging, which does not seem to be influenced by institutional attitudes, shows that

teachers cannot assume that all pupils will ‘accept’ blogging when introduced into class. This is

an interesting conclusion as it contradicts a stereotype of the ‘digital millennial’ (Phung A. 2012)

who is naturally keen on using technology in class. Some pupils also did not seem to be aware

that social networking is a form of blogging.

A definite benefit which was seen through some of the results was that pupils do generally feel

more confident when discussing something online through a blog. It remains to be seen

whether that confidence can be brought through into face-to-face classroom interactions. This

could be seen as part of teachers encouraging pupils to see blogging as an activity which they

can be in charge of rather than relying on structured teacher led activities to encourage use.

Group Effects: In assessing commenting on blogs I saw that pupils were gaining positive

feedback from comments on their own blogs. This does indicate that blogs can positively effect

a group through the use of commenting. Although only 25% of pupils indicated that blogging


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helped in collaborating with other pupils, I regard this as reasonably significant value, which

reinforces the notion of positive group effects. Some pupils were interested in being able to

interact with their teacher through their blog and this could create an issue with e-safety. This

level of communication seems a vital aspect of the blogging experience which some pupils want

to tap into as well.

Organisational effects: Through the blocking of services such as Facebook it is easy to see

that for some schools at an organisational level blogging in the guise of social networking is not

seen as having a positive effect. What was also noted by pupils quite frequently when

discussing technological barriers in school was the lack of functional equipment in school for

blogging. This shows that potentially the positive organizational (as well as group and

individual) effects of blogging are being mediated by a lack of functioning technology. This

mediation of the positive effects of blogging is something which may be difficult for school

management to see as without the technology working properly to the level of pupil expectations

they will be unable to see the positive benefit.

Societal effects: Many pupils mentioned in the survey results the ability to exchange opinion

and thoughts with other people online as being a positive thing and some pupils (although

seemingly more in the minority) saw it as a negative thing due to concerns regarding privacy

and safety. Whether it is a negative or a positive effect for pupils when exchanging comments

online it is easy to see that blogging does have a societal effect. Conversely, society itself may

also affect how pupils blog due to perceived reactions by other people online to what they have

to say.

To conclude the use of Ramage’s criteria for evaluating blogging as an effective collaboration

and communication tool, I feel that blogging remains a positive use of technology as the basis


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for collaborative communication. It has broad positive effects on all levels from individual to

societal but there remain key issues which hamper its use in the class.

In addition to exploring the above criteria for assessing blogging I will use my original questions

to reflect on what has been learnt from the research on blogging.

1. How do institutional attitudes to blogging shape the experience of using blogging

in the class?

As has been noted a number of times in the analysis of the survey results, a key issue which

comes through related to blogging in class is that both blocking of certain websites and

technology such as mobile phones by schools hampers it. This does not fully prevent blogging

from taking place as has been shown by the wide use of services which do support blogging.

Mobile phone bans also do not fully prevent blogging from taking place, as pupils can still use

normal desktop computers to blog. This does mean that mobile blogging where pupils can blog

outside of a fixed classroom can be limited due to lack of access to technology like tablets or

phones.

2. How do teacher attitudes to blogging shape the experience of using blogging in

the class?

What was less apparent from the survey results were the direct attitudes of the teachers to

blogging in the class. However from the high proportion of respondents who indicated through

the subjects they blog in, the services they use and their good understanding of the usefulness

of blogging in the classroom it is easy to see that the teachers who they are directly involved


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with in the classroom are very keen on blogging. Where teacher’s attitudes are negative, it

tends to relate to the blocking of either social networks and/or technology such as phones.

3. How do pupil attitudes to blogging shape the experience of using blogging in the

class?

Pupil’s attitudes towards blogging seem largely shaped by their standing amongst peers. Some

were very open to the idea of blogging and did not have any concerns about what others might

think about what they were saying online. A number of pupils also expressed concern about the

ramifications of posting online due to a variety of reasons:

• Privacy

• Worrying about what other people might say in response to what they post online

• Lack of confidence

These issues expressed by pupils reinforce the idea that despite the widespread use of digital

technology today many pupils do maintain valid concerns about what they are doing online.

This does mean that bringing blogging into the classroom is not necessarily going to be met with

universal approval from a class and that teachers should continue to teach Internet safety

seriously regardless of pupil’s understanding and usage.

4. How do parental attitudes to blogging shape the experience of using blogging

both in the class and at home?

The impact of parental and family attitudes towards blogging was less evident from the survey

results although the key question of who has prevented or expressed unhappiness with


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blogging showed that 26% of respondents felt that parents or family had expressed

unhappiness with blogging.

Making a link between that value and the reasons behind parents expressing unhappiness is

difficult although the reasonably frequent occurrence of comments on issues to do with privacy

or e-safety by pupils in a range of survey answers does indicate possible reasons. As a teacher

I frequently encounter concerns by parents about privacy online and e-safety involving their

children and this from personal and professional experience does seem to be a strong motivator

for parental concern regarding their children blogging.

5. Does having increased or reduced access to technology improve blogging usage

and experience?

This question was explored through questions in the survey on technology access at home and

at school impeding blogging progress. For both contexts technology remains a big issue for

pupils for different reasons whether it is lack of access to computers at school or decent Internet

connections at school or at home. The major issue with regard to technology restrictions

remains blocking of websites related to blogging at school. This was a frequent complaint from

pupils and is an issue which hampers the uptake of blogging. One can understand that issues

of e-safety and privacy remain but that if one can find a way to extend access to certain

websites at school the benefits may become more apparent so long as teachers can maximize

their educational opportunities. Solving technology problems at home and school completely

will never be wholly possible however it remains an issue which needs to be dealt with.

Finally on a more personal note I feel that teachers will need to be taught how to integrate

blogging into lesson plans so that the next generation will have mediated access to computer-


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based communication alongside face-to-face communication as a vital part of negotiating

societal context and developing skills and innovation for the future. I believe strongly that it is

no longer sufficient to simply hope that teachers discover blogging and begin using it

organically. Instead blogging should be required as a standard aspect of educational practice in

the classroom. Developing ideas for the use of blogging within classrooms is already an

organic approach amongst many teachers and this should continue to be encouraged as

blogging is embedded on a wider basis.

Recommendations for future blogging approach in classroom and at

home

As part of the conclusion I would also like to make recommendations regarding dealing with

issues related to blogging in class and how policies could be shaped to minimize disruption at

home and at school to do with blogging.

• To increase the usage of blogging in schools staff should consider how pupils could use

some blogging services or related technology which they are already familiar with. This

familiarity could increase usability.

• Do not assume that all pupils will automatically accept blogging as something for class.

Pupils may not necessarily see it as vital for their own educational progress and

therefore may not choose to accept it.

• Get parents involved as quickly as possibly with regard to blogging through introductory

events, explanations about technology being used and guides to safety and privacy

online. Encourage pupils to share their work online with their parents where possible

and get them to contribute through comments on their children’s work.


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• Technology access including malfunctioning technology will obviously always remain an

issue. As well as keeping on top of access issues, teachers should always build

activities surrounding blogging to take into account potential lack of technology at home

through ensuring good access at school.

• Encourage pupils to see commenting on other pupil’s blogs as a positive aspect of their

classroom practice so long as initially it is done in a classroom context only, before

developing skills and confidence to handle commenting from the wider Internet.

• Pupils do value the contribution which teachers can bring to online discussion through

blogs. Schools and teachers should be able to find a way to make this work whilst

remaining within appropriate e-safety boundaries.

• Teachers should vary their approach to blogging in class. Include both structured and

un-structured blogging activities. Blogging should also be used not just as an activity

which is used on its own but is used as part of other learning activities e.g. blogging a

science experiment.

Online Links

Survey Data Results on Google Docs - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Avu-

HXaqPj0idFY4SlFXOVJySjlNU1E0YzZObEtmalE

Survey Form -

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFY4SlFXOVJySjlNU1E0YzZObEtmal

E6MQ#gid=0

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An Examination of Blogging in Schools

Education

Transcript of An Examination of Blogging in Schools