Abstract
The blog as a type of social software has been used in education for several years, and its positive effect in the field has been asserted in many studies. This study presents the factors of participants and blogs that predict blogging activeness during teaching practice and induction year. During the teaching practice and induction year all participants could use a blog to share experiences, ask questions, receive support and so on. The blogs were supported by the tutors and all blogs were collective blogs, but they were organised differently and used differently. The data collected included 1,137 blog posts from 192 participants using 13 collective blogs along with their self-reports via pre- and post-period questionnaires. Correlation analysis as the first stage and regression analysis as the second stage was used in this study. The results showed several relationships and the regression analysis indicated that the most influential positive factor predicting participant activeness on the blog was the strength of social relationships between the participants.
Highlights
To become a teacher the deep integration of theory and practice is needed
Twenty-six of the participants (13.5%) did not visit the blog during the teaching practice or induction year according to the data from the post-questionnaires
All other predictors were different for different indicators of blogging activeness, and all of them were predictors only for the one characteristic describing blogging acitivity
Summary
To become a teacher the deep integration of theory and practice is needed. During the teaching practice in Estonia student teachers observe the others and give their own lessons. Qualified teachers during the induction year work at their own schools with a mentor and meet only four times per year with the other newly qualified teachers. According to the management of student-teacher practice in Estonia, student teachers are allotted to different schools as individuals or in groups of up to five. The distance between different schools often exceeds two hundred kilometres. Even if they are grouped in the same school, their separate schedules give them few opportunities to meet. The situation is even worse in the case of induction year teachers who are completely alone in their schools. In that way some beginning teachers are isolated from their former course mates, but sharing feelings and thoughts is important for supporting beginning teachers (Capa Aydin & Woolfolk Hoy, 2005)
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