Exploring students perceptions of blogs during teaching practice placements

Abstract

From the onset, blogs served as personal social networking tools. More recently, blogs have facilitated the formation of online social networked communities and have thus expanded to more extensive uses in education. This paper explore the use of blogs to foster e-learning communities in empowering and supporting Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) students, who were learning to teach Economics education in open distance learning (ODL) environments. A "blog" for Economics education subject didactics students was created during their teaching practice period. Student teachers were encourage to post their views on the "Econblog" as a communicative platform to critically reflect on their learning processes as well sharing teaching practice experiences to enhance professional growth. Data collected was qualitative in nature, consisting of student teachers' posting reflections and comments on the "blog". Findings indicated that blog" as an e-learning tool promoted good relationships amongst student communities, support by exchanging ideas and information on teaching practice, provide opportunities to interact, entering into dialogue and reflective practice. Students alluded to challenges faced during teaching practice placements.