I’ve placed this draft on here because I’m hoping that by publishing it to the WWW, I’ll be forced in to correcting all the ‘rubbish bits’! I’m still having those sick panicky feelings that I’m not going to meet that looming deadline 🙁

No ‘imagined’? audience is really expected to plough their way through this post 🙂

• This study set out to investigate whether weblogs and wikis and other emerging social software tools can be used to create an effective on-line learning community.
• Much of the current thinking in the review of the literature suggests that it is possible to draw on the online communication skills already being developed in pupils’ lives outside of school. The literature also proposes that, as blogs and wikis are not unlike the new media tools currently being used by young people today, these media could potentially be adapted by schools to allow e-learning to occur successfully.

Aim 1 – investigation of the useful features, and barriers, when using blogs and wikis in a supportive online environment

Useful Features

• The findings of this case study illustrate that all the children were able to manage the blogs and wikis easily. The evidence showed that they were all capable of writing posts and uploading pictures. It was also relatively simple to set the tools up in such a way that regular notification of all new activity on the blogs and wikis was received. This had been an important consideration when originally creating the class network.
•  Each pupil personalised their blogs by choosing their own individual look and theme. All of them successfully created avatars and, in the case of the boys especially, the importance of the inclusion of pictures and videos in their posts was very apparent. The children very quickly established the different uses for the blogs and wikis. The blogs being used for reflections, thoughts, short pieces of writings and uploading pictures, and the wikis for more extended pieces of writing, such as imaginative stories – usually updated over an extended period of time.

Barriers

•  Although the literature reveals that there are similarities between blogs and the social software sites already familiar to the children, there are important differences in commenting functions. Rather than reply to a comment on their posts, the children commented on the homepage of the comment author (this is how it would be done in a bebo site).  
• The literature offers conflicting advice about protecting children online. Whereas Byron (2008) advises the use of filters to protect children from accessing inappropriate material on the internet, Green and Hannon’s (2007) research suggests that banning and filtering may not be the most effective safeguard. There was understandable frustration felt by the boys in this case study when they were not able to take part in a discussion about football because of the authority’s filtering system. The children often approached the subject in class during the study and were perplexed by the decision to control what they can and cannot access at school.
• Valentine et al (2005) report the reluctance of teachers to set homework based on computers because of concerns about digital divides between those children who have access to them at home and those who do not. In this study, there were two children who did not have home access. It was decided that it was not a problem, however, because they regularly visited relatives who do have access.
• As mentioned previously in this section, new posts were easily located via a feed reader. Similar access to a reader was provided for the children. None of them used this, however, so any new posts had to be shared by directing the children’s attention to them in the offline classroom environment.

 Aim 2 – To guide and monitor progress Guiding the progressDuring the case study period, progress was guided both online and offline.

When reviewing the literature prior to the commencement of this case study, Lafferty (2004) was quoted:     

To develop an online community requires a more student-centred approach with the tutor transforming into a facilitator from ’sage on the stage’ to ‘guide on the side’.

• It was decided to adopt such an approach and pupils were left free to choose the content of their blog posts and wiki writing. Guidance was provided through providing a sense of online audience by submitting comments on the children’s posts regularly. Offline, new interesting posts were shared with the children. The findings show that this had the effect of influencing others to add new blog posts on their own blogs – often on the same subject.

Monitoring the progress:

• Current thinking regarding the safety of young people on the internet has been referred to earlier in this section. Although new posts and comments were carefully monitored during the study period, there was one unfortunate incident that led to the decision to transfer the children’s blogs from learnerblogs to edublogs . Edublogs chose to have all new blogs, including pupil blogs, hosted at edublogs. It was made clear that all existing learnerblogs could, if chosen, remain where they were. Around the time of this announcement, however, spam comments began to appear on a few of the children’s blogs. Email alerts usually ensured that these were deleted promptly. On one particular occasion, though, one was noticed by a pupil in her comment moderation queue when she logged in to her blog. Unfortunately, it contained very inappropriate content. The incident occurred during a weekend and the pupil made the correct decision to leave a comment on the class blog asking for advice. It was thought unsafe to leave the blogs in the now (seemingly) unprotected learnerblog domain and they were transferred to edublogs. It was a relatively straightforward task – with the help of the primary 7 pupils.

 Aim 3 – To evaluate motivation, as well as formal and informal learning

Motivation:

• The findings illustrated how the move from learnerblogs to edublogs renewed the children’s motivation to ‘design and furnish’ their new web pages.  Although the move to edublogs was unplanned and did involve a degree of extra work, it provided a reminder of the level of importance that children place on attaining ‘ownership’ of online spaces.
• The findings also demonstrated the distinct difference in the way the girls and boys used their blogs. The number of number of ‘invitational’, ‘experiential’ and ‘reflective’ posts made by the girls far exceeded those made by the boys. The Times Online article (2008) referred to in the literature review confirms that this same trend is mirrored in studies both in America and the UK.
• A further observation in the online journal, describes how some of the boys in the study demonstrated their enthusiasm at the local authority’s latest ICT fair. Twelve children volunteered to come along to the after school event – seven boys and five girls. The boys, especially, took great pleasure in describing how we use web 2.0 tools in all our learning and it  was apparent that afternoon just how much they valued the type of learning taking place.

• Another demonstration of how the blogs provide motivation for the boys in the class is expressed in a third journal entry and was contributed by my sceptical friend. Mrs H takes the class twice a week for French lessons. After one particular lesson, I returned to find her very excited about our use of blogging. She explained that the children had been lethargic about French lessons in general, and mentioned to them that it might be a good idea to video the event and include it in the class blog.  She had not anticipated the high level of motivation that resulted from this suggestion. Much has been written about the importance of audience. Stern (2007), for example, found that the young people in her study concerned themselves simultaneously with how they appeared to themselves and to their audiences. She explains that, although this process is not unique to online presentation, the deliberate nature of the construction magnifies the experience.

Formal and Informal Learning:

• Green and Hannon (2007) state that any learning that is loosely organised and happens outside the confines of the school gates is usually defined as informal learning. In this part of the conclusion section, therefore, any learning that took place in the classroom as a direct result of the children’s exposure to the blogs and wikis and associated web 2:0 tools will be referred to as formal learning. Learning that took place outwith the boundaries of the classroom will be referred to as informal learning.

Formal Learning:

• The findings demonstrate that sharing the entries from the blogs and wikis in the offline environment of the classroom had a direct influence on the teaching and learning taking place. After her involvement in the dinosaur project, Marsh (2007) proposed that by enabling children to create blogs based on their own interest, valuable learning opportunities might be developed. This was certainly the case during this particular research period. The obvious interest shown by the children’s responses to Nina’s ‘World of Work’ post, for example, opened up superb opportunities to involve the children in activities such as learning interview techniques and thinking about the consequences of asking  open and closed questions.
• Sharing the stories that the children wrote on their wikis also provided ideal opportunities for formal learning to occur. Where previously, the children hand wrote their class stories, then peer assessed them using the formative assessment approach of providing the author with ‘two stars and a wish’, these stories were able to be shared on the whiteboard for all the class to enjoy. The stories were written at home and were read in instalments and email messages are received whenever a wiki entry is updated. It is clear that the children often go home and improve parts of their stories after having heard them read aloud in class. Bethany’s ‘Locked in the Art Room’ adventure was the first story to include class members as participants in the escapade. The children in Bethany’s story got to visit the places in each others’ art pictures. It was obvious that Bethany had read these children’s blog posts about their hobbies/aspirations, etc. and had incorporated this information into the story. An important lesson regarding copyright was also learned as a result of the sharing of these stories. We’d had discussions about copyright issues but it was evident that the children were finding the concept difficult to grasp. When other children began to closely mimic Bethany’s storyline, however, she publicised her objections by adding a very large copyright announcement to the end of that tale and any subsequent fictional writing on her wiki.

Informal Learning:

• Buckingham (2008) argues that through using the new media, young people are learning primarily by means of discovery, experimentation, and play, rather than by following external instructions and directions. The findings show that the boys in the class were more interested in uploading pictures and videos than in writing blog posts. Andrew’s blog illustrates this point well. I left a comment on one of his ‘picture only’ posts inviting him to provide more information about why he chose that particular car picture to upload to his blog. Weeks later he received comment replying to my request. The comment is included here:

  Hi Andrew & Mrs V,I’d like to answer your question – ‘Why did you choose that one for your blog?’ Answer: Because it’s a brilliant picture! Seriously though, thanks Andrew for your interest in my car artwork. I’ve been looking at your school blog sites and it’s good to see that you’re learning about the internet as it can teach you a lot about drawing and how to render images. Feel free to ask any questions or use other images from my website. Hopefully there will be some newer work on there in the next few months so check back now and then!I get my images for reference from www.seriouswheels.com which I think you may have found already looking at your other car pictures. (Mrs V: I’ve used it for a while and I pretty sure it’s a ’safe’ site.)Keep up the good blogging!
Phil

• This comment provided a new insight into to the boys’ fascination with images. In her investigation of young people’s use of social media, Stern (2007) uncovered an explanation for the motives for including artwork and images in their blog pages. In the literature review, she was noted as arguing that the main audience for their blogs was the authors themselves and that they were self reflecting as they tested out different versions of their current and possible identities. She also maintains, however, that they were continually testing out other audiences too, and that they were hungry for peer approval. This argument provides an explanation for the distinct differences in the way the two groups in this study used their blogs.
• The findings show that during the case study period, the boys and girls posted an equal number of informative posts. These were posts containing information about schoolwork. Prior to the commencement of study period, the children were always reminded that they had the choice of adding schoolwork examples to their blogs. As the study progressed, however, no reference was made to this option and these types of posts dwindled. As I took on the role of facilitator and became the ‘guide on the side’ (Lafferty, 2004), the two groups went off in different directions. The evidence shows that the girls tended to write about themselves and the boys uploaded their images. It’s worth noting here, too, that the findings section reveals that the girls had a role model in the Australian pupil who constantly encouraged them through her comments to add more personal details about themselves. The boys had no such role model.
• It is also perhaps worth noting here that last sessions Primary 7 children still have access to their blogs now that they have moved on to High School. Although there have been the occasional post on these blogs, one boy in particular has updated his regularly. There have also been occasional comments left by him on the class blog. As stated in the Rationale section of this report, last year’s blogs were set up with the help of the member of another Authority. Marc’s most recent comment was to inform that he has been voted as the second most popular blog in that Authority. The comment he received is included here:

Hi Marc, this is just to let you know that last month, April 08, your home page was the second most popular entry page on edubuzz.org, with 2571 visits.

You must have quite a fan club.

Well done, I look forward to hearing more about your days at High School.

David

• In the review of the literature, Heppell (2007) refers to the primary school child who led an online debate about badgers with much older PhD graduates, and explains that it was not possible to tell that she was so young in that online environment. Salmon (2006) also states how, when using these new media, face-to-face identities become less important and that the usual discriminators such as race, age and gender become less apparent. Owen et al (2006) also refer to opportunities social software offers for crossing boundaries and remind us that learners are now able to join groups in which age, pre-existing knowledge, gender or location are no longer an apparent barrier.
• It is obvious from Marc’s reaction to the news that his blog is so popular that he had no idea of the scope of his audience. It re-emphasises the views of Stern (2007) who stresses that knowing that their personal sites are publicly accessible does not lead most young people to envisage a broad audience for their online works. The findings section demonstrated that the ability to envisage a broad audience was also out of the scope of the children involved in this case study. The following extract describes the children’s reaction to a comment left by a previous teacher at our school on one of the children’s individual blogs:
•    The third adult comment resulted in much excitement. The children were unexpectedly bewildered by it, and had difficulty coming to terms with how the blogs were discovered by this teacher. Although all the children were aware of search engines, and had personal experience of using them, they still could not quite grasp how this visitor had stumbled upon one of their blogs. Visiting children, on the other hand, did not surprise them at all.
• Like Marc, they appeared to have had no real conception of what it means to publish to the ‘world wide web’. Their perceived audience was themselves and their peers. In the findings section there is even a description of Anna’s embarrassment when her mum left a comment – that comment is still awaiting moderation.
• The literature review reveals that there is growing emphasis on the need to support young people, not only to acquire knowledge and information, but also to develop the resources and skills necessary to engage with social and technical change (Owen et al, 2006). They go on to say that it is in the technological arena that we are witnessing the rapid proliferation of technologies that can lead to the creation of communities and resources in which individuals come together to learn and collaborate. They believe that this offers significant potential for the development of new approaches to education.
• They go on to say that there are also changes in our understanding of practices of creativity and innovation – from the idea of the isolated individual ‘genius’ to the concept of ‘communities of practice’, where reflection and feedback are important collaborative processes.
• They ask whether it is possible to draw on the activities emerging through social software to create learning communities that offer young people personalised, collaborative learning experiences such as those that are already emerging in the world outside the school gates. They remind us that children and young people are increasingly becoming authors of blogs, and that research is only now beginning to catch up with these activities.