Digital autobiographies: blogging across years to enhance university learning

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Digital autobiographies blogging across years to
enhance university learning

• Alan Gleaves
• Caroline Walker
• University of Sunderland

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Project Aims

• The aim of this paper is to discuss the results
  of a research project that investigated the
  potential of study modules utilising blogs as
  digital autobiographies for supporting the
  development of academic and technological
  literacies and learning in undergraduates within
  a university department within the North-East of
  England.

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Project motivations

• This project is motivated by a strong local and
  national need to improve undergraduates
  abilities and achievements in writing, multimodal
  narrative, thinking and critical reflection,
  whilst at the same time, furnish them with
  enhanced employability skills such as team work
  and interpersonal relationship building.

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Theoretical constructs

• At the time of this study, relatively little
  research had been carried out into the use of
  digital autobiographies for the development of
  specific academic skills for learning purposes
  (Stiler Philleo, 2003) rather than for
  assessment purposes alone, by pairs of students,
  especially in this cross-year study mode.
  Further, whilst blogs are gaining credibility as
  discursive and writing development tools, there
  is currently limited work(but see for example
  Flatley, 2005) to show how they might be used
  cooperatively and dialogically, to enhance
  learners interpretations and understandings both
  of subject specific concepts, as well as
  meta-level experiences of learning.

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Our study

• During a re-design and re-validation of our
  modules and programmes in ICT Education, we wrote
  two modules, designed to model and foster
• Module 1 Approaches to Criticality (comprising
  critical thinking, digital literacies, narrative
  structures). This module was trialled by Year 1
  Undergraduates (21 students).
• Module 2 Digital Autobiographies (comprising
  autobiographical approaches to teaching and
  learning, digital narratives, mentoring). This
  module was trialled by Year 2 Undergraduates (18
  students).
• Although this seems ambitious, there were many
  reasons for doing so

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Purpose of module re-design

• Our students report that (and our analysis and
  experience bears this out) prior study
  backgrounds emphasise process and information
  gathering at the expense of analysis massive
  assessment loads often at the expense of
  developing understanding or very frequently,
  discouragement of critical thought (such as in
  the uniformed services where the focus is on
  procedure and adherence to protocols)
• Modular structure has led to an inflation of
  assessment objects in teacher education, where
  there are diverse kinds of assessment to be done
  (values, ideals, behaviours, knowledge), this has
  led to hugely un-necessary assessment loads for
  students.
• Because of the content heavy nature of teaching
  courses, we needed vehicles by which students
  could investigate values, autobiographies,
  relationships earlier, and learn how to
  understand their effects on their own learning
• Perhaps most importantly, we believe that the
  best way to teach and for students to learn
  values, behaviours and their impact, is to model
  them, using Noddings (1986) ideas of fidelity
  modelling, dialogue, practice and confirmation.

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So what did we do?

• Both groups were introduced and the modules
  described. The reasons for doing the modules was
  explained and questions taken.
• For both modules (20 credits, 3500 words
  equivalent assessments), there were three parts
  to the assessment
• 1. The keeping of a blog
• 2. A record of critical conversations between
  pairs of students as to the content of both
  blogs, answering questions, discussing issues,
  mentoring one another
• 3. A critical analysis of their own blog in terms
  of narrative structures, autobiographical links
  to learning, and the use of digital forms
• It is important to point out that all of the
  blogs were anonymous. The identities of the
  writers were known only to us (tutors) and to
  pairs working together, although all blogs could
  be read freely - a list of code names was given
  to both classes.

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So why blogging?

• Blogging, when used in a systematic way, lends
  itself very closely to the stages of fidelity
• Modelling we (the tutors) both wrote blogs for
  the duration of the modules we taught the module
  content - criticality and narrative - using
  standpoint theory (Harding) and different ways
  of knowing(Belenky) we used our own experiences
  and blogs as vehicles to analyse our practice.
• Dialogue in separate and combined classes,
  students were confronted with their entries
  (anonymised) and asked to reflect on their
  thoughts and words. We (as tutors) offered
  strategies to clarify problems, sort out
  difficulties, and considered other philosophies

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So why blogging contd.?

• Practice although pre-service teachers obviously
  need to practice certain values and behaviours,
  it is usually content and procedures that are
  practiced and assessed. In this case, the
  critical conversations allow students to
  practice listening, mentoring, being autonomous,
  empathy and compassion.
• Confirmation this last stage involves us
  (tutors) holding a mirror up to each students
  thoughts, and letting each see a reflection of
  themselves, in the context of their own history,
  thoughts, actions, and of course, learning
  process. It is at this point, that we tackle
  self theory, idealised I, and how these
  relate to others. This stage is the culmination
  of all their work and results in the production
  of the critical analysis.

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Project outcomes (1) The Blogs

• Although we imagined we were very clear as to the
  content of the blogs and spent a great deal of
  time discussing this (reflections on the module
  content, understanding of issues, learning
  issues, problems with the activity, writing,
  asking questions, barriers to understanding), the
  eventual content showed that there was a great
  diversity of entries. We did focus group
  interviews with students which showed why
• Lack of confidence in free writing scared to be
  honest in public (even though anonymised)
  unconfident about their voice or whether they
  had one or should have one lack of clarity about
  what they thought that we wanted.
• The content of the blogs was extremely
  interesting and useful to us we found that
  students often dont understand feedback have
  difficulty participating in discourse in class
  support each other as a community dynamically and
  proactively a lot more than is given credit for.

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Project outcomes (2) The cross-years critical
conversations

• These were either loved or loathed by students
  (fortunately mostly loved)! We paired students
  randomly and obviously, this led to some issues
  with relationships, particularly with students
  that were perceived to be unmotivated for
  whatever reason.
• Again, although the content was prescribed, we
  found the conversations far more wide-ranging and
  potentially therefore more potent. Some students
  remarked that this was the most useful learning
  experience they had ever had, and thanked us for
  giving time to such a powerful opportunity as a
  pre-cursor to teaching.
• Reservations about this aspect ranged from
  age-related biases (unfounded in almost every
  case - from student testimonies) class related
  biases and religious and cultural issues. One
  student was paired with a student from a
  travelling community, and the conversations were
  profound as they were disturbing initially.

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Project outcomes (3) The critical analyses
learning about themselves and the whole point of
the exercise

• Perhaps the most enlightening aspects of these
  were the unexpected outcomes for the students.
  Excerpts include
• I didnt want to look at what I had written
  usually I never look at assignments and never
  read the feedback. In this one, I had to do the
  opposite face what I had said and then really
  try and understand why I had said it.
• I knew had a problem with doing coursework. It
  always makes sense in the class but then I come
  out and I cant get my head around it. This made
  the work on a thread that stayed there and so I
  could keep banging on about the same thing and I
  got credit for it! And I understand why now!
• In terms of content, I think Ill use some
  techniques (digital stuff) later rather than get
  use out of them for this module. I think they
  were just tools, but the main purpose was
  expression and feelings. Understanding how we
  feel about ourselves and others and using it.

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General outcomes for students

• The evidence from this project suggests that such
  learning interventions may well support the
  formation of autonomous communities of learners,
  whose experiences are validated as very positive
  contributions not only to knowledge and skills
  such as critical thinking, writing and literacy,
  cooperative teamwork and mentoring, but also to
  crucial, but often overlooked, aspects of
  university learning, such as resilience,
  self-theory formation, and the cultivation of
  Ideal-I identities.

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And for us as teachers?

• Further, using blogs in this way provides a
  template for teaching and learning as active
  interventions in which deep learning is not a
  matter of chance, and in which both teachers and
  learners can capture the complexity of cognition
  embodied in classrooms of diverse learners.

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References and contact details

• Alan.walker-gleaves_at_sunderland.ac.uk
• Caroline.walker-gleaves_at_sunderland.ac.uk
• Refs
• Flatley, M. E. (2005) Blogging for Enhanced
  Teaching and Learning. Business Communication
  Quarterly 68(1) 7780.
• Noddings, N. (1986) Fidelity in teaching,
  teacher education, and research for teaching.
  Harvard Educational Review, 56(4) 496-510.
• Stiler, G. M. and T. Philleo. 2003. Blogging and
  Blogspots An Alternative Format for Encouraging
  Reflective Practice Among Preservice Teachers.
  Education 123(4) 78997.