An empirically grounded framework to guide blogging in higher education L. Kerawalla,* S. Minocha,��� G. Kirkup* & G. Conole* *Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, UK ���Centre for Research in Computing, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, UK Abstract We report on a study involving Masters-level students who blogged as a part of a distance- learning course at the Open University, UK. We present an empirically-grounded framework that can be used to guide educators when they are considering blogging as part of their courses, and can be used by students��� whose courses include blogging activities. In our analysis of semi- structured interviews with students, we identified six factors that influenced their blogging: per- ceptions of, and need for, an audience perceptions of, and need for, community the utility of, and need for comments presentational style of the blog content overarching factors related to the technological context and the pedagogical context of the course. The students��� blogging behaviours were varied and depended upon the way in which they addressed each of the six factors. These factors, along with the associated questions in the proposed framework, provide insights about the activity of blogging from a student���s perspective. Therefore, the framework can guide the design of blogging activities in courses. Keywords blogging, blogs, distance learning, higher education, learning design. Introduction Interest in using Web 2.0 technologies, such as blogs, in higher education is increasing (e.g. Weller 2007). Cur- rently, the UK���s Open University (OU) is implementing a ��5 million programme in which an integrated virtual learning environment (VLE) is under development to meet the online learning needs of its 200 000 distance learners. The VLE will enable educators to incorporate blogs, wikis and pod-casting, as well as other asynchro- nous and synchronous communication and collabora- tion tools, into their courses. Some courses already offer students the opportunity to blog. In this paper, we will report on a study involving student bloggers on an OU course, and present an empirically grounded framework for use by both students and educators when consider- ing blogging as part of their courses. The OU in the UK has been using online communica- tion tools for students��� use on their distance learning courses from the late 1980s. Jones et al. (1993) described developments and research on predigital media, demonstrating that lessons could be applied to the design of computer-based and online media. A great deal of work was done at the OU in the early days of edu- cationaluseofcomputer-mediatedconferencing(CMC) (Mason 1993, 1994). Salmon���s books (Salmon 2002, 2004), which provide well-founded guidance for educa- tors in how to create and support online group activities, also began their life with her work with distance students at the OU.The OU is now an institution in which CMC is a ubiquitous part of the learning environment. Any new communication system will need to offer new or addi- tional affordance to challenge the hegemony of CMC. An important message that has come from all the prior Accepted: 24 April 2008 Correspondence: Lucinda Kerawalla, Institute of Educational Tech- nology, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK. Email L.J.Kerawalla@open.ac.uk doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2729.2008.00286.x SPECIAL ISSUE Original article �� 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation �� 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (2009), 25, 31���42 31

research and practice with both predigital and digital media, is that students only make good use of a media/ tool, or engage in any learning activity, if these are well embedded in the learning design. However, there can be a risk of being ahistorical when implementing or conducting research in new e-learning tools for teaching and learning, which takes two forms: it can blind practitioners and researchers to useful findings from research on the use of earlier tools in education, and it can make researchers and practitio- ners behave as if the new tool is entering a pristine envi- ronment in which it can find its niche wholly on its own merits, rather than understanding both the technical and cultural context into which it is being introduced (Latour 2005). What has also been clear from previous experience is that it can take practitioners time to become skilled themselves with new tools and peda- gogic practices. In this paper, we have conducted research on students��� blogging behaviours on an OU course. The majority of the students are educators and e-learning professionals. We have found that the tech- nological and pedagogical contexts of the course are over-arching factors that influence blogging by students and guide the design of blogging activities by educators. Research in other institutions suggests that blogging can support learning in a number of ways. Students can use blogs to gather resources (Huann et al. 2005) and to share these, and individual opinions, with others (Williams & Jacobs 2004). This can be achieved through, for example, the exchange of hyperlinks (e.g. Oravec 2003) and commenting on each others��� blogs (e.g. Windham 2007). Also, blogging can support meaning-making through reflective learning (Fiedler 2003). Blogging also places students in an ideal position to be able to reach out and interact with and/or build knowledgecommunities(e.g.Oravec2003).Thismeans there is also the potential for blogging to help dis- tance learners by supporting collaborative knowledge- building activities and it also provides educators with an opportunity to comment on their student���s work (Glogoff 2005). Blogging can also alleviate the feelings of isolation associated with distance learning (Dickey 2004). The challenge of educational blogging It is important that educators are aware of the affor- dances of blogs and that these are matched to appropri- ate learning activities that enable students to achieve the learning outcomes of the course (Divitini et al. 2005 Weller et al. 2005). As an illustration of the complexity of this undertaking, Conole���s (2007) Learning Activity Taxonomy identifies 72 possible learning tasks includ- ing: analysing, creating, explaining, listing, refining and summarizing. This diversity of learning tasks suggests that it can be challenging for educators to implement blogging successfully (see examples in the following text), especially when students��� prior experi- ence of blogging is often minimal (Kerawalla et al. 2007) Krause (2004) reports haphazard contributions to blogs, minimal communication between students through their blogs and poor quality reflection upon the course materials as evidenced in blog content. Homik and Melis (2006) report that students engaged in only a minimal level of blogging in order to meet assessment requirements. Williams and Jacobs (2004) introduced blogging to MBA students and encountered problems with students failing to comply with the blogging requirements of the course. Divitini et al. (2005) pro- vided student teachers with a blog in which to reflect upon their teaching experiences. They report that the blogs were not used by the majority of the students and conclude that that this was because of several factors, including a lack of student awareness about how to use blogs alongside other e-learning tools, and students��� lack of understanding about what to write in them, and why. Clearly, the ideals of educators can be difficult to implement in practice. From the students��� perspective, there are two funda- mental questions that they ask themselves about blogs: ���why would I want one?��� (Farmer 2006) and ���what���s in it for me��� (Efimova 2003). These authors suggest that students need to develop a purpose for blogging that is of clear benefit to them. Burgess (2006) argues that to blog effectively, students need to develop ���critical, cre- ative and network literacies��� (p. 106) that enable them to become active participants in the construction of knowledge. In an exploration of their own academic blogging experience, Mortensen and Walker (2002) argue that blogs ���are enclosed and private spaces that allow the writer to cultivate an autonomous voice. And yet they are visible, open spaces that encourage linking and conversations��� (p. 260). Thus, to be able to blog effectively students need to develop a range of skills. 32 L. Kerawalla et al. �� 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation �� 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd