Blogs as Reflective Learning Tools

1. Blogs as Reflective Learning Tools Niall Watts Educational Technology Officer 5th Annual Teaching & Learning Conference, NUIG, June 2007

2. Aims of Research • Do students learn from blogging? • How to measure learning? • Reflection & Collaboration • Learning Style (Kolb) • Active or Reflective • Individual or Collaborative • Blogs promote reflective learning? • Background to Research • Open University • Hype about new technologies • Little educational research • Methods criticism – student evaluations

3. Blogs in Web 2.0 Context

4. What is Reflection (Reflective Learning)? • Reflection describes the processes where learners explore their experiences to gain a better understanding and appreciation of their learning (Boud, 1985). • Many students find reflective learning difficult and initially resist it… Properly implemented blogs can help bring about reflective learning (Bartlett-Bragg, 2003).

5. Kolb’s Learning Styles Based on Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory • Accommodating: intuition, people • Assimilating: logic, theory • Converging: practice, technology • Diverging: imaginative, group work Which would you expect to be reflective/collaborative ? • Reflection • Assimilating • Diverging • Collaboration • Accommodating • Diverging

6. Learning Styles Critique • Valid & Reliable (Kolb) • 71 theories of learning style. 13 major (Coffield) • Doubts – usefulness & validity

7. Case Study • Students using blogs for course work • Multimedia & Communications • Minimal scaffolding • Develop critical writing and thinking skills • “Tool for creative thought perceived electronically”

8. Methods – Learning Style • Student Consent • Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory • Statements match a phase in Kolb’s Learning Cycle • Results plotted on graph • Students scored themselves • Discussion

9. Methods – Text Analysis • Blog posts coded for reflection using heuristics (Hatton & Smith) • Risk of subjectivity • Writing categorised as reflective (or not):

10. Student Blogs

11. Student Blogs

12. Student Blogs

13. Methods – Collaboration • Count number of comments made/received by classmates • Count classmates listed as ‘Yahoo! Friends’ • Online community?

14. Methods – Triangulation • Kember’s Questionnaire on Reflection • Agree/disagree 16 questions on their learning • Blogging habits questionnaire (10 questions) • Do you enjoy blogging? • Does it help you to learn? • Do you/read comment on your classmates blogs?

15. Results – Blog Analysis • One third of posts reflective • One third of comments reflective • 1 comment for 3 posts suggests collaboration • Yahoo! Friends suggests online community

16. Results – Learning Style Converging Learning Style dominant among bloggers: • Four keenest bloggers • One non-blogger

17. Results – Reflective Learning • Triangulation: • Kember’s & own questionnaire • Most students highly or somewhat reflective • All bloggers highly or somewhat reflective

18. Conclusions • Bloggers reflective & collaborative learners • Unexpected Result – Converging Learning Style • Not associated with Reflection or Collaboration • Skills with Hypermedia (Kolb) • Practical, hands-on • Sample bias? • Students existing community • Teaching & learning practices • Lecturer well-known blogger

19. Questions