April 2012 Volume 15 Number 2 - Educational Technology & Society

Comments from
supervisors
Provided professional and academic advices that
helped problem solving (9)
Indicators that supervisors kept track of students’
progress (2)
Seldom (if not never) received (41)
Note. Students were asked to comment on the usefulness of comments from other students and supervisors.
While the blogging platforms differed for each cohort, our results show that there were no significant differences in
the ratings on the usefulness of the blogs as a platform for learning among the participants (all p>.05, see Table 7).
Table 7. Comparing the 3 cohorts’ ratings on the usefulness of blogs as a platform for learning
Survey questions
Cohort 1
(n=16)
Median
Cohort 2
(n=16)
Median
Cohort 3
(n=16)
Median
Sig.
(Kruskal-Wallis)
Blogging is useful for self-reflection 3 3 3 .46
Blog is suitable for recording self-reflections 3 3 3 .11
Blogging is useful for communication among
classmates
3 3 3 .99
Classmates’ comments on blogs are helpful 3 2 2 .76
Supervisors’ comments on blogs are helpful 0 0 0 .17
Note. Using the 4-point Likert-type scale as discussed in the methodology section.
While we noted in the earlier section of the findings that the blogging platform may have influenced the frequency of
comments, the platform did not appear to influence the students’ perceptions on blogging. As noted above, consistent
negative feedback was also given for the usefulness of classmates’ and supervisors’ comments. These findings imply
that while the type of blogging platform may not have a significant effect on blogging impact during internship, the
quantity and quality of comments from classmates and supervisors have a more important effect.
Conclusion and implications
In the constructivist learning paradigm, an active exchange and interpretation of information facilitates knowledge
construction in learning (Vygotsky, 1986). Along the lines of this theoretical framework, blogging has been
suggested to address the discursive nature of knowledge construction (Ferdig & Trammell, 2004). Our findings
indicate that across three cohorts of students, blogging has been reported to be supportive of constructivist learning
by facilitating information and knowledge sharing. While such positive perception was consistent, the usefulness of
blog contents has been inconsistent among participants. Furthermore, comments from classmates and supervisors
have also been reported as inadequate and shallow. Collaborative learning places a great emphasis on the extent and
quality of the exchanges that occur among students in a given environment (Dillenbourg & Schneider, 1995). Our
findings confirm that blogging is perceived to support collaborative learning, but there is a need for scaffolding that
has to be addressed. Scaffolding has been used as a metaphor referring to approaches wherein teachers provide
students with the tools they need to learn (Jacobs, 2001). Originally used in teaching children, scaffolding has also
taken various forms of adult support in terms of providing demonstrations and guidelines, and keeping learners’
attention focused (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2002). Our findings suggest that blogging provides a platform for
knowledge construction and given adequate scaffolding may facilitate constructivist learning during internship.
Scaffolding for blogging in higher education may take on the form of consistent guidelines and recurrent reminders
of the focus and purposes of the task. This extends current theoretical explorations of using technology to facilitate
constructivist learning, and takes the focus towards internship in particular.
The blogging interface that generates feedback from readers naturally positions the students for reflective
opportunities (Ferdig & Trammell, 2004). Regardless of the platform used, the utilities of blogging systems have
allowed interns to record their experiences and generate responses from classmates and supervisors. Consequently,
participants across cohorts confirmed the usefulness of blogging for reflection. A framework for the educational
affordances of blogging has been suggested by Deng and Yuen (2011), pointing out that reflection occurs as a
blogger writes, reads, and exchanges comments. While our quantitative findings confirm that students perceived
writing blogs to be useful for self-reflection, findings from the probing questions indicate perceived benefits from
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