Case+3

= Capitalizing on Emerging Technologies: A Case Study of Classroom Blo﻿gging ﻿ =

**Case Summary: **
====This study focused on the use of blogging to support student learning in a mathematics classroom in order to capitalize on students’ interest and familiarity with on-line communication. The study explores issues of intent, content, and perceived value of using a classroom blog. Data for this study includes one year’s worth of blog content, an interview with the teacher facilitator of the blog, and review of students’ perceptions toward the blog. ==== Blogging, del.icio.us
 * Web 2.0 Tools Used: **

//When:// 2005-2006 school year //Where:// Winnipeg, Canada //Who:// mathematics (Pre-Calculus) blog, [], created by Doug Kirk (pseudonym, referred to as Mr. K. hereafter) and his eleventh grade Pre-Calculus class //Why:// This blog was selected because it met the criteria of being a classroom blog focused on science or mathematics that showed a high level of student contributions to the blog.
 * Context: **

The purpose of this case study was to explore issues of intent, content, and perceived value of classroom blogging in the high school setting.
 * Subject and Learning Objectives: **

Blogging was used by Mr. K to: “1)increase collaborative learning and nurture a community of learners; 2)create a student-centered learning environment; 3)provide a place for reflection; and 4)provide enrichment to the class” (MacBride and Luehmann, 2008, p.179). Students were required to provide one scribe post summarizing the lesson of the day per unit and one reflection post before each test reviewing what they had learned over the course of the unit. The blog also featured a chat box located vertically on the side of the blog such that students could comment and react to each other’s posts.
 * How Web 2.0 Tools Were Used: **

Mr. K also asked that all students sign up for del.ico.us accounts. These accounts were then used to create a collaborative list of Internet based links that could be used as a further resource for the class blog. The addition of del.icio.us was a response to the problems that students were having retrieving links to math related sites that were included in previous posts.

In evaluating the case study Macbride and Leuhmann (2008) focus on three key findings or results of the study:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Key Findings: **
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Teachers ' intentions focused on creating additional forms of participation as well as increasing student exposure time with content;
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Blogs were used in a wide variety of ways that likely afforded particular benefits; and
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Both teacher and students perceived the greater investment to be worthwhile.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Macbride and Leuhmann then used those key findings to critically consider claims made in the literature review about the potential of blogging to effectively support classroom learning.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Case Evaluation: **

The use of classroom blogging as evidenced by this study can largely be seen as successful. The main strength of this blog lies in the fact that while teacher facilitated, the bulk of posts and communication on the blog was largely conducted by students in the classroom. In addition, students attitudes toward the blog appear positive and students appeared to take pride in the public nature of the blog as evidenced by their statement of the blog being “a textbook for the world” (Macbride and Leuhmann, 2008 p. 182).

While not the primary focus of the study, the use of del.icio.us accounts is also important to note. Del.icio.us accounts were used by Mr. K and the students involved in the blog to increase ease of retrieval of links to sites of interest. Before using del.icio.us students were just adding the links into their posts which caused some to become difficult to access. Del.icio.us is a tool that could have been implemented from the beginning of the semester such that students would have had a better ongoing experience with accessing other sites of interest. In the future, the use of del.icio.us accounts should begin at the start of a semester or the start of a new blog.


 * References: **

Macbride, R. and Leuhmann, A. L. (May 2008). Capitalizing on emerging technologies – a case study of classroom blogging. School Science and Mathematics. 108(5), 173-183.