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 21 st 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 5 th 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 3 rd grade students & pre-service teachers, Florida 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