Add the advantages and the
limitations of using blogs with students in Ethiopian high schools.
Advantages of Blogging
Accessible
Anytime and anywhere
accessibility was one of the most common advantages of the blog that most of
the participants reported. They found the blog accessible through their
computers, laptops, iPods, and iPhones on a 24/7 basis. One participant mentioned:
“One of the advantages [of the blog] was the ability to check what you need to
do anytime anywhere.” Another participant elaborated on her similar experience:
“I was able to work on it anytime throughout the week. It was different than
other activities I have done in the past, which was cool. It is a more modern
way to engage students.” Another participant mentioned: “Having the ability to
discuss questions and post comments at any time throughout course was very
beneficial.” Another participant noted: “You could post or reply as things
occurred to you, at your own pace.” That was supported by other participants’
notes: “I can take as much time as I need”; “I could post comments /
discussions at my leisure time”; and “I was able to do this on my own time.”
Alternative Source
The
participants found the blogging activity to be an alternative source of getting
different or easier solutions to the problems they attempted to solve. One
participant noted: “I think that the blogging activity helped students find
different ways to solve problems.” Another participant reported: “This
[blogging activity] offered another resource to practice from.” Another
participant mentioned: “If I didn’t know how to complete a problem, I could
look at how other students answered it on the blog.” Another student noted: “It
[blogging] was an interactive activity outside of class which allowed students
to apply what they had learned and found errors or alternative solutions on
others’ work.” Another participant described: “Another benefit was the
different ways of solving problems which allowed me to find an easier solution.
I also thought that the blog allowed me to get a better feel of the students in
my class. Another benefit is if a tutor needed a reference to help a student in
the class the tutor could refer to the blog to help.”
Collaborative
The participants found the blogging activity
to be a collaborative platform for effective communication with the instructor
and other participants in the class. One participant commented: “It was a
different way to incorporate collaboration of classmates. The feedback given
from other students to my solutions was helpful to my future teaching
techniques.” Another participant elaborated: “We were exposed to a variety of
problems relating to Geometry. We were presented with alternative methods in
solving, as well as different reasoning procedures. We were forced to think
through our solving process and analyze and critique others.” Another
participant noted: “The ability to interact with classmates and correct each
other’s mistakes or comment on solutions was an advantage.”
Convenient
The
participants found the blog to be an easy and effective tool for learning and
practicing Euclidean Geometry. One participant noted: “It was very accessible;
and the means of blogging was very efficient.” Another participant narrated:
“It [blogging] was an interactive activity outside of class which allowed
students to apply what they had learned and found errors or alternative
solutions on others’ work. It was easy, accessible, and effective.” Another
participant elaborated: “Students were used to the [blogging] technology and
were excited when they incorporated something they were familiar and skilled
with to something they were learning. This technology has so much potential and
efficiency, if it utilized correctly, it can be such a useful tool.”
Enjoyable
The
participants found the blogging activity to be an enjoyable learning tool. One
participant commented: “I enjoyed the connection to modern media. I think it
was helped to hold student-centered discussion.” S/he also noted: “Students are
used to this technology and are excited when they incorporate something they
are familiar and skilled with to something they are learning. This technology
has so much potential and efficiency, if it utilized correctly, it can be such
a useful tool.” Another participant noted: “I think it would work to the
interest of most students.”
Encouraging
The
participants found the blogging activity to be a means of encouraging
themselves to be active participants. One participant commented: “We were
forced [ourselves] to think through our solving process and analyze and
critique others.” Another participant reported: “Showing us all as future
educators another way to integrate technology into the classroom.” Another
participant reported: “Getting a grade based on the future activity rather than
just one problem enforced the advantage of learning from the activity.”
Engaging
The
participants found the blogging activity to be an engaging tool for learning
Euclidean Geometry. One participant commented: “It provided more examples to
problems, it was engaging, because it was online I liked that the activity was
continuous all the way through the semester. It was not difficult to figure
out.” Another participant elaborated: “This blogging activity was great for
preparing for quizzes. The questions were very similar to those we did in class
and saw on the quizzes. It also allowed me to talk what topics related to
education, but not necessarily Geometry.” Another participant elaborated: “We
were exposed to a variety of problems relating to Geometry. We were presented
with alternative methods in solving, as well as different reasoning
procedures.” Another comment was concise but very notable: “It made me analyze
the chapter problems more.”
Getting Feedback
from Others
Getting
feedback from fellow classmates’ comments and opinions on their work on the
blog was impressive for the participants. One participant mentioned: “It’s very
useful to have feedback from fellow classmates along with feedback from the
teachers.” Another participant noted: “I think that the blogging activity …
also helped students come up with ways to positively critique other student’s
answer and thoughtfully reply to questions.” Another participant elaborated on
his or her similar experience: “The main advantage was doing a problem and
getting feedback from classmates.”
Technology Savvy
The
blogging activity not only required a certain level of technology savvy from
participants, it also, served to improve the level of technology savvy of many
of them. One participant reported: “[With the blogging activity] I became more
technology savvy.” Another participant commented: “[The blogging activity was]
convenient, easy, [and] more technology savvy.”
DISADVANTAGES/LIMITATION
Difficult for New
Bloggers
Some
participants who did not have previous experience in blogging had difficulty
starting up with the blog and writing comments. One participant noted:
“Substantive comments were hard for me to do. I was never sure how to do them
and I didn’t know what to write.” Another participant noted: “The discussion
was hard to follow, would have been easier if the threads were separated.”
Difficult in Using
Mathematics Notations
Inserting mathematical symbols and equations
was a limitation mentioned with regard to the free blog used in this study.
That was noticed and considered to be a disadvantage by some participants. One
participant noted: “The blog didn’t allow me to draw a diagram of the word
problems in my solution. It made it difficult to articulate my ideas clearly.”
Another participant noted: “Typing math equations on the blog was difficult.”
Enforcing
Working
with other students in their groups and doing so in a timely manner were
mentioned as one kind of enforcement or pressure to a few participants. One
participant noted: “[The blogging activity] forced me to collaborate with other
students in the class and solve problems together.” Another participant
elaborated: “There were several students who were almost too critical of our
answers. Some participants didn’t give everyone an opportunity to leave
comments. I personally got tired of reading some participants’ comments on
every set of problems. This made me not want to even go to the blog page.”
Monotonous
A
few participants did not like the insulated nature of the blogging activity as
they considered it to be a monotonous activity. One participant noted: “There
was no one there to help me if I had a problem.” Another participant noted: “No
interaction if you cannot figure it out, you can’t ask teacher.” Another
participant noted: “I could not talk to people face to face and interact on
paper.” Another participant noted: “I would rather give face to face
explanations so I can see the other persons understanding or not.”
Personal Dislike
Some
participants did not like the impersonal nature of the blogging activity. One
participant noted: “I personally did not like this kind of learning tool.”
Another participant noted: “I did not like commenting on other students work. I
don’t like the impersonal nature of the blog discussions.” Another participant
noted: “I did not like commenting on other students answer, because it comes
across as rude. If you give an alternative answer it can be difficult to do it
in a way that adds to the problem.”
