By Ruth Reynard
The use of Internet technology to facilitate interaction, communication, and collaboration is well documented but its use in establishing and developing "personal voice" as part of learning is also now being addressed through the use of blogs. Finding personal voice as a pedagogical method is important to establish learner identity and focus, and journaling has long been recognized as an effective way to provide space for this to occur. The blog, however, provides a context in which personal voice can be "published" by the student, which means that attention is given to content, relevancy, and connection with learning outcomes to a higher degree than a traditional journal submission. The idea that more than one person will view the work is quite powerful in promoting a sense of ownership from the student. Teachers can also benefit from "hearing" the personal voice of their students to begin to really understand the learning path of each student through a course.
In our initial studies we have been interested specifically in asking:
* Is blogging perceived as a good way to establish personal voice by both students and instructors?
* Is there a tension created by the published nature of the blog?
* What do instructors need to do to contextualize blogging in a course?
http://www.campus-technology.com/news_article.asp?id=10473&typeid=156
Posted by souzak at January 12, 2005 05:06 AM