blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional...
TRANSCRIPT
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professionallearning and development during collaborative inquiry
Katia Ciampa1• Tiffany L. Gallagher2
Published online: 20 October 2015� Association for Educational Communications and Technology 2015
Abstract Blogging has been recommended as a suitable tool for teacher professional
learning due to its associated utility in collaborative learning, reflection, communication,
and social support. In this study, blogging was incorporated into a collaborative inquiry
project involving elementary and secondary teachers. In examining the frequency and
nature of blog usage as well as perceptions of blogging among the participants, a mixed-
methods design was used. Quantitative and qualitative data sources included individual
semi-structured teacher interviews, blog entries, and a blog statistics tracking tool. Results
revealed that there are both benefits and challenges of using blogs to facilitate teacher
collaborative inquiry. The participants in this study viewed the blog as a tool for facili-
tating the sharing of knowledge, teaching strategies, and assessment practices, as well as
networking among colleagues. The blogs were more likely to benefit teachers who were
shy, introverted, and reflective. Blogging also posed challenges for the teacher participants,
including: low levels of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use; lack or insufficient
amount of in-service teacher training on using the blog; time limitations; technical prob-
lems; lack of immediacy and synchronous interactivity.
Keywords Teacher professional development � Blog � Collaborative inquiry � Reflectivepractice
& Katia [email protected]
Tiffany L. [email protected]
1 School of Education, Innovation, and Continuing Studies, Widener University, Chester, PA, USA
2 Department of Teacher Education, Brock University, Saint Catharines, ON, Canada
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Education Tech Research Dev (2015) 63:883–913DOI 10.1007/s11423-015-9404-7
Introduction
There has been substantial growth in Weblogs, also abbreviated to blogs, on the Internet. In
their simplest form, blogs can be thought of as electronic journals used for timely recording
of thoughts, allowing an individual to accumulate a repository of information (Huffaker
2004; Ray and Hocutt 2006). Blogs can also display pictures, texts, audio and video files
and store word processed or other files. Interest in blogging as an educational resource has
also been fueled by the capacity of blogging as a means to facilitate collaborative learning,
reflection, and critical thinking in terms of social interdependence through knowledge
sharing, feedback sharing, and social support (Churchill 2009; Ellison and Wu 2008; Stiler
and Philleo 2003; Valtonen et al. 2012). This paper seeks to add to the dialogue by
determining whether and how blogging can be used for collaborative learning. Specifically,
this project examined the efficacy of blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional
learning and development during a collaborative inquiry that involved co-planning and
debriefing after classroom instruction. Design principles, guidelines, and conditions for
using blogging as a collaborative learning space in the context of teacher professional
development programs are proposed.
The impact of blogging on has been largely characterized in terms of pre-service
teachers’ perceptions of its usefulness in higher education settings (Chu et al. 2012; Hou
et al. 2009); however, in-service teachers’ perceptions and level of participation in blog-
ging during a collaborative inquiry-based professional development program have not been
examined. The research project described herein reports on a portion of the data from a
larger program of inquiry-based professional learning that grade 8 and 9 literacy teachers
engaged in together to address students’ literacy learning needs during the transition from
elementary to high school. These cross-panel teachers (elementary school and high school)
focused on a collaborative inquiry that involved co-planning a language unit and debriefing
after classroom instruction. The school district featured in this research identified three
reasons for using the district’s e-learning portal with respect to the teacher participants’
collaborative, inquiry-based professional learning: (1) to increase teachers’ familiarity with
the e-learning portal which includes links to a blog and e-portfolio; (2) to share literacy-
related resources, lesson and unit plans; and (3) to share new learnings during their pro-
fessional learning sessions and implementation of unit plans within their respective
classrooms. This study represents an initial attempt to explore the use of blogs as a tool for
facilitating collaborative inquiry and reflective practice among elementary and high school
teachers. Accordingly, this study sought to examine the following questions: (1) What are
the teachers’ patterns of participating in blogging? (2) What are the lead facilitator’s,
literacy coaches’, and teachers’ perceptions and attitudes in relation to blog use for
facilitating collaborative inquiry and reflective practice? This study aims to contribute to
the evidence surrounding the role of blog use for supporting teacher professional
development.
Theoretical framework and literature review
The following section delineates the characteristics of learning by collaborative inquiry,
the role of blogging for fostering collaborative learning, barriers and the individual-level
factors affecting the use of blogging for teacher professional learning.
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Learning by collaborative inquiry
Research has indicated that effective professional learning occurs in collaboration with
others (Blankstein et al. 2007; Eaker et al. 2002; Fullan 2006; Huffman et al. 2001;
McLaughlin and Talbert 2006). Recent increases in the utilization of collaborative inquiry
models purposefully incorporate the critical processes of reflection and collegial com-
munication directly into the development experience (Gamoran et al. 2003). Research
suggests that effective professional development experiences should involve the creation of
opportunities for teachers to engage as learners, build pedagogical and content knowledge,
co-construct and enact new visions of practice in a collaborative setting (Borko 2004;
Nelson and Slavit 2008). These models utilize the power of teacher-to-teacher collabo-
ration, often with a facilitator, to analyze student data in relation to instructional practices
(Nelson and Slavit 2008). Various structures have been used to support teachers’ profes-
sional growth in collaborative settings, including professional learning communities, les-
son study, co-planning, and peer observation; these structures comprise an inquiry-based
approach (Ball and Cohen 1999). Teacher inquiry, discussed herein as inquiry, conducted
by teachers as opposed to on or with teachers- is central to the current educational research
landscape (Butler and Schnellert 2012).
Teacher collaborative inquiry is envisioned as a 4-stage cyclical process that fosters an
ongoing dialogue about classroom practices and student achievement (Coburn and Stein
2010). According to Coburn and Stein (2010), this cycle begins with planning: identifying
a literacy need, selecting a learning focus, and determining professional learning to address
students’ literacy need. The second stage is acting: implementing evidence-based strategies
and evaluating the outcomes. Then collaborators observe, record, and share evidence of
student learning through observations of student work. During the final stage, collaborators
come together to reflect, share, and evaluate the results of student and teacher learning.
These collaborative learning practices allow teachers to share their unique ideas and
provide opportunities for negotiating between different perspectives and meanings (Lit-
eracy and Numeracy Secretariat 2010).
Blogging and collaborative inquiry
Through a teaching and learning lens, blogs have the capability to make learning trans-
parent and become a space ‘‘where a greater understanding of meaning making can be
gained’’ (Paulus et al. 2009, p. 13). Garrison and Akyol (2009) pointed out that collabo-
ration through use of Web 2.0 tools such as blogs goes beyond simple interaction in the
sense that it is clearly focused on a problem where learners are deeply engaged in pur-
poseful discourse to construct meaning and collaboratively share meaning and consolidate
understanding. Researchers have agreed that blogging also supports collaborative learning
by enhancing learning performance in both individual knowledge development and group
knowledge sharing (Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat 2010; Top et al. 2010; Yang 2009).
For instance, Top et al. (2010) examined pre-service teachers’ perceived benefits of
instructional blogs. The findings from Top et al.’s (2010) study revealed that students
mainly used blogs for information sharing.
Preliminary research indicates that blogs also promote reflective practice (Hramiak et al.
2009; West et al. 2005). Since blog entries are archived and readily available, users can
read previous work and reflect on earlier entries (Halic et al. 2010). Whilst the blogging
platform is seen as a personal online space, it is intended to engage others in reflection and
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discussion (Ducate and Lomicka 2008; Halic et al. 2010; Luehmann 2008). Yang (2009)
investigated the use of blogs as a reflective platform in pre-service teacher education. The
teacher participants stated that blogs provide a useful platform for reflecting and com-
municating with each other. Similarly, Wopereis et al. (2010) examined the use of blogs as
a means to promote pre-service teachers’ reflective practice. Teacher candidates were
asked to use their course blog to reflect on their own teaching experiences and provide peer
feedback. Analyses of the teacher candidates’ contributions showed that blogs were useful
for reflection on critical incidents in the classroom and stimulated interconnectivity in
groups of pre-service teachers. However, the blog did not incite deep reflection among the
pre-service teachers.
Barriers to teachers’ use of technology
In the extant literature, there has been a general discussion concerning the barriers that
teachers face in using technology. Ertmer (1999) classified these barriers into two cate-
gories, namely, extrinsic barriers and intrinsic barriers. The former set of barriers result
from inadequate and/or inappropriate configuration of technology infrastructures including
access, time, support, resources, and training (Ertmer 1999). The latter set of barriers relate
to teachers’ personal experience, including attitudes, competence, beliefs, practices, and
resistance (Ertmer 1999). This paper seeks to identify any potential barriers associated with
the teachers’ blogging participation (or lack thereof), which may provide insight relevant
to the development of in-service teacher professional development.
Individual-level factors affecting the use of blogging for teacher professionallearning
In accordance with the abovementioned barriers, the use and adoption of blogging is
dependent not only on the amount of training a teacher receives, but also the teacher’s
beliefs about the perceived benefits and uses of technology in the classroom (Vannatta and
Fordham 2004). According to the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Venkatesh et al.
2003), people are more likely to use different technologies when they find them accessible
and useful for their purposes. The model assumes that an individual’s acceptance of a
system is determined by two major factors: attitudes toward perceived usefulness and
perceived ease of use (Venkatesh et al. 2003). Attitude is defined as the degree to which a
user is interested in using the system, and attitude toward the system determines beha-
vioural intentions, which, in turn, lead to actual system usage (Cheung and Vogel 2013).
Cheung and Vogel (2013) studied pre-service teachers’ acceptance of collaborative tech-
nologies, and found that pre-service teachers are more likely to use technology in their
practicum: when it is easy to use and has a specific purpose; when they are confident that
they are able to use it and know that help is readily available; when they feel that the online
tool fills their needs and is similar to others they use; and when they are able to collaborate
with other users.
While there have been a handful of studies that examined the efficacy of blog use
among pre-service teachers in higher education settings, the use of blogs in supporting
collaborative inquiry among in-service teachers is still a relatively new phenomenon (Chu
et al. 2012; Hou et al. 2009). Previous research also provides limited guidelines and
strategies on how to implement blogging effectively in the context of in-service teacher
professional development programs (Top et al. 2010). Therefore, it is anticipated that the
results of this study will be a starting point for further research in this area.
886 K. Ciampa, T. L. Gallagher
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Methodology
Professional learning program design
Operationally, the project design was conceived of and executed by the school district. It
included the following key components: introductory plenary sessions (two full days);
collective (two full days) and flexible co-planning sessions (four half-days); in-class
observations (one-two lesson observation in family of schools); and teacher moderation
(half day) and forum (half day).
Teachers were provided with professional learning and support in the use of the
instructional methods of teacher collaborative inquiry. This was accomplished through
professional learning sessions that sought to encourage teachers to establish their own
inquiry and collaborate as they planned together and taught in parallel. As partners, these
cross-grade teachers adopted an inquiry focus that involved co-planning and debriefing
after classroom instruction.
Introductory plenary sessions
There were two full-day Introductory Plenary Sessions which were facilitated by the school
board’s K-12 Literacy Consultant (lead facilitator) and eLearning Consultant with support
from two of the school board’s literacy coaches. All teachers intending to participate in the
project were given release time to attend this 6-h session to establish their inquiry, review
their involvement in co-planning and discuss data collection. The lead facilitator sought to
guide the teachers as they self-determined their statement of inquiry and details related to
collaboration within their school sites. The final 2 h of the sessions were devoted to
training the teacher participants to use the e-learning portal. This training session was
provided by the school board’s eLearning Consultant. Utilizing a hands-on approach, the
eLearning Consultant led them through a scavenger hunt activity to familiarize the par-
ticipants with the basic features and tools of the e-learning portal. Teachers were instructed
to use the school district’s e-learning portal to support their inquiry, namely the Resources
tool to upload lesson plans and assessment tools and the Forums tool to reflect on and
consolidate their professional learning during the course of this study.
Collective co-planning sessions
Each of the participating teachers were given release time to engage in two full days of
collegial co-planning for their upcoming unit of study. This co-planning was done at the
school board’s education center. The lead facilitator conducted these 6-h sessions and
provided the foundation of the role of inquiry and their focus on assessment for/as/of
learning (Black and Wiliam 1998). Participating teachers focused their new learning
around two components (i.e., critical literacy and strategy instruction) as well as how to
construct a unit of study following the backward-design model (McTighe and Wiggins
2004). Concurrently, teachers were required to focus on the three types of assessment
during their unit planning: assessment as/for/of learning (Black and Wiliam 1998). On the
second day, the teachers spent the majority of time working together in small planning
groups that organically formed through recognition of their common interests.
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Flexible co-planning sessions
Teachers booked four half-days in advance and were given release time. At each of the
school sites the dyads/partners came together at mutually agreed upon times. The lead
facilitator, literacy coaches, and researchers were present for all the co-planning sessions.
Each session lasted approximately 3 h. During the co-planning, the teachers decided on the
lesson goals, activities and resources that would be needed to facilitate a common unit of
study in their respective classrooms. With reference to the participant sample below
(Table 1), Schools 1 and 2 (elementary) and School 6 (secondary) designed a unit that
focused on news reporting. At Schools 3 and 4 (elementary) and School 5 (secondary) the
instructional unit centred on critical literacy and bias.
Throughout the collaborative inquiry study, teachers engaged in ongoing, online dia-
logue via the school district’s e-learning blog. In addition to responding to the questions
posed by the lead facilitator and literacy coaches, and in line with the four stages of
collaborative inquiry (Coburn and Stein 2010), teachers were also encouraged to blog their
progress of their co-creation of lessons, lesson delivery, and provide evidence of their
students’ evolving understandings based on the various types of assessment data collected
within their respective classrooms.
Research design
Qualitative and quantitative data were collected over a 7-month period from the lead
facilitator, 2 literacy coaches, and 12 teachers within a local school board in southern
Ontario. Accordingly, a mixed-methods approach was used in this study (Creswell 2012).
Qualitative and quantitative data were used to capture the participants’ involvement in
blogging as well as their perceptions and attitudes toward blog use. More specifically, this
Table 1 Participants’ characteristics
School Teacher Grade Role Total # of yearsteaching
Technology self-efficacybeliefs (1 = low, 5 = high)
1 Evan 8 Teacher 8 4.3
Amy 8 Teacher 6 5
2 Stephanie 8 Teacher 13 3.7
3 Ted 8 Teacher 11 2
Tammy 8 Teacher 10 4
4 Samantha 8 Teacher 10 4.7
Mario 8 Teacher 9 2.7
5 Jamie 9 Teacher 29 4
Philip 9 Teacher 10 4
6 Tracy 9 Teacher 9 3.7
Tristan 9 Teacher 9 4.7
Larry 9 Teacher 14 3.3
James Lead facilitator/K-12 literacyconsultant
Jessica Literacy coach
Richard Literacy coach
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study used the triangulation mixed methods design in which the quantitative and quali-
tative datasets carried equal weight, priority, and consideration to answer both research
questions concurrently (Creswell 2012). The results of the quantitative data (i.e., e-learning
statistics tracking tool) were analyzed using descriptive statistics (i.e., means) and com-
pared and integrated with the qualitative data (i.e., interviews and blog entries) in the
Results and Discussion section of the present study. The resulting triangulated results show
convergence, inconsistencies, and complements (Creswell 2012). The basic assumption is
that the uses of both quantitative and qualitative methods, in combination, provide a better
understanding of the research problem and research questions rather than either method by
itself, and can facilitate each other so that the accuracy and robustness of the study is be
strengthened (Creswell 2012).
School sites and participants
A convenience sample of four elementary schools (Schools 1–4) and two secondary
schools (Schools 5 and 6) participated in this program. The original sample consisted of 7
elementary (grade 8) teachers and 10 secondary (grade 9) teachers. A specific major
obstacle that was encountered in this study was the relatively high rate of teacher par-
ticipant withdrawals; this was due to the structure of the academic calendar for secondary
education which is divided into two semesters. There were 5 secondary teacher participants
who taught Grade 9 English in Semester 1, but due to changes in their teaching schedules,
were not teaching Grade 9 English in Semester 2. Consequently, the final sample com-
prised 12 teachers (7 grade 8 teachers and 5 grade 9 teachers); their students indirectly
participated as recipients of the teachers’ professional learning. All of the teachers par-
ticipated in the whole-group sessions (Teacher Forums). The following Table 1 offers a
profile of each of these school sites, the participants, grades, roles, total number of years
teaching, and technology self-efficacy beliefs.
Data sources
Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from three sets of participants: 12 teachers,
one lead facilitator (K-12 Literacy Consultant), and two literacy coaches. The researchers
triangulated the data collected through the use of multiple sources of evidence within each
participant set.
Professional learning blog conversations
Via the blog on their school district’s e-learning platform, the teacher participants engaged
in online dialogue with each other. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, teachers had access to
communication tools such as the blog (used as a discussion board) and e-portfolio (used to
store and share their uploaded resources), email, calendar, and announcements through the
e-learning portal.
The blog was set up and managed internally by the school district and used by the
teacher participants as a resource repository (i.e., to upload lesson plans and assessment
tools) as well as a discussion space for teachers to reflect on and consolidate their pro-
fessional learning during the course of this study. Regular, online dialogue among the
teacher participants occurred before and after the professional learning sessions. Teachers
were also asked to post responses to questions developed by the lead facilitator and literacy
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coaches that centered around this study’s research questions and the teacher collaborative
inquiry model (e.g., ‘‘What do you hope to get out of today’s co-planning session?’’ ‘‘What
is the most important/interesting thing that you learned in our previous sessions?’’; ‘‘Please
respond on this blog if you plan to visit your co-planning partner’s classroom so that they
Fig. 1 Screenshot of e-portfolio
Fig. 2 Screenshot of blog
890 K. Ciampa, T. L. Gallagher
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are aware of your attendance that day.’’). The teacher participants were informed that their
blog entries would also be accessible to and analyzed by the two researchers.
E-learning statistics tracking tool
The researchers were also given access to the e-learning portal statistics tracking tool
which enabled them to track teachers’ actual blog usage including the frequency and nature
of teachers‘ blog posts, as well as the frequency and types of topics (e.g., curriculum
documents, assessment tools, lesson plans, etc.) visited within the portal.
Teacher, lead facilitator, and literacy coach interviews
At each of the schools, the 12 teachers were given release time to be individually inter-
viewed at the end of this study, with each interview lasting approximately 30 min.
Interviewees were queried about their own professional learning growth and self-efficacy
in literacy instruction as a function of participating in this collaborative inquiry. A total of
12 open-ended questions were posed; however, for the purpose of this study and to answer
the second research question, only four of the twelve questions were analyzed and dis-
cussed. The purpose of these three questions was to garner an elaboration on the teachers’
perceptions of the effectiveness of blogging as a platform for learning and collaboration.
The interview questions were developed by the researchers using the Interview Format
with Probing Questions model (Cox 1996). To this end, the questions were written in sets,
with each set examining a particular issue of relevance to the collaborative inquiry
experience. The first question in each set was typically one that could be answered by
‘‘yes’’ or ‘‘no’’ (Cox 1996). Subsequent subsets of probing questions related to each set
were designed to elicit deeper explanation, relative to the participant’s response to the
initial question. The open-ended interview questions (see Table 2) concerned the useful-
ness of blogs for learning, information sharing, and knowledge sharing, as well as some
personal information (i.e., years of teaching experience, technology self-efficacy beliefs).
Table 2 Semi-structured participant interview protocol
Teacher participant interview protocol Teacher participant interview protocol
1. Did you use the blog? If so, how often did you usethe blog and for what purpose?
1. In your opinion, do you think the blog has beenutilized to its fullest potential? How so or why not?
2. In your opinion, did the professional learning blogfoster collaborative inquiry? Why or why not?
2. In your opinion, do you think the blog has fosteredindependent and collaborative inquiry as well asmore effective communication across the panels?How so or why not?
3. In your opinion, did the blog foster or not fostermore effective communication across the panels?Why or why not?
3. What suggestions would you have (if any) toimprove the blog if it were to be used for futureprofessional development?
4. Were there any barriers or challenges youencountered when you were using the e-learningportal to blog your progress during thiscollaborative inquiry? Please describe them
5. What are your suggestions for increasing blogparticipation among teachers in futurecollaborative inquiry projects?
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The lead facilitator and two literacy coaches were also interviewed at the end of this
study (see Table 2). Similarly, the purpose of these interviews was to garner an elaboration
on their evaluation of the blog for supporting teacher collaborative inquiry and professional
development. The researchers posed the same questions to participants in the same way in
order to ensure consistency and therefore a more reliable response analysis. As part of a
member-checking process, the participants were invited to edit and elaborate on these
summaries. All of the 30 min interviews were audio-taped and transcribed by the two
researchers.
Data analysis
The researchers engaged in peer debriefing to cross-confirm the meanings they extracted
from the qualitative and quantitative data. The conclusions drawn further contribute to
veracity of the themes and findings. To address the study‘s first research question,
teachers’ patterns of participation in blogging (i.e., frequency and nature of blog posts and
topic visits) were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics (e.g., means; standard
deviations) and qualitative content analysis. Blog content analysis in this study provided a
way to illustrate the stages of the collaborative inquiry cycle in which the teachers were
involved when they were engaged in blogging (Coburn and Stein 2010). Upon completion
of the project, blog entries and comments were copied from the e-learning portal and
uploaded as text files into a word processing program, which was used to facilitate qual-
itative data analysis. The lead facilitator’s and literacy coaches’ comments were not
counted or analyzed since the focus was on the frequency and nature of teachers’ partic-
ipation in online collaborative inquiry.
An inductive approach was used to analyze the qualitative data from the interviews and
blog entries in order to provide a framework for supporting blog use among teachers
engaged in the collaborative inquiry process (Creswell 2012). Consistent with guidelines
for inductive analyses (Creswell 2012), all of the descriptive categories, themes, and ideas
discussed in the following section emerged directly from the qualitative data sets. Sub-
sequent qualitative data analysis included open coding and collapsing these data into
cohesive, mutually exclusive themes. These themes were derived in response to the first
and second research questions as well as the four stages of the collaborative inquiry cycle.
The researchers coded all data independently, meeting subsequently to share individual
interpretations and negotiate a shared understanding with any disagreements resolved
through discussion until consensus was reached. Inter-coder reliability checks were also
made between the researchers at intermediate stages of the final coding to ensure con-
tinuing inter-coder reliability (Rubin and Rubin 1995). Cronbach’s alpha revealed high
reliability (a = 0.89). After several readings of the teachers’ blog posts and interview
transcriptions, the researchers highlighted and coded recurring words, phrases and patterns.
The codes represented categories that were in response to the research questions. When the
coding was complete, the codes were moderated and regrouped into thematic clusters.
Interpretations of the themes were made and illustrative quotes were selected from all of
the participants. It is important to note herein that any comparisons between the two
participating groups of teachers (elementary and secondary) were made to look at the
integrity between the groups (Creswell 2012) Although there were fewer secondary teacher
participants than their elementary counterparts, it is worth investigating whether and how
these two groups differed in terms of their frequency and nature of blog usage.
892 K. Ciampa, T. L. Gallagher
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Findings
Teachers’ blog participation patterns
In answer to this study’s first research question, ‘‘What are the teachers’ patterns of
participating in blogging?’’ Table 3 displays teachers’ frequencies for blog usage (in-
cluding total number of initial blog entries and replies), average number of words per blog
entry, number and type of topics visited. These data were derived from the e-learning
Statistics Tracking Tool that the researchers had access to at the end of the project.
Collectively, the teacher participants blogged a total of 61 times, and total blog usage
for the duration of the project was 5.1 events (on average). Teachers made greater con-
tributions to the initial blog conversations than replying to existing threads; specifically,
teachers posted an initial blog entry 3.2 times (on average) and commented on a col-
league’s post an average of 1.9 times. On average, the grade 8 teachers also tended to post
longer entries with more words (M = 101.5 words) compared to grade 9 teachers who
posted shorter entries (M = 78.2 words). Although blog usage was higher for the sec-
ondary teachers with 6.2 visits (on average) compared to 4.3 visits for the elementary
teachers, the latter group of participants explored more variety of topics on the blog. In line
with the second stage of the collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010), the
elementary teachers most often visited the repository of online resources shared by the lead
facilitator, literacy coaches, and teachers. The topics that were assessments, lesson plans
and curriculum mapping. The secondary teachers most often visited topics related to lesson
plans and long range plan units.
Three overarching themes emerged from the professional learning blog conversations:
cognitive, reflective, and social/collaborative. Sample blog entries referring to a particular
theme and sub-theme (theme/sub-theme frequency) as well as sample responses that align
with the four stages of the collaborative inquiry cycle are illustrated in Table 4. With
respect to the first theme and in line with the second stage of the collaborative inquiry cycle
(Coburn and Stein 2010), a total of 10 blog entries related to teachers‘ sharing of
Table 3 Teachers’ frequencies for blog usage
Teacher Grade Total blog usage Average number ofwords per blog entry
Total number oftopics visited
Types of topicsvisited
Amy 8 5 (4 initial; 1 reply) 67.3 2 2; 6
Evan 8 4 (3 initial; 1 reply) 48.8 2 2; 6
Tracy 9 6 (4 initial; 2 reply) 64.2 2 1; 3
Jamie 9 9 (2 initial; 7 replies) 17.8 0 0
Philip 9 7 (4 initial; 3 reply) 67 4 3; 4; 5
Tristan 9 7 (5 initial; 2 reply) 91 4 1; 3; 4
Stephanie 8 5 (3 initial; 2 reply) 120 18 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6
Tammy 8 7 (5 initial; 2 reply) 191.9 7 1; 3; 4
Ted 8 1 (1 initial; 0 reply) 171 2 1; 3
Samantha 8 3 (2 initial; 1 reply) 77.7 1 1
Mario 8 5 (3 initial; 2 reply) 33.8 3 1; 3; 6
Larry 9 2 (2 initial; 0 reply) 151 5 3; 4; 5
1 Assessment tools (e.g., rubrics, etc.), 2 Ministry documents, 3 Lesson plans, 4 Long range unit plans, 5Teaching resources (e.g., news articles, etc.), 6 Curriculum mapping
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Table 4 Blog theme frequency, sample entries, and alignment with 4-stage collaborative inquiry cycle
Theme Subtheme Frequency Sample blog entries Alignment with4-stagecollaborativeinquiry cycle
Cognitive Informationsharing
10 -There is a DOVE campaign youshould check out onYouTube….this ties in so wellwith self-esteem, self-acceptanceand a positive portrayal ofoneself. A metacognitive task in asense (Tammy)
Second stage
Problem-solving
2 -We can learn that students havethe ability to critically assessmedia and messages they arereceiving, but some tasks wereproven tot be challenging if thestudent’s had a limited point ofreference. One debate topic wasabout whether or not athletesshould be paid money forwinning medals. Students in thisgroup found the question hard torefute. I gave them some insightabout how athletes can easilybecome spokespeople and getmillions in endorsements afterwinning a medal, which helpedthem in their brainstorming(Philip)
Fourth stage
Knowledgeconstruction
20 -What we learned from this lessonwas that group inquiry can be avery useful tool to allow studentsthe ability to take ownership fortheir learning. Group AFL’s areused in every unit of the Grade 9course, and this activity willallow us to determine where thistype of learning will work. Theability to follow the structure of anews report lends itself well tothe other writing AOL’s on thecourse, namely the SupportedOpinion piece and their firstliterary essay (Tristan)
First and Secondstage
Professional-personallearninggoals
10 Through today’s co-planningsession I hope to achieve abalanced literacy unit, that usesinquiry and includes rich tasksand a variety of opportunities forstudents to demonstrate theirlearning (Samantha)
- I hope to learn how to use theMLS system and would like tolearn how to use a blog. I want toknow more about how to use thistechnology (Jamie)
First and Fourthstage
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information and directing their peers toward sources of information such as online sources
(e.g., links to websites). Two blog entries also coincided with the fourth stage of the
collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010) which contained teachers‘ solutions to
challenges encountered in their instructional practice. A large portion of the blog entries
(n = 20) centered on teachers’ sharing their newly acquired knowledge and strategies from
the professional learning sessions. Lastly, in line with the first and final stages of the
collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010) a total of 10 entries contained
teachers’ articulated professional and personal learning goals for participating in this
collaborative inquiry project. In terms of the second theme, six blog entries involved
reflections on teachers‘ experiences and discoveries related to their knowledge gaps and
ineffective teaching methods. With respect to the third theme, social-collaborative blog
entries revealed two subthemes: posing questions to the rest of the group (n = 3), and
feedback responses (n = 10).
Table 4 continued
Theme Subtheme Frequency Sample blog entries Alignment with4-stagecollaborativeinquiry cycle
Reflective Self-reflection
6 -I really liked how she used thestrategies to teach us, that way wecan use those same strategies toteach our students. Being a partof the activity allows me tovisualize how I can use this withmy students. I always find thatparticipating in activities myselfhelps me understand theirprocess, purpose, andeffectiveness (Tracy)
Fourth stage
Social/collaborative Posingquestions
3 -I am confused about how tomeaningfully collaborate tocreate a unit based on Inquiry?All of our classes look andoperate differently, so creating aunit based in Inquiry is somewhatchallenging (Tammy)
First stage
Providingfeedback
10 -Today I had the pleasure ofvisiting Stephanie‘s grade 8class. I loved Susan’s ‘‘Bump ItUp’’ display board, on whichwere numerous examples of newsreports from Levels 2–4. Thestudents has written andhighlighted the articles todetermine why each was assignedthe level. I loved how student-centred her classroom was, andthe board was a great way forstudents to engage and trulyunderstand how to improve theirown writing (Tristan)
Third stage
Blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional… 895
123
Blogging as a means of facilitating collaborative inquiry and reflectivepractice: perceptions and attitudes
To answer this study’s second research question, ‘‘What are the lead facilitator’s, literacy
coaches’, and teachers’ perceptions and attitudes in relation to blog use for facilitating
collaborative inquiry and reflective practice?’’ illustrative quotes from the interview data
and professional learning blog conversations are presented in Table 5. These units of data
are divided into two major themes and seven sub-themes which offer insight into the
‘‘Using blogs for facilitating collaborative inquiry’’ as well as the ‘‘Intrinsic and extrinsic
barriers to teachers’ use of blogs for collaborative inquiry.’’
Using blogs for facilitating collaborative inquiry
The participants in this study viewed the blog as a tool for facilitating the sharing of
knowledge and networking among colleagues, providing an atmosphere of equal voice and
self-reflection, and providing time for teachers during the professional learning sessions to
reflect and engage in online dialogue.
Blogging as a tool for knowledge sharing and networking
Based on their interview responses and professional learning blog conversations, the tea-
cher participants enjoyed using the blog as a tool for developing and sharing their
instructional knowledge. In this project, this purpose was particularly important as teachers
from different panels of education (i.e., elementary and secondary) were coming together
to collaborate. The teacher participants also believed that the blog was a facility for
building strong relationships and connecting with other cross-panel teachers from neigh-
bouring feeder schools:
Blogging was a good way to keep in contact with the grade 8 teachers because we
don’t have a lot of communication with them unless its email. For myself, it wasn’t
anything new to me (blogging culture), but the sharing of resources was definitely
useful. (Tristan, Grade 9 English Teacher, Interview).
The teachers also appreciated the ability to view photos of their colleagues’ classroom
activities, such as the one shown in Fig. 3 which was uploaded to the blog for viewing.
It was neat to see the pictures being posted so you could see what was happening in
the classrooms that you didn’t get to visit and observe their lessons. (Stephanie,
Grade 8 Teacher, Blog Post).
In accordance with the second stage of the collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and
Stein 2010), the blog was a space for collaborative knowledge-construction and knowl-
edge-sharing interactions. The teachers enjoyed the affordances of multimodal commu-
nication, especially when regular face-to-face interactions were not always feasible.
Blogging: providing an atmosphere of equal voice and self-reflection
According to the teacher participants, the online blogging platform provided a free and
comfortable environment in which they all had equal opportunities to voice their opinions.
The blog seemed to provide an open and inclusive forum for the introverted or reflective
896 K. Ciampa, T. L. Gallagher
123
Ta
ble
5Sam
ple
ofdataanalysis:
category
generationofthem
esandsubthem
es
Them
esSubthem
esGeneral
codingcategories
Key
descriptorphrases
Exam
plesofunitsofdata
Bloggingas
atoolfor
knowledgesharing
andnetworking
Inform
ationsharing
Professional
learningresources
Assessm
ents
Ithas
beenagreat
sharingnetwork
andaresource.
Ireally
likewhen
we’re
inthesessionto
beable
totap
into
it,weareactivelyinvolved.Ithinkthat’s
agreat
support.Ifalloftheirlessonsandbreakdownoftheir
assessmentsforlearningareallonthere,
it’s
agreat
sharingsite.Itgives
youtheabilityto
shareexam
ples
whereteachersmightsayto
them
selves,‘‘Ohnow
Ihaveasense
ofwhat
that
is,andnow
maybeI’m
willingto
tryit,’’ormaybesomeoneto
goto
righton
thesite,to
askforthat
support.(Jessica,Literacy
Coach,Interview)
Blogging:Providing
anatmosphereof
equal
voiceand
self-reflection
Self-reflection
Reflectivepractice
Introversion
Iam
notthat
awesomein
groupdiscussions,Iam
more
ofan
introvert,andIpreferto
write
mythoughtsout
than
orallysaythem
.So,Ireally
appreciated
theblog
because
Icould
write
mythoughtsandthen
insteadof
havingto
saythem
.Havingablogbenefitsthequieter
ones,wherepeople
could
seethat
theirthoughtsand
feelingsaboutthingswhichthey
would
beshyto
comeupin
agroupdiscussionmaybenotas
vocalbut
theblogwould
giveeveryonetheopportunityto
showcase
theirthoughts
confidently.(Stephanie,
Grade8Teacher,Interview)
Provisionoftime:
Acritical
component
ofbloggingadoption
anduse
Tim
econstraints
Release
time
Notenoughtime
Asbusy
people
itishardsometim
esto
takethat
time
outto
blogonourown.Itwas
easier
when
wecould
blogatthesessions.Itisn’tbecause
wedon’twantto.
Ifeltbad
because
James
was
encouragingusto
post
ontheblog.Ithad
nothingto
dowithusnotwanting
toparticipateitwas
justsometim
esIwould
forget
topost.Idoapologizeforthat.(Tristan,Grade9English
Teacher,Interview)
Blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional… 897
123
Ta
ble
5continued
Them
esSubthem
esGeneral
coding
categories
Key
descriptor
phrases
Exam
plesofunitsofdata
Intrinsicbarriersto
teachers’
use
of
blogsfor
collaborative
inquiry
Lackofengagem
entandtechnical
competence
Lackofengagem
ent
Perceived
usefulness
Ifoundthat
theblogadded
anelem
entto
thelanguage
unitthatwasn’tbeneficialformeas
ateacher.Ifound
that
theblogwas
inthebackofmymindbutdidn’t
serveas
apriority
formeat
thetime.
That’s
whyI
didn’treally
participatein
itperhapsas
much
asI
should
have.
Ididn’tbuyinto
it.Iseeitas
aninefficientuse
ofmytime.
Iam
notnecessarily
interested
inhow
itworked
withyourclassorwhat
exactlyyoudid.(Evan,Grade8Teacher,Interview)
Lackoftechnical
competence
Technology
intimidation
Iam
notgreat
withtechnology.AtfirstIwas
abit
intimidated
when
Ihad
touse
itbecause
other
than
usingSkype,
Idon’tspendtoomuch
timewith
technology.AtfirstIwasn’treally
sure
what
Iwas
asked
todobecause
wehad
onesessionherewhere
weweretold
tologon….itwas
hard.Butthen
once
youget
toseeitandtryitafew
times,Icould
get
totheblogandseewhat
other
people
wereposting.Itis
notthetechnology,itisme.Hopefullyitwillbecome
easier.Iwas
tryingto
postapicture
ontheblogandI
couldn’tdoit.Iknow
ifIam
sendingapicture
Ican
justclicktouch
andforw
ard-twosteps.That
blog
wasn’ttwosteps.(Larry,Grade9Teacher,Interview)
898 K. Ciampa, T. L. Gallagher
123
Ta
ble
5continued
Them
esSubthem
esGeneral
codingcategories
Key
descriptorphrases
Exam
plesofunitsofdata
Extrinsicbarrier
tobloguse
Technical
issues
Technical
glitches
Lackofappropriateinfrastructure
Itisfrustratingformebecause
thisiswhat
Iwantto
do
withtechnologybutthisiswherethetechnologyisat.
Wehaveto
get
thetechnologyto
wherewewantitto
bein
order
forthat
tobeeffective.
Ifyoudon’thave
theinfrastructure,then
youcan’tdocertainthings;but
ifIdid
haveit,then
Icanreally
buildaculture
of
inquiryin
myclassroom
because
inform
ationisright
there.
(Richard,LiteracyCoach,Interview)
Thetechnological
issues
withthebloghavebeena
hindrance.Ourinfrastructure
isnotsetupwell.New
devices
messuptheinfrastructure
andshutsdownthe
system
.Byandlargethereareproblemswith
software,
it’s
beenastruggle.Idon’treally
understandallthat.That’s
whyyouhavethetech
ITpeople.They
arealso
ham
strungbybudget,capacity
andso
on.Sohow
canyoublogbackandforthwhen
yougobackto
yourschoolswhen
thereare
technological
issues
withtheblog?Bythen,the
learningisforgotten.They
weren’table
tocapitalize
onwhat
they
weredoing.Someteachersjusttookit
uponthem
selves
toem
ailbackandforthorcalleach
other
insteadofusingtheblogto
communicate.
(Jam
es,K-12LiteracyConsultant,Interview)
Blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional… 899
123
Ta
ble
5continued
Them
esSubthem
esGeneral
codingcategories
Key
descriptorphrases
Exam
plesofunitsofdata
Bloguse:forced
versusorganic
onlinecollaborative
inquiry?
Nature
ofbloguse
Perceived
use
Forced
conversations
Teachersarestructuredindividualsandthey
arelooking
forstructuresas
towhen
andwhat
torespond.When
they
weregiven
aquestion,posed,they
would
respondto
it.Idon’tthinkthatthecontinuoussharing
has
developed
yet.Ithinkit’sournextstep,usingthat
forum.(Jessica,LiteracyCoach,Interview)
Itwas
forced,byandlarge,
itwasn’tnatural.Even
today
Iputoutan
emailaskingthem
topleaserespond
tomyblogquestion.Ninetypercentofthem
will,but
then
itwillendthere,whichisfine.It’safindingfrom
thisproject,it’s
alearning.Itwould
beinterestingto
know
how
wellit’s
usedacross
other
boards.(Jam
es,
K-12LiteracyConsultantInterview)
Theblogwas
somethingthat
teachersfeltthey
just
needed
todo,almostas
ifthey
werefollowingorders.
Itisjustatimeconstraint.It’slike,‘‘OKwellIneedto
takeahalfhourandgoontheblog.’’
Itisartificial
inthat
way
because
itisforced.(Richard,Literacy
Coach,Interview)
900 K. Ciampa, T. L. Gallagher
123
Ta
ble
5continued
Them
esSubthem
esGeneral
codingcategories
Key
descriptor
phrases
Exam
plesofunitsofdata
Synchronousversus
asynchronous
communication:
differencesin
nature
ofresponse
Nature
ofasynchronous
discussions
Qualityofthinking(surface
level
orin-depth)
Surface-level
blog
replies
Sam
antha:Iwas
excitedto
beintroducedto
thefour‘‘A’s’’,and
‘‘ShowMeWhere’’activitiesandcannotwaitto
trythesewith
mystudents.Ialso
was
ableto
dialoguewithcolleagues
about
usingliteracy
centers
inagrade8classroom
andwhat
that
could
looklike.
Ithinkthat
thisform
atwillbeanother
useful
toolforcreatingan
engagingenvironmentforstudentsexplore
andsharelearningwitheach
other.
Jamie:Sam
antha,
Iam
also
hopingto
use
thesenew
activities.
Stephanie:Throughtoday’s
co-planningsessionIhopeto
achieveabalancedliteracy
unit,thatusesinquiryandincludes
rich
tasksandavariety
ofopportunitiesforstudentsto
dem
onstratetheirlearning;possibly
adeeper
understandingof
wheregapsexistbetweenthepanelsbycollaborating,
dialoguingandplanningtogether;amore
cohesivemodel
of
meetingstudentneedsthat
makes
theirtransitionbetween
elem
entary
andhighschoolmore
effectiveandmeetstheir
learningneedsmore
effectively.
Mario:Couldn’thavesaid
itbettermyself
Nature
ofasynchronous
discussions
Lim
itationsofasynchronous
discussions
Naturalflow
of
conversations
Ijustfindthat
when
youpostaquestionorwhen
youare
engaged
inadiscussion,it’s
rightthere.
Twelvehours
later
when
yougoonagain,it’satthebottom
ofthediscussionand
then
youaresearchingforit.Withe-mailit’s
adirect
conversation,‘‘Here’swhat
Iam
lookingfor,canyouprovide
mewithhelp?’’Yougetthatem
ailback—
great,andyoumove
on.(Tristan,Grade9English
Teacher,Interview)
IfIneeded
something,Iwould
emailmycolleagues
atthe
feeder
schools.Ipreferusingem
ailto
get
myresponses
because
itisone-on-one.IfIneeded
resources
orlessonplans,
Iwould
justsay,‘‘Can
yousendmeyourunit?’’Ifitdoesn’tfit
inan
e-mail,I’veeven
sentamem
ory
stickthroughthe
courier.That’s
theway
IthinkIwould
rather
use
it.Iwantit
now.(Evan,Grade8Teacher,Interview)
Blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional… 901
123
teachers who were less likely to express their opinions in the face-to-face professional
learning sessions:
I found on the blog that people would comment more on personal things they
wouldn’t bring up in the group. (Tristan, Grade 9 English Teacher, Interview).
The blog offered the teachers unique opportunities for self-disclosure, encouraged
feelings of disinhibition, and uncovered their attitudes toward collaboration. As shown in
Table 5, reflective processes relating to a teacher’s own beliefs and discoveries related to
her knowledge gaps (e.g., I should know this…) were observed in a few blog entries (Chan
and van Aalst 2008). For example, engaging in reflective practice allowed one teacher
participant (Stephanie) to become aware of her ‘‘default’’ teaching methods, which may not
be effective and may have adverse effects on her students’ literacy learning. This entry
indicates the teacher‘s personal insights into the fourth stage of the collaborative inquiry
process and implications of her collaborative experiences into her own instructional
practice.
Provision of time: a critical component of blogging adoption and use
The most frequently mentioned disadvantage of blogging was time-constraint. A few
teacher participants reportedly had competence and confidence in blogging, but they still
made little use of this online professional development tool outside of their professional
learning sessions, because they did not have enough time to explore, reflect, and post a
blog entry in their respective classrooms or at home.
In an effort to prevent the extrinsic barrier of time constraint, the teachers were given
approximately 15 min before and during their professional learning sessions to reflect and
engage in online dialogue via the blog; they valued this dedicated time:
I liked when we had the professional learning sessions and it was ‘‘Ok, you’re taking
10 minutes to go on the computer and answer this question rather than saying ‘‘OK,
Fig. 3 Photo of assessment for learning activity in a grade 8 classroom
902 K. Ciampa, T. L. Gallagher
123
when you get home can you do this’’ because people just don’t do it. Students
wouldn’t do it unless you said, ‘‘Ok everybody, we have the laptops out, you have
10 minutes, everyone needs to post’’ and you can make sure they did. (Tracy, Grade
9 Teacher, Interview).
The reality of finding time to reflect and write is an important consideration for teachers
as they pursue blogging adoption and use. Regardless of the convenience of online cogi-
tating and expressing thoughts, time is a factor that permeates teachers’ take up of such an
activity. In this project, time was built into the professional learning sessions. This begs the
question: do these teachers see sufficient value in blogging to invest time beyond the time
set aside for this purpose?
Intrinsic and extrinsic barriers to teachers’ use of blogs for collaborative inquiry
In conjunction with the potential of blogging comes intrinsic and extrinsic barriers that
must also be addressed (Bingimlas 2009; Ertmer 1999). As discussed below, the lead
facilitator, literacy coaches, and teacher participants cited lack of engagement and tech-
nical competence as the intrinsic barriers to teachers’ use of blogs for collaborative inquiry.
Insofar as the extrinsic barriers to teachers’ blog use, participants noted the following:
insufficient time, forced versus organic online collaborative inquiry, technical issues, and
differences between synchronous and asynchronous communication in terms of the nature
of response.
Intrinsic barriers to blog use: lack of engagement and technical competence
During their individual interviews, teachers were also asked to rate their perceived con-
fidence level using technology, with 1 being not confident, and 5 being very confident. As
shown in Table 1, elementary (M = 3.8) and secondary (M = 3.9) teachers’ level of self-
confidence in their technology skills were found to be high. However, teachers’ high
technology efficacy beliefs were not aligned with their blog usage. According to one grade
8 teacher participant, although he reportedly used technology in his classroom on a daily
basis, the blog added an element to the collaborative inquiry that was not deemed to be a
high priority for him. The following quote from the lead facilitator also illustrates the
critical influence of the teachers‘ engagement, dedication and competence for blog use for
professional development, which the facilitator believed subsequently affected the teach-
ers’ frequency and nature of participation in blogging:
Certain teachers were immediately disengaged from the start. You can track on there
how many times they went on the blog. There were a couple of teachers that were a
part of this that didn’t even go on the blog. They would give an excuse and say ‘‘Oh,
it doesn’t work,’’ because they get busy or it’s just not an interest of theirs. (James,
K-12 Literacy Consultant, Interview).
Another intrinsic barrier which is directly related to engagement and dedication is
teachers’ perceived competence in using the blog. As illustrated in the following quote, a
few teacher participants reported technology intimidation, lack of knowledge and skills to
use the blog:
I’m not very comfortable with the blog to be honest. I think there’s a lot of potential
there for a lot of things. They are rolling it out but I need a little bit more training and
Blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional… 903
123
clarification on it first…I’m one of the ‘‘oldies.’’ (Jamie, Grade 9 English Teacher,
Blog Post).
Although the majority of teachers had high technology self-efficacy, this finding was not
reflected in their blog usage. Although a few teachers were admittedly reluctant to par-
ticipate because of their novice status with this technology, ‘‘perceived ease of use’’ was
less influential compared to ‘‘perceived usefulness of the blog,’’ which was the primary
driver of usage intentions.
Extrinsic barrier to blog use: technical issues
Technical problems with hardware and the e-learning portal were an unanticipated major
barrier for teachers’ blog use. These problems included ease of blog access, malfunctioning
computers, and teachers having to work on old computers. Typical mixed expressions
about blogging often started with a brief statement acknowledging blogging’s helpfulness,
but followed by a feeling of frustration on how to use it:
I really was excited about the blog to begin with. But it was a bit onerous to get on
there and I couldn’t log in. (Amy, Grade 8 Teacher, Interview).
As revealed in their interview responses, the majority of teacher participants felt
strongly that operational supports need to be in place to effortlessly facilitate and increase
teachers’ use of a blog for communication.
Blog use: forced versus organic online collaborative inquiry?
Although the cross-panel, co-planning teams and collaborative relationships were formed
organically through recognition of their common interests, the lead facilitator and literacy
coaches believed that one of the main barriers to blog use in this project was forced
compliance to use the blog, contrived, and consequently, inauthentic online collaboration.
In this way, the lead facilitator and literacy coaches believed that the forced compliance
from teachers to use the blog may not have produced lasting sustainable change, but rather,
short, temporary transformative change. As apparent in the following excerpt from a blog
conversation and in the number of ‘‘replies’’ in the blog usage statistics, online dialogue
and comments to posts were not as fluid, prevalent, or substantive as the initial postings.
Blog Conversation #1:
James: What is the most important/interesting thing that you learned in our previous
sessions? What confused you? What do you want to know more about?
Samantha: I was excited to be introduced to the four ‘‘A’s’’, and ‘‘Show Me Where’’
activities and cannot wait to try these with my students. I also was able to dialogue
with colleagues about using literacy centers in a grade 8 classroom and what that
could look like. I think that this format will be another useful tool for creating an
engaging environment for students explore and share learning with each other.
Jamie: Samantha, I am also hoping to use these new activities.
A few blog replies from teacher participants contained surface-level statements (i.e., ‘‘I
agree,’’ ‘‘I am also hoping to use these activities,’’ ‘‘I couldn’t have said it better myself’’)
which included sharing the conclusions or judgements made by other participants without
offering justifications. These excerpts also illustrate two barriers that influence the adoption
and frequency of blog usage, namely, lack of time and motivation to use the blog. Teachers
904 K. Ciampa, T. L. Gallagher
123
need sufficient time to carefully respond to their colleagues’ posts; as well as they need to
perceive benefit to their practice from blogging and when they do they are likely to be
genuinely engaged and not simply complying.
Synchronous versus asynchronous communication: differences in nature of response
As evidenced by the following quotes, the asynchronous nature of blogs lacked the
immediacy of conversation and synchronous interactivity, which made the blogging
experience constrained and limited:
As a teacher I would call that person’s classroom or text them to get an immediate
response, in case they weren’t on. Or I would actually send them a physical file. I still
did use technology to do it, perhaps not that one (the blog). I would rather get the
immediate feedback. If it was just a reflection maybe it’s not as important. But if we
are planning and think ‘‘Oh, let’s use this’’ or ‘‘Can you come to my class tomor-
row?’’ those kinds of things I needed to know right away. (Amy, Grade 8 Teacher,
Interview).
Synchronous interactivity was crucial to teachers. According to the teacher participants,
synchronous communication helped them connect to their co-planning partners, ask
immediate questions, get individualized instruction and just-in-time professional devel-
opment. This sentiment was also shared by one of the literacy coaches:
Maybe if there is another way of going about it where everyone could meet at a
certain time in a chat room so it is more in the moment rather than trying to come up
with something you’ve done a few weeks ago and trying to put it into words. I think
it could be great. (Richard, Literacy Coach, Interview).
Collectively, the findings have provided the perspectives of the lead facilitator, two
literacy coaches, elementary and high school teachers, who remarked on the benefits and
challenges of using blogs for supporting teacher collaborative inquiry. Following is a
discussion of these perspectives as positioned in the existing literature, some considera-
tions for practical implications, and future directions.
Summary of the findings
In answer to this study’s first research question, ‘‘What are the teachers’ patterns of
participating in blogging?’’ teachers made greater contributions to the initial blog con-
versations than replying to existing threads. Although blog usage was higher for the
secondary teachers, the elementary teachers explored more variety of topics on the blog;
the elementary teachers most often visited the repository of online resources shared by the
lead facilitator, literacy coaches, and teachers (i.e., assessments, lesson plans and cur-
riculum mapping). The secondary teachers most often visited topics related to lesson plans
and long range plan units. With respect to this study’s second research question, ‘‘What are
the lead facilitator’s, literacy coaches’, and teachers’ perceptions and attitudes in relation
to blog use for facilitating collaborative inquiry and reflective practice?’’ three overarching
themes emerged from the professional learning blog conversations: cognitive (i.e., sharing
of literacy-related information, instructional strategies, professional and personal learning
goals), reflective (i.e., experiences and discoveries related to their knowledge gaps and
ineffective teaching methods), and social/collaborative (i.e., networking, posing questions
to the rest of the group and feedback responses). The most frequently mentioned challenges
Blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional… 905
123
of blog adoption and use were insufficient time, lack of engagement, technical competence,
technical issues, lack of immediacy and synchronous interactivity.
Discussion
There is a growing body of evidence supporting the use of online technologies for edu-
cation, and in particular, the utility of blogging in education has been gaining attention
(Boulos et al. 2006; Chu et al. 2012; Grassley and Bartoletti 2009; Loving et al. 2007). This
project examined the efficacy of blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional
learning and development during a collaborative inquiry that involved co-planning and
debriefing after classroom instruction. To examine the potential use of blogging as a tool
during professional learning, teachers’ frequency and nature of use, as well as percep-
tions of blogging throughout the collaborative inquiry process were examined.
In response to the first research question and in line with the first stage of the collab-
orative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010), the teachers primarily used the blog to
obtain professional learning resources. Teachers made greater contributions to the initial
blog conversations than replying to a colleague’s post. Blog usage was also higher for the
secondary teachers than for the elementary teachers. Yet, the elementary teachers explored
more variety of topics on the blog. Fullan and Hargreaves (1996) noted that balkanization
of the teacher culture is often found in ‘‘high schools where separate and competing groups
seek power and influence for their own ends’’ (p. 22). Competition, ineffective commu-
nication between departments, as well as a greater emphasis placed on recall knowledge,
objective assessments, and summative grades characterize these schools (Fullan and
Hargreaves 1996). The isolation of competing groups dejects the sharing of ideas and
networking of practical knowledge that is more typical in collaborative settings (Peterson
and Brietzke 1994). Neither vertical nor horizontal coordination is very successful in high
schools (Peterson and Brietzke 1994). This competitive atmosphere may explain the
secondary teachers’ low frequency of topic visits.
With respect to the second research question, findings from the interview discussions
with the participants and blog entries offered insight into the benefits and barriers to
teachers’ use of blogs for collaborative inquiry. The participants in this study viewed the
blog as a tool for facilitating the sharing of knowledge (i.e., teaching strategies, assessment
practices) and networking among colleagues; this finding was also supported when the
researchers analyzed the content of the teachers‘ blog posts and comments. The cognitive
theme was the most salient theme that emerged from the blog content analysis. In line with
the first and second stages of the collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010), the
cognitive aspect of learning was very evident in blogs in which teachers appeared to share
knowledge and sources of information, engage in problem-solving, and self-disclose their
personal and professional learning goals. The generally high level of knowledge co-con-
struction attained by the cross-panel teachers is consistent with earlier studies suggesting
that the functional features of blogs support information and knowledge exchange (Chong
2011; Chu et al. 2012; Du and Wagner 2007; Hou et al. 2009; Top et al. 2010). Moreover,
if classroom observations were not possible, then reading about their colleagues’ experi-
ences still allowed them to learn from each other’s experiences both within and across
grade levels. Appreciation for the various features of the blog, including the ability to
upload and share videos, images, word files, was also apparent in teachers’ positive views
on multi-modal information sharing.
906 K. Ciampa, T. L. Gallagher
123
Consistent with previous research, the blogs were also more likely to benefit teachers
who were shy, introverted, and reflective (Ruday 2011; Wang and Woo 2007; Yamat
2013). For instance, one of the grade 8 teacher participants revealed that having a blog
benefited her as she was an introvert who preferred to write down her thoughts rather than
orally share them. Online discussions seemed to provide an inviting environment in which
participants had ample time to reflect and consider posts carefully before responding, had
equal opportunities to voice their opinions, and were less influenced by others (Ruday
2011; Wang and Woo 2007; Wopereis et al. 2010; Yamat 2013; Yang 2009). Meyer (2006)
also found that shy learners preferred the online setting, which increased their confidence
to participate as they developed an online voice. In answer to the first research question and
corroborating the final stage of the collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010) a
few blog entries contained reflective themes (Chan and van Aalst 2008; Chu et al. 2012).
Blog contents showed that teachers seldom reflected on their own preferred learning and
teaching styles; a few teachers came to the realization that there was a disconnect between
their dominant learning style and their teaching methods.
In line with the second research question, blogging posed challenges for the teacher
participants, which were referred to as intrinsic and extrinsic barriers (Bingimlas 2009;
Ertmer 1999). The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) developed by Venkatesh et al.
(2003) states that the successful adoption and use of technology is measured by perceived
usefulness and perceived ease of use. In terms of the intrinsic barriers, and specifically, the
perceived usefulness of the blog (Venkatesh et al. 2003), one teacher admittedly reported
that the blog did not serve any useful purpose, did not enhance his instructional effec-
tiveness, and would not fulfill any of his personal or professional needs. Thus, perceived
usefulness was found to greatly influence this particular teacher’s attitude toward blogging
(Kwon and Wen 2010; Venkatesh et al. 2003). In support of this, it was found that the
secondary teachers were willing to engage in blog activity for a limited number of relevant
topics, and the elementary teachers explored an array of topics that covered the spectrum of
their professional purview. Having said this, teachers’ blog participation patterns appear to
reflect their priorities and professional realities. The blog was frequently used to engage in
the first and second stages of the collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010). That
is, the blog was seemingly a space to share personal and professional learning goals as well
as a repository for professional learning resources.
With respect to perceived ease of use, one of the TAM constructs (Venkatesh et al.
2003), another teacher-level, intrinsic barrier was the teachers’ competence in using the
blog (Cheung and Vogel 2013). It appears that lack of confidence, skills, and experience
with the blogging tool influenced a few teachers’ motivation to use the blog as frequently
and consistently as other colleagues (Balanskat et al. 2006). Relatedly, the barrier most
frequently referred to in the literature is lack or insufficient amount of effective in-service
training for teachers (Albirini 2006; Balanskat et al. 2006; Ozden 2007; Schoepp 2005;
Sicilia 2005; Toprakci 2006). Specifically, the teachers cited the lack of training con-
cerning the use of the blog (aside from the one-time workshop provided to them in the
introductory plenary session) as another extrinsic barrier to effective blog use. Notwith-
standing, although there were a few teachers who were admittedly reluctant to participate
because of their novice status with this technology, ‘‘perceived ease of use’’ was less
influential compared to ‘‘perceived usefulness of the blog,’’ which seemed to be the pri-
mary driver of usage intentions.
Although teacher participants appreciated the time they were given during the profes-
sional learning sessions to use the blog, they still made little use of it outside of the
sessions. A significant number of researchers have identified time limitations and the
Blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional… 907
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difficulty in scheduling enough time for blogging as a barrier to teachers’ technology use
(Bingimlas 2009; Loving et al. 2007; Schoepp 2005; Sicilia 2005). Sicilia (2005) found
that the problem of lack of time exists for teachers in many aspects of their work as it
affects their ability to complete tasks because technology use requires time to explore the
technology and/or deal with technical problems. Likewise, lack of access to resources,
including school internet access, was another complex barrier that discouraged some
teachers from using the blog on a regular basis (Sicilia 2005). In Sicilia’s study (2005),
teachers similarly complained about a lack of appropriate infrastructure and access to new,
functioning computers within the school. Toprakci (2006) also found that low numbers of
computers, oldness or slowness of computer systems, and scarcity of educational software
in the school were barriers to the successful use of computers. Similar to Sicilia’s (2005)
findings from almost a decade ago, technical problems were found to be a major extrinsic
barrier for the teachers’ limited blog use. These technical problems included failing to
connect to the blog, and teachers having to work on outdated computers. Teachers strongly
felt that operational supports need to be in place to effortlessly facilitate and increase
teachers’ use of a blog for communication. This provision is not negotiable and accord-
ingly it needs to be considered a priority by professional learning facilitators and school
district administration.
In answer to the second research question, although the cross-panel, co-planning teams
were encouraged to establish their own inquiry and collaborative relationships were formed
organically through recognition of their common interests, the lead facilitator and literacy
coaches believed that one of the main barriers to blog use in this project was forced
compliance, contrived, and inauthentic online collaboration. The lead facilitator and lit-
eracy coaches indicated a perceived lack of depth in some of the teachers’ blog entries; the
forced compliance from teachers to use the blog may not have produced lasting sustainable
change, but rather, short, temporary shifts in their practice. This finding contradicts the
essence of collaborative inquiry: if teachers and academics collaborate with one another in
forced ways, the collaboration in teacher inquiry may inadvertently serve to reinforce the
status quo (Heron 1996). Hargreaves (2007) argued that while teacher collaborative inquiry
can be powerful and productive, teachers cannot be coerced into arrangements and pro-
cesses that are unsuitable for their needs. Notwithstanding, the teacher participants were
given plenty of freedom and space to engage in collaborative knowledge building through
blogging. The major role of the lead facilitator was to facilitate and scaffold the blog
discussions by providing prompting entries to stimulate and facilitate the development of
an online community of inquiry. In line with the constructivist learning model, the lead
facilitator assumed a more facilitating than domineering role (Hargreaves 2007). The lead
facilitator did not over-participate or intrude in the teacher participants’ discussions, but
rather, maintained a flexible position, limited his role to initiating new topics, scaffolding
or redirecting online discussions (Hargreaves 2007).
Relevant to the second research question, the teacher participants revealed that the
asynchronous discussions had the advantage of allowing them to take time to thoughtfully
compose their responses before posting them online. However, the asynchronous nature of
blogs also lacked the immediacy of conversation and synchronous interactivity, which
caused the blogging experience to have a weak sense of social presence (Malikowski et al.
2007). In answer to the first research question, social-collaborative theme accounted for a
relatively small proportion of the blog entries. Such entries indicated that the teacher
participants were infrequently using the blog to engage in the third and fourth stages of the
collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010); teachers seldom posed questions to
their peers and received feedback as they collaborated through online responses. This
908 K. Ciampa, T. L. Gallagher
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finding is also apparent in the low number of replies in the blog usage statistics. In response
to the second research question, a commonly reported drawback of online discussions is
that participants can hardly get immediate feedback from others because not all participate
at the same time. This drawback appeared to frustrate some teacher participants who were
in need of a prompt response (Wang and Woo 2007). As a result, some postings have held
back certain portions of discussion while others lost their intended audience. It has been
found that teachers and professional development providers need to connect synchronously
to engender the feeling of community (Francis and Jacobsen 2013). Analogous to any
successful professional development program, synchronous interactivity also provides
teachers with contextually specific, on-the-ground, just-in-time support, training, and
advice within locally sustained communities of practice (Francis and Jacobsen 2013). Chen
et al. (2009) and Malikowski et al. (2007) similarly suggest that synchronous interaction
effectively enhances dynamic interactions among participants, strengthens social presence,
and enhanced interpersonal connections.
Implications
The findings and their discussion offer fodder for the question: is it beneficial to blog or not
to blog as part of teacher collaborative learning? Based on the study’s findings, the
blogging process can support collaborative inquiry; the face-to-face and online learning in
a professional development program can complement each other. The face-to-face sessions
provided topics and targets for the online discussions; online discussions, in turn, provided
opportunities for teacher participants to digest and reflect on what was learned during the
face-to-face sessions. The following section proposes some design principles, guidelines,
and conditions for using blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional learning and
development during a collaborative inquiry.
According to the teachers in this study, the level of perceived usefulness of the blog was
fairly low. This low rating might be attributed to the fact that the collaborative inquiry
project described in this paper was unsuccessful in demonstrating the usefulness of
blogging to teachers. Future professional development projects should explain more
effectively the usefulness of blogging for supporting teachers’ professional development.
With respect to future project implementation strategies, adequate pre-planning and a
needs assessment can also provide the data needed to guide choices about content,
methods, and formats which can help gage staff receptivity and cultivate staff buy-into
blogging.
The most immediate positive outcome of blogging is that it serves as a convenient
vehicle for teachers to share their knowledge and offer each other feedback. In the event
that distance or site-based constraints are present such as in rural school districts or when
teachers are communicating across different levels of education, blogging might be the
means for professional collaboration. In these circumstances, school district administration
should make efforts to connect teachers to form compatible and productive working
relationships. We propose a peer-mentoring approach to promote effective blog use. Peer-
mentors can serve as technology lead teachers who legitimize the active participation of
less-experienced peers by engaging them collaboratively in blog use in order to establish
their ‘‘buy-in’’ and enhance their professional learning.
Blogging might be a form of reflection that is facilitative for teachers who are pensive.
As such, teachers can take time to plan, act, gather evidence, reflect and share. In essence,
Blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional… 909
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an online forum such as blogging may engage some teachers who might have otherwise not
participated in the 4-stage process of teacher collaborative inquiry (Coburn and Stein
2010). In particular, during the final stage when teachers are sharing their evaluation of the
results of student and professional learning, encapsulating this thoughtfully in a blog entry
might be quite facilitative. This requires that the inquiry task and subsequent debriefing are
not time sensitive. Teachers, their administrators, and district professional learning facil-
itators should be aware of the reality that these collaborative learning practices take time:
allocate time to allow teachers to share their unique ideas and provide opportunities for
negotiating between different perspectives and meanings. Another implication of this study
is that reduced visual cues per se may have also contributed to the increased self-disclosure
in the blog entries. Future research should elaborate on these findings and investigate the
underlying processes and mediating variables that enhance self-disclosure in web-based
environments compared to face-to-face communication.
Like all professional learning initiatives in education, there needs to be teacher
engagement. Teachers must see the value in blogging as a tool to enhance their collabo-
rative learning and reflective practice. Teachers need to embrace blogging as a conduit for
collaborative communications and not an imposed task that is tangential to the collabo-
ration. It is easy to default and use a blog as a static resource. To combat this, professional
learning facilitators need to clearly convey the notion that blogging is an integral part of
the collaborative inquiry at all phases and not an add-on repository for summative
comments.
Teachers must feel empowered and competent with technology and this will contribute
to their confidence. In some cases, teachers will need more than a brief introduction to a
platform or technological tool. Technological support staff should be a part of the pro-
fessional learning team and provide ongoing assistance for blog access and usage. This has
staff budgetary and human resource implications. School districts should also be willing to
commit infrastructure funds to up-to-date systems and network solutions. To successfully
blog, teachers cannot be encumbered by operational constraints.
Finally, the employment of blogging should be compatible with the ways in which
teachers work. Teachers work in flexible ways within their dynamic classroom environ-
ments. Often teachers are networking ‘on the fly’ and impromptu planning and discussions
are the norm in school hallways. Perhaps, blogging needs to be blended with (instant)
messaging to provide a simulated in situ conversation that is fluid and evolving. For
teachers who are engaging with colleagues via distance, there is a need for dedicated time
to collaborate and network as they will need to be confined to technology. Allocations for
this time should be considered by school district administrations when budgeting for
teacher release time.
Recommendations for future studies or future iterations of this particular approach are
warranted. The current study included a small number of teacher participants from a
medium-sized school board which results in a low level of generalizability. In light of the
small sample size, the case study approach might be better suited to the current study. The
case study approach would have allowed in-depth, multi-faceted exploration of blog use as
a tool for facilitating collaborative inquiry and reflective practice among elementary and
high school teachers. Yin (2009) stated that ‘‘a case study is an empirical inquiry that
investigates contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-life context’’ (p. 18).
Accordingly, the case study approach would enable one to gain further insights into
teachers’ perceptions and attitudes toward as well as experiences with blog use in situ
within their practitioner contexts. Future research should also explore the relationship
910 K. Ciampa, T. L. Gallagher
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between the frequency and nature of teacher‘s blog use and such mediating variables as
teachers’ gender, age, work experience, grade level taught, technology self-efficacy.
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Katia Ciampa is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education, Innovation, and Continuing Studies atWidener University. She teaches courses in language arts. Katia’s current research interests includesupporting pre-service teachers’ literacy instructional practices and students’ literacy learning throughtechnology.
Tiffany L. Gallagher is a member of the Teacher Education Department of the Faculty of Education atBrock University. She teaches courses in educational psychology and assessment and evaluation. Tiffany’scurrent research interests include supporting teachers’ practice and students’ learning through literacyassessment, reading and writing strategy instruction, and special education resource instruction. Tiffany’swebsite is http://www.ed.brocku.ca/*tgallagh/.
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