Graduate Students' Lived Experiences and Perceptions of Using Weblogs for Reflective Learning

As the world grows more connected and turns into a global village, technologically based practices become more embedded into the social fabric of society enabling greater interaction among individuals and groups. This increased role of technology has led scholars to seek to understand the role it can play in education (Churchill 2009; Ducate & Lomicka 2008; Goldman, Cohen & Sheahan 2008). Various technological practices have thus been used to enhance instructional strategies at all levels of learning. One such technological practice is personal web publishing which has emerged as a popular tool of journaling.
Web publishing is increasingly becoming an integral part of supporting learning in many higher education settings (Andergassen, Behringer, Finlay, Gorra & Moore, 2009). In particular, the weblog is steadily gaining acceptance as a viable tool in the learning process. It is used in various ways including as a forum for reflection where students articulate ideas, analyze and make judgments about aspects of their learning, post commentaries and express opinions on a web page.
Due to this important role, scholars have used diverse theoretical models to explore the impact of blogging on the learning process (Sakovic & McNaught, 2013). Notwithstanding the theoretical model used, the outcome has shown evidence of the usefulness of blogging especially from a teaching perspective. Sakovic and McNaught (2013) however point out that what is missing from the academic discourse on this topic is the learner experiences and perspective of its usefulness. In agreement, Xie and Sharma (2005) reveal that there is very little reported exploration into learners’ individual experiences and perceptions with the use of Weblogs for reflection. Indeed, I have not come across studies of this nature focusing on the context of my study. This means that while researchers increasingly become convinced of the usefulness of blogging, it is not clear whether the learners share in this conviction. It is therefore extremely important to understand the students’ feelings towards using Weblogs so as to make adjustments towards more appropriate uses to support individual reflection and group discourse.
This study offers insights to researchers and instructors about learner experiences and perceptions of the use of weblogs for reflection particularly in the context of the study and lead to suggestions for its use. It has the potential to influence how weblogs are used in similar contexts. The study serves as a springboard for subsequent studies with learners of different educational levels, economic background and cultures as these are some of the factors that lead to disparity in perceptions and experiences. Since literature on individual perceptions and experiences with the use of Weblog is limited (Xie &Sharma, 2005; Sakovic & McNaught ,2013)), the findings also contribute to this body of knowledge. It is in light of this that I examine graduate students’ lived experiences and perceptions of the practice of course-specific reflection on weblogs

Reflective Learning, global village, Lived Experiences , journaling

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