Since the turn of the century the use of computer-mediated-communication (CMC) has become more widespread in educational contexts and weblogs (blogs), one of the more popular forms of CMC (Bloch, 2007), have been the focus of numerous studies. However, whilst these studies have listed the potential benefits of blog use for language learners, few studies have offered any practical tips for educators who wish to implement the use of writing blogs in the EFL classroom. Moreover, the vast majority of studies have focused on the use of blogs with relatively high-level learners in academic contexts. This small-scale study focuses on how the use of blogs impact on the writing of a group of low-level learners in a tertiary EFL context in Chile. Moreover, it presents a tentative model to explain the different factors that contribute to writing development using weblogs as these learners grapple "not only with a written code but with a linguistic code that is still being acquired" (Raimes, 1985: 232). The findings report that blogs have the potential to aid low-level learners develop their L2 writing, and a number of suggestions are made that may help practitioners facilitate the process.

This study explored the narratives of six graduate students who experienced blogging as a learning tool in a graduate seminar on adult education at an English language university in Montreal. The main research question was: What are the experiences of blogging as a learning tool by graduate students in a traditional education setting? All six participants volunteered to be interviewed a few months after the end of the course. They were all female, white between 25 and 59 years of age, four married and two single. Five of the interviews took place face to face in person and one interview was conducted on Skype. Six major themes were identified and summarized under the following headings: Challenges of the course blog experience, running the blog experience, the impact of blogging on learning, Moodle versus Blogger, the impact of blogging on the traditional educational system, and the participants' evaluation of the experience. The results, summarized in a table at the end of Chapter 3, resonate well in relation to the existing body of the literature on the topic and point towards further research projects. This case study adds rich data about the experience of learners with educational blogging to the existing literature with regard to implementing blogs in traditional classrooms in higher education. This thesis may also be of use for educators interested in integrating technology in traditional classrooms in order to promote an active and useful learning experience for students.

Weblogs (or blogs) are possibly the most visible of the Web 2.0 technologies, described by some as "push-button publishing for the people". This publication is one of the outcomes of an ECML project which, over the course of three years, investigated the design of an educational blogging platform and its use in the language classroom. It is intended for the language teacher who wishes to harness the potential of the writable Web in his or her language class, the teacher trainer who promotes a social constructivist paradigm, and the educational software designer who seeks to create flexible educational tools which incorporate "subversion".The accompanying CD-Rom contains the entire corpus of blogs - warts and all - produced by project participants (over 4 000 posts and 9 000 comments), as well as the educational blogging platform prototype developed for this project, which is an open-source release under the GNU General Public License.

This qualitative multiple case study explores the impact of studying part-time on doctoral students' understanding and experience of academic practice. The goal of this research was to explore the potential of a weblog environment to extend academic participation beyond course boundaries for graduate students in Education.In the Course case master's and doctoral students used weblogs as a graded component of an online course in the 2004-2005 winter semester (n =18) and in the same course in the 2005-2006 fall semester ( n=11). Weekly reflection questions prompted students to write about their experiences within and outside the course. Individual weblogs were displayed in an aggregated website. Findings from post-course surveys revealed that students did not engage with academia beyond coursework. Qualitative analysis of weblog and discussion content suggested that participants making the best use of weblogs questioned their assumptions, made connections with broader experiences, and were more engaged in a range of academic activities. Regular and frequent writing established the weblog as a personal space.In the Program case, eight doctoral students explored the potential of weblogs in education starting in fall, 2005. Participants maintained weblogs within the aggregated environment used by the Course case, met five times over six months, and developed a conference proposal. An online survey, pre- and post-project interviews, and weblog analysis reveals that only the three full-time doctoral students participated in academic activities beyond program requirements. Participant experience confirmed that weblogs did not support their day-to-day activities.Analyzing participant experiences of academia across cases using a Communities of Practice framework (Wenger, 1998) found that practice and identity were understood in relation to the workplace for part-time doctoral and master's students. Coursework failed to support student understanding of academia and their place within it. Where blogging practices emphasized writing, the weblog was interpreted as a personal course journal. Limited two-way interaction could be isolating, with no sense of audience, but was appreciated as freedom from collaborative discourse allowing participants to explore personal emotions and interests. Cross-weblog reading increased as transparency of entries improved within the aggregator. With an established blogging community weblogs hold potential to expand academic participation.

In the past few decades, education research has been thriving in the areas of computers and new technologies. Often, teachers turn to what is popular in the technological world for new ideas to use in their classrooms. One such technology that has become extremely popular in Web culture is Web logs, now most often referred to as 'weblogs, ' or simply 'blogs.' The present work seeks to further research on weblogs in education by identifying the various ways in which current post-secondary writing course teachers are using them in their courses. This definitional study attempts to answer the question: for what educational, or non-educational, purposes are weblogs in post-secondary writing courses being used? The study looks at the way educators claim to be using weblogs in their courses based on how they explain their blog assignments to students (either on a course syllabus or course blog posting). Adding depth to the analysis, the study also explores survey responses from thirty-two college writing teachers across the country. The eleven main uses for weblogs in writing courses that this study identifies are as follows: 1) as a public space with a broad audience, 2) to post student work, 3) as a journal, 4) to reflect on course-related assignments, 5) for student discussion and interaction, 6) to explore and share ideas, as well as brainstorm, 7) to engage with and respond to assigned readings, 8) for collaborative projects, 9) to link to Web materials, 10) to ask and answer questions related to the course, and 11) to discuss topics not necessarily related to the course. After compiling data as to these current uses of weblogs in college writing courses, this researcher explores the implications of these uses, offering suggestions and drawing conclusions as to how the new technology of weblogs has impacted and will impact college level writing courses.

Offers an up-to-date analysis of issues related to providing, using and researching feedback, including new developments in technology.