Educational applications of Web 2.0: Using blogs to support teaching and learning

The outcome of a small inquiry exploring the use of blogs with a class of post-graduate students is presented. The exploration of blog uses was conducted in the class of postgraduate students over the period of one semester. The fundamental guiding question was that in what ways does a blog environment supplement classroom teaching and lead to an improved learning experience. The class under study was attending a course of the Master in Information Technology in Education program. Data was collected through observations and analysis of blog activities and artifacts, continuous teacher-reflection, interviews with selected students and a questionnaire. Student blogs, their posts, comments and learning artifacts presented also provided useful data contributing to an understanding of issues and activities. The study demonstrated that blogs can be effective educational technology and useful blog-based activities for learning include reading blogs of others , receiving comments and previewing tasks of others.