Tag Archives: ICT_elective

Instructional Blogging – The Constructivist Approach⤴

from @ TecnoTeach

'Instructional blogging operates as a knowledge-centered instructional tool.  In this the model the instructor involves students in research activities, engages them in discussion with practitioners, and leads them through development concepts of the discipline's knowledge domain' (Glogoff, S. 2005: 1)


Instructional blogging is the method that I employ with student primary teachers to extent their understanding of a concept.  Some think they are doing blogging to ensure they pass their assignment, however, quite a few see the benefits to instructional blogging in that it enables them to be a reflective practitioner where they can participate in a lecture/ workshop then deepen their understanding through reflecting on the process.

In my previous post related to blogging, I discussed how blogging enables one's voice to be heard and enables those that wish to become online publishers.  The personal act of blogging is one aspect, however, Glogoff (2005) emphasises the social component of learning that are central to Vygotsky's notions of social cognition where peer interaction is an important element in blogging through utilising the comment aspect of a blog to engage in conversations.  To an extent this is true, however, many people are happy to blog without having to engage in the conversation part.  If you are reading this post, then I have to say it is here primarily from my benefit.  If others learn for what I write this is a bonus, however, the main reason I blog is to capture my reflections on technology in education and collate these reflections in a format that is accessible to me.  I do know that many of the my students are not blogging for the collaborative aspect but more because it is part of the course.  They are encouraged to read their peers blogs but only a handful actually do this without  encouragement.  This is a real pity as by reading what others write we learn just like if we listen to what others say, rather than verbalise all the time, we will be able to adjust our thinking and views where appropriate.

When implementing instructional blogging, Clark & Mayer (2003) advocate three instructional techniques: receptive, directive and guided discovery (cited Glogoff 2005).  Of these three techniques I would say I employ the last two where I provided responses to student's posts and direct students to a specific focus to blog about.  Initially, I adopted the receptive technique where students were free to blog about the ICT input they had undertaken.  This technique was changed due to some students not blogging, some basically just saying what happened and some not extending their posts with links to what they were discussing.  It became clear that the art of blogging needs to be taught through the guided discovery technique and the facilitator needs to model effective blogging to students.  This model of learning mirrors the constructivist approach of cognitive scaffolding where students revisit their learning, build upon knowledge, reflect then delve deeper.  The student primary teacher's blogs are a prime example of this style of learning.  By looking through a student's blogging development, one can clearly see how the writer' craft of blogging has developed through constructive comments from tutors and peers and through the student's readings of other blogs.

This takes me back to my comment about why I blog, yes I did say that it is mainly for my own professional reflections, however, the social aspect associated with blogging is part of my culture where I learn from others and hopefully they learn from me too.  Blogging is not a one-to-many act like a church sermon, it is a one-to-many-to-one where we share and learn from one another.

Warlick. D. F., (2005). Classroom Blogging: A Teacher’s Guide to the Blogosphere. North Carolina: The Landmark Project⤴

from @ TecnoTeach





Although this book is now outdated, it is still a starting point for those who have never blogged and wish to dip their toes in to find out what it is all about. This was my bible when I started blogging many years ago. What is a blog?


Warlick's initial conceptual understanding: 'a way for almost anyone, regardless of their technical expertise, to publish information for global audiences over the Internet.' (P9).  


This understanding developed to: 'giving voice to people like you and me..a new society of citizen journalists' (P9). The latter is what I relate blogging to, where many can let their 'voices' be heard on the global web rather than those that have the skills and knowledge of HTML coding.


Warlick goes on to mention his attendance at a 'bloggercon' (a meeting or conference of bloggers) where he was originally disillusioned by the spontaneous discussions rather than the sage on the stage type with courteous discussions. However, on reflection he saw the ethics of this where 'all participants had equal voice, equal right, and equal opportunity to share their ideas' (P13).  


Web 2.0 is now full of tools that replicate 'bloggercons'. Twitter, for example is a prime example of a mass of people letting their voices be heard. More like a conversation at a nightclub with people shouting out, however, in the midst of all these vocalisations there will be something that grabs someone's attention and is worth a read. A bit like car boot sales, what is trash to one's eye is a golden nugget to another. Through my RSS feeds there are a mass of post thrown to my iPhone each day which I duly skim through during those spare five minutes that occasionally occur during the day. The majority of these blog posts are discarded, however, one or two generally catch my eye and extent or deepen my knowledge to replicate my grandmother's philosophy that you learn something new everyday.


Mass conversations have their place in today's society, however, there is still a place for focused contributions to the global voice of the web and this is where blogging fits nicely into this category, especially in education by providing what Warlick categorised as 'authentic assignments of finding, reading, and evaluating blog-based information within the context of curriculum and then make them bloggers, communicators with a broadening audience, then we may do a more effective job of teaching literacy, both in the traditional sense, and within the context of an emerging new definition of literacy in a networked, digital information environment' (P16).


To an extent some schools have adopted this approach where children are the bloggers, however, many schools that have blogs revert to the teacher being the blogger and the children being the consumers. Yes, the children may have created work that is placed on the blog but it becomes a glorified website. Warlick stated that 'the blogosphere is a global conversation. using the web has traditionally been an act of passively consuming information. Because of blogs, more and more Internet users are becoming active participants in the digital information environment' (P22). He then goes on state that blogs are personal. To an extend this is true but in education the majority are not due to being a class blog rather than a personal blog. One of the reasons for teacher-led blogs is security and ensuring that children are not given free access to publish their voices incase they write inappropriate content. Although there are mechanisms in place for teachers to moderate posts prior to publishing, many teachers take the safe route where they are the publishers. I have to admit this is the route I took a few years ago when I was a class teacher as the school were not happy with children publishing straight into the eyes of the world. This also stemmed from working as a mediator for Superclubs Plus where even in a closed secure environment, I witness how children can use tools inappropriately when they think a teacher is not physically monitoring them.  


Scotland's national intranet for education, GLOW, is currently a very teacher-led platform, however, this has been acknowledged and the plans to implement wikis and blogs into this environment should provide pupils with a place to let their voices be heard in a closed environment. This means that teachers will have the platform and the environment that enable children to let their voices be heard in a safe environment. Care, however, needs to be taken that the learning is not contrived but is meaningful otherwise the blog will just become an electronic replacement for a pen and paper and children will quickly see this link where technology is being used to replace a conventional method rather than create a new method of learning.