"The Impact of Using Blogs on College Students' Reading Comprehension and Learning Motivation
Hui-Yin Hsu & Shiangkwei Wang (2010): The Impact of Using Blogs on College Students' Reading Comprehension and Learning Motivation, Literacy Research and Instruction, 50:1, 68-88
This article summarizes new research on the
effectiveness of utilizing blogging to improve comprehension and learning
motivation among college students. The
research is particularly timely given the relatively fast rates of adoption of
technology in education. Moreover, it is
thought-provoking to future educators like me as we consider how to incorporate
technology in the classroom in instructionally-effective ways. While the
results of this research on using blogging did not show measurable gains in
students’ reading performance or learning motivation, they raised some points
which should be considered for future research and debate.
Primarily, the research concludes that students who
used blogging developed a learning community that helped students support each
other. One significant impact of such a
community could be the increased retention rate as compared to a group of
similar students who had not engaged in blogging for the same class. The increased level of support may have
helped students deal with difficult academic or social situations, understand
new learning concepts, and realize that frustrations are often shared by others
in the same situation.
Additionally, the use of blogging offered students
another form to express themselves beyond in-class discussions and demonstrate
their knowledge and comprehension. Not
only does the interactivity of blogging foster a deeper discussion of the topic
or lesson among students, it gives instructors more opportunity to assess the
interest in a subject, clarify misunderstandings, provide more meaningful
context and examples, and gain evidence in students’ deficiency or proficiency.
A key takeaway from this research is that upfront
and ongoing support for instructors is critical to allow them to maximize use
of technology. As with all new things,
there will be a varying degree of comfort among educators with technology. It would be wrong to assume that all
instructors will have the skills, knowledge and comfort to effectively
incorporate new technology like blogging in the classroom.
As a future educator, I am enlightened by this
research on how I can utilize blogging in a classroom. Specifically, I know that a solid knowledge
base and comfort level of such a tool would be a necessary first step. I also know that the tool needs to match the
objective. Based on these results, a
proper objective to utilizing blogging could be to offer differentiated forms
of expression and knowledge to students who feel more comfortable in this
medium. Also, the use of blogging could
help deepen the knowledge of a topic among students and create a stronger sense
of community. Depending on the grade level of my future students, I can
envision having them blog about their activities during a long school break
like at the end of the calendar year. That would be a fun way to keep students
engaged and help build a rapport that will translate into the classroom
learning environment.
