Examining Malaysian teachers’ online blogs for reflective practices: towards teacher professional development

Abstract

Blogs are commonly used for online interaction because of their ease of use and access, which allow people to gather in a virtual space to share knowledge, experiences and practices. Teachers can also use blogs as an avenue to think, reflect and respond to views and comments regarding pedagogical practices and difficulties, thereby developing professionally. This paper examined the extent to which participation and reflection occurred in the blogs and how effective they were in building a community of practice that would lead to professional development. This objective was accomplished by analysing blog entries for evidence of participation and reflections and subsequently analysing the blogs to gain a clearer idea of the constraints that the teachers faced in blogging. The findings demonstrate that using blogs generated reflective practices to a certain extent in allowing teachers to express their thoughts, share their doubts and struggles in teaching, and manage learners. However, it is not possible to conclude that blogging contributed to teachers’ professional development.

Keywords:

• reflective practice
• teacher professional development
• communities of practice
• online blogs
• social constructivism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a research grant provided by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia [UKMGUP-TMK-08-03-310].