Review journal Reading and writing about literature on the Internet. Two innovative experiences with blogs in higher education

 

Reading and writing about literature on the Internet. Two innovative experiences with blogs in higher education

María del Rosario Neira-Piñeiro*

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Department of Education Sciences, University of

Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain

30 September 2015

 

This paper is focused on the value of blogs for literary education in Teacher Training. In spite of the studies about educational uses of blogs, currently there is a paucity of research on specific didactic experiences. This paper describes two innovative experiences with ICT in teacher training by means of the development of two blogs about children’s and young adults’ literature. This paper is focused on the value of blogs for literary education in Teacher Training. In spite of the studies about educational uses of blogs, currently there is a paucity of research on specific didactic experiences.

A blog or weblog is ‘a website that is updated regularly and organized chronologically according to date, and in reverse order from the most recent entry backwards’. Blogs have become an appropriate instrument in the educational field due to their ease of use and speed of publication – anyone with basic digital competence can easily create and maintain a blog, their interactive nature and their versatility. For this reason, blogs allow for publishing and sharing information on any subject; So they can be used in different areas and in different educational stages. Researchers distinguish between the tutor’s or teacher’s blog, whose aim is to publish announcements, links and additional materials; the classroom blog, created with the help of all the students; and the individual blog or student’s blog, which can be used as a student’s portfolio  or as a place for collaborative tasks.

The study of both activities shows the usefulness of blogs in higher education and their contribution to the linguistic and literary training of future teachers. The results show that the creation of a literature blog enhances communicative skills in a digital environment, enlarges the students’ literary competence, improves the future teachers’ didactic training, increases the participants’ motivation and encourages independent learning and shared knowledge building by means of peer interaction. Blogs contribute to the development of linguistic, communicative, digital and social skills, as well as research skills and critical thinking. Moreover, they promote collaborative work, encourage interaction and provide a space for personal expression.