Web 2.0 in education: a study of the explorative use of blogs with a postgraduate class

Abstract

This paper outlines a study that explored educational applications of blogs with a class of postgraduate students in a Hong Kong university over a period of one semester in 2006, and considers its outcomes. Rather than using the usual learning management system to support learning in the class, the facilitator‐researcher organised a blog‐based environment where students accessed course material, posted reflections featuring artifacts created in the learning tasks, commented on each other's contributions, and in other ways participated on a regular basis throughout the semester. The study results suggest that when appropriately managed by a facilitator, blogs have the potential to effectively support teaching and learning activities. The experience from this study also suggests that in order to maximise teaching and learning opportunities, a blog system can be effectively expanded by the use of a variety of other Web 2.0 applications.

Keywords:

• blog
• Web 2.0
• learning environments
• E‐learning
• support of learning

Acknowledgement

The study reported in this paper was supported by grant number 200611159142 from the The University of Hong Kong (‘Pioneering Web 2.0 in Education’)