Students’ perceptions on using blogs for reflective learning in higher educational contexts Presenters : Irshad Ali and Dr Kevin Byard

Introduction Growing use of blogs for teaching and learning Blog use provides exciting opportunities for: engaging and assessing students competence development Blogs (weblogs): are online journals with dated entries (‘diary’) provide an achieve of postings (newest on top) can be viewed as personal web-site Most common use in higher education: collaborative learning 2

Purpose of this Paper Research gap: potential use as personal page/assessment tool/in business education Study aims to fill that void Purpose of study-to explore students’ perceptions on: using blogs as a reflective learning and assessment tool in a business education programme the ease of using blogs (for such purposes) the impact of blog use on learning and skills development 3

4 Structure of Presentation Literature review/Background Research method Discussion of results Conclusions Limitations of study Suggestions for future research

Literature Review Emerging literature on use of blogs (since ~ 2000) Numerous benefits Engages students in course material (Davi et al., 2007) Students become proactive in learning (Du & Wagner 2007) Enhances learning & critical thinking (Duffy, 2008; Halic et al., 2010) Better communication tool than other CMC technology (Kim, 2008) Commonly used for collaborative learning: Facilitates interaction with peers (Farmer et al., 2008) Facilitates intellectual exchanges (Williams & Jacobs, 2004; Kerawalla et al., 2009) Significant research attention 5

Literature Review (continued) Drawbacks of collaborative use: Non-participation (Kerawalla et al., 2009; Halic et al., 2010) Preference for reading others’ entries (Halic et al., 2010) Feedback from peers not valued (Halic et al., 2010) Personal blogs Students more interested than in shared blogs (Kim 2008) Secure and safe environment to express feelings etc (Hemmi et al. 2009) Students take more responsibility (Deng & Yuen 2009) Assessment tool Group assessment problematic (Chen & Bonk, 2008; Smith et al., 2009) They recommend personalisation of blogs 6

7 Blog use in study Personal space created for each student Students provided with weekly task/s Students completed and uploaded tasks Tasks had deadlines (marks lost if deadline not met) Students reflected on learning using triggers for reflection Regular formative feedback given by lecturer Students had opportunity to improve work Final in-class reflection (supervised) Summative feedback

Research Method Online questionnaire survey Ethical approval (AUT University) Survey Monkey (results on Excel) Three sets of questions Demographic Ease of using blogs Impact on learning and achievement Sample First year business paper 350 students 8 strongly agree agree neutral disagree strongly disagree }

Results Demographics Male/female equal split 18% international 98% had access to computers at home 82% used computers more at home than on campus Ease of use of blogs Majority agreed blogs easy to use (75%) 66% thought sufficient instructions were given Hyperlinks were easy to create (70%) Uploading work was easy (83%) 9

Results (continued) – Impact of using blogs

Conclusions Positive Students generally positive about ease of uploading files Students felt personal blogs increased ownership of work Some flexibility in completing tasks Able to check work regularly/make improvements Feedback from lecturers gave opportunity to improve work Blogs are a good assessment tool Overall improved quality of work 12

Conclusions Challenges More information was needed by students on blog use Motivating staff to provide good online feedback Feedback needs to be timely and constructive Lack of consensus on: owhether blogs improved student writing skills oincrease of dialogue between students and lecturers oIncreased student interest in learning 13

Limitations and Future Research Limitations Only closed question used No exploration of students’ reasons for responses Phrasing of questions may be confusing Suggestions for future research Use open-ended questions Explore rationale behind students’ responses How does blogging support student learning of content? Lecturers’ perspectives on blog use 14