Does Blogging Enhance Writing?

• Empirical Research is limited

• Opinion and advocacy articles are plentiful

• Qualitative studies outnumber Quantitative

• Many studies on foreign language learning and high school and college

• Few research articles focus on elementary school

Guiding Questions?

• Does blogging impact motivation?

• Does blogging encourage writing?

• Does blogging improve writing skills?

Collaborative Blogging (between elementary students)

• “Integrating 21st Century Skills in Schools Using a Class Blogging Project”

• Rural West Virginia, 2007

• Quantitative and Qualitative data

• First-time bloggers

• Half of students began blogging at home

Collaborative Blogging(between undergraduates)

• “Blogging in the Classroom: A Preliminary Exploration of Student Attitudes and Impacts on Comprehension”

• 52 students at a Midwest

university, 2005

• Online surveys

• Public postings prompted

more writing and more thought

Blogging and Complex Writing

• “Does Teaching Complex Sentences Have to be Complicated? Lessons from Children’s Online Writing”

• British 5th grade students wrote

248 blogs about 2006 World Cup

• Analyzed writing by genres and purpose

• Examined phrasing and vocabulary

• Analyzed sentence types and structures

Collaborative Blogging (between students and adults)

• “Collaborative Blogging as a Means to Develop Elementary Expository Writing Skills.”

• 2006 nine-week Native American project

• 3rd grade students & pre-service teachers, Florida• http://w3.shorecrest.org/~thirdgrade/GR3/Drexlerclasswebsite/projects.html

• Examined surveys, notes, concept maps

• Interviewed participants

Overall Themes

• Increases student motivation

• Does not promote use of “textese”

• Increases complexity of written language

• Emphasizes the importance of feedback rather than the actual technology

• Differentiates instruction

Educational Implications

• Supplements classroom instruction

• Enhances writing skills in general

• Applicable to multiple content areas

• Allows differentiated instruction

Limitations

• Student access to computers

• Class schedule and timing

• Partners

• Teacher and student training

• Multiple log-ins and passwords