Asaanz 2009 Abstract

Creating a community of bloggers in the classroom: Student blogging as link between classroom learning and internet discovery Mary Theberge PhD candidate in Anthropology Victoria University of Wellington Much has been written about the use of web 2.0 technologies in the classroom and the digital literacy levels of students. With these themes in mind I implemented student blogging as an experimental element in the second year Anthropology course I co-taught during the first trimester of 2009. This presentation will situate student course-blogging within a broader discussion of trends in collaborative learning, democratising knowledge, and the role of weblogs in higher education. More specifically for this Anthropology course, student blogging was implemented in the hopes that it would facilitate open communication between students as well as between the students and the professor. The experience was also intended to provide a platform where students could begin to develop their own public voice while writing for an audience and exploring different modes of textual and visual expression. In the process students gained a better grasp of negotiating tensions between public and private domains online. They also developed a deeper appreciation of the various types of information accessible on the web. These topics will be covered alongside some of the more specific details involved in creating and implementing course-blogging.