Learning through Blogging: Use of Blogs to Enhance the Perceived Learning of Pre-service ICT Teachers

Abstract

Blogging has become an increasingly popular technological tool within an educational context. Even though the potential of blog use in increasing student interactivity and collaboration has been explored by many educators, the research conducted on the effectiveness of blog use in an educational context is still quite limited and is considered as a contradictory research area. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of blog- ging as an educational tool in an undergraduate course for pre-service ICT teachers. For this study, the survey research design method was used and 75 sophomore pre-service teachers (22 female and 53 male) participated in this study. A blogging survey instrument which measured the sense of community and perceived learning was used to collect data. This data was then analyzed using an independent sample t-test, a one way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and a linear multiple regression. The result of this study revealed that there was a significant difference in the perceived learning between the pre-service ICT teacher with a low sense of community and those with a high sense of community. In addition, the Sense of Community and User Friendliness of blogs were identified as independent predictors of perceived learning while controlling computer expertise. The implication of this study will now be discussed.