Blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional...

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professionallearning and development during collaborative inquiry

Katia Ciampa1• Tiffany L. Gallagher2

Published online: 20 October 2015� Association for Educational Communications and Technology 2015

Abstract Blogging has been recommended as a suitable tool for teacher professional

learning due to its associated utility in collaborative learning, reflection, communication,

and social support. In this study, blogging was incorporated into a collaborative inquiry

project involving elementary and secondary teachers. In examining the frequency and

nature of blog usage as well as perceptions of blogging among the participants, a mixed-

methods design was used. Quantitative and qualitative data sources included individual

semi-structured teacher interviews, blog entries, and a blog statistics tracking tool. Results

revealed that there are both benefits and challenges of using blogs to facilitate teacher

collaborative inquiry. The participants in this study viewed the blog as a tool for facili-

tating the sharing of knowledge, teaching strategies, and assessment practices, as well as

networking among colleagues. The blogs were more likely to benefit teachers who were

shy, introverted, and reflective. Blogging also posed challenges for the teacher participants,

including: low levels of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use; lack or insufficient

amount of in-service teacher training on using the blog; time limitations; technical prob-

lems; lack of immediacy and synchronous interactivity.

Keywords Teacher professional development � Blog � Collaborative inquiry � Reflectivepractice

& Katia [email protected]

Tiffany L. [email protected]

1 School of Education, Innovation, and Continuing Studies, Widener University, Chester, PA, USA

2 Department of Teacher Education, Brock University, Saint Catharines, ON, Canada

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Education Tech Research Dev (2015) 63:883–913DOI 10.1007/s11423-015-9404-7

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Introduction

There has been substantial growth in Weblogs, also abbreviated to blogs, on the Internet. In

their simplest form, blogs can be thought of as electronic journals used for timely recording

of thoughts, allowing an individual to accumulate a repository of information (Huffaker

2004; Ray and Hocutt 2006). Blogs can also display pictures, texts, audio and video files

and store word processed or other files. Interest in blogging as an educational resource has

also been fueled by the capacity of blogging as a means to facilitate collaborative learning,

reflection, and critical thinking in terms of social interdependence through knowledge

sharing, feedback sharing, and social support (Churchill 2009; Ellison and Wu 2008; Stiler

and Philleo 2003; Valtonen et al. 2012). This paper seeks to add to the dialogue by

determining whether and how blogging can be used for collaborative learning. Specifically,

this project examined the efficacy of blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional

learning and development during a collaborative inquiry that involved co-planning and

debriefing after classroom instruction. Design principles, guidelines, and conditions for

using blogging as a collaborative learning space in the context of teacher professional

development programs are proposed.

The impact of blogging on has been largely characterized in terms of pre-service

teachers’ perceptions of its usefulness in higher education settings (Chu et al. 2012; Hou

et al. 2009); however, in-service teachers’ perceptions and level of participation in blog-

ging during a collaborative inquiry-based professional development program have not been

examined. The research project described herein reports on a portion of the data from a

larger program of inquiry-based professional learning that grade 8 and 9 literacy teachers

engaged in together to address students’ literacy learning needs during the transition from

elementary to high school. These cross-panel teachers (elementary school and high school)

focused on a collaborative inquiry that involved co-planning a language unit and debriefing

after classroom instruction. The school district featured in this research identified three

reasons for using the district’s e-learning portal with respect to the teacher participants’

collaborative, inquiry-based professional learning: (1) to increase teachers’ familiarity with

the e-learning portal which includes links to a blog and e-portfolio; (2) to share literacy-

related resources, lesson and unit plans; and (3) to share new learnings during their pro-

fessional learning sessions and implementation of unit plans within their respective

classrooms. This study represents an initial attempt to explore the use of blogs as a tool for

facilitating collaborative inquiry and reflective practice among elementary and high school

teachers. Accordingly, this study sought to examine the following questions: (1) What are

the teachers’ patterns of participating in blogging? (2) What are the lead facilitator’s,

literacy coaches’, and teachers’ perceptions and attitudes in relation to blog use for

facilitating collaborative inquiry and reflective practice? This study aims to contribute to

the evidence surrounding the role of blog use for supporting teacher professional

development.

Theoretical framework and literature review

The following section delineates the characteristics of learning by collaborative inquiry,

the role of blogging for fostering collaborative learning, barriers and the individual-level

factors affecting the use of blogging for teacher professional learning.

884 K. Ciampa, T. L. Gallagher

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Learning by collaborative inquiry

Research has indicated that effective professional learning occurs in collaboration with

others (Blankstein et al. 2007; Eaker et al. 2002; Fullan 2006; Huffman et al. 2001;

McLaughlin and Talbert 2006). Recent increases in the utilization of collaborative inquiry

models purposefully incorporate the critical processes of reflection and collegial com-

munication directly into the development experience (Gamoran et al. 2003). Research

suggests that effective professional development experiences should involve the creation of

opportunities for teachers to engage as learners, build pedagogical and content knowledge,

co-construct and enact new visions of practice in a collaborative setting (Borko 2004;

Nelson and Slavit 2008). These models utilize the power of teacher-to-teacher collabo-

ration, often with a facilitator, to analyze student data in relation to instructional practices

(Nelson and Slavit 2008). Various structures have been used to support teachers’ profes-

sional growth in collaborative settings, including professional learning communities, les-

son study, co-planning, and peer observation; these structures comprise an inquiry-based

approach (Ball and Cohen 1999). Teacher inquiry, discussed herein as inquiry, conducted

by teachers as opposed to on or with teachers- is central to the current educational research

landscape (Butler and Schnellert 2012).

Teacher collaborative inquiry is envisioned as a 4-stage cyclical process that fosters an

ongoing dialogue about classroom practices and student achievement (Coburn and Stein

2010). According to Coburn and Stein (2010), this cycle begins with planning: identifying

a literacy need, selecting a learning focus, and determining professional learning to address

students’ literacy need. The second stage is acting: implementing evidence-based strategies

and evaluating the outcomes. Then collaborators observe, record, and share evidence of

student learning through observations of student work. During the final stage, collaborators

come together to reflect, share, and evaluate the results of student and teacher learning.

These collaborative learning practices allow teachers to share their unique ideas and

provide opportunities for negotiating between different perspectives and meanings (Lit-

eracy and Numeracy Secretariat 2010).

Blogging and collaborative inquiry

Through a teaching and learning lens, blogs have the capability to make learning trans-

parent and become a space ‘‘where a greater understanding of meaning making can be

gained’’ (Paulus et al. 2009, p. 13). Garrison and Akyol (2009) pointed out that collabo-

ration through use of Web 2.0 tools such as blogs goes beyond simple interaction in the

sense that it is clearly focused on a problem where learners are deeply engaged in pur-

poseful discourse to construct meaning and collaboratively share meaning and consolidate

understanding. Researchers have agreed that blogging also supports collaborative learning

by enhancing learning performance in both individual knowledge development and group

knowledge sharing (Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat 2010; Top et al. 2010; Yang 2009).

For instance, Top et al. (2010) examined pre-service teachers’ perceived benefits of

instructional blogs. The findings from Top et al.’s (2010) study revealed that students

mainly used blogs for information sharing.

Preliminary research indicates that blogs also promote reflective practice (Hramiak et al.

2009; West et al. 2005). Since blog entries are archived and readily available, users can

read previous work and reflect on earlier entries (Halic et al. 2010). Whilst the blogging

platform is seen as a personal online space, it is intended to engage others in reflection and

Blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional… 885

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discussion (Ducate and Lomicka 2008; Halic et al. 2010; Luehmann 2008). Yang (2009)

investigated the use of blogs as a reflective platform in pre-service teacher education. The

teacher participants stated that blogs provide a useful platform for reflecting and com-

municating with each other. Similarly, Wopereis et al. (2010) examined the use of blogs as

a means to promote pre-service teachers’ reflective practice. Teacher candidates were

asked to use their course blog to reflect on their own teaching experiences and provide peer

feedback. Analyses of the teacher candidates’ contributions showed that blogs were useful

for reflection on critical incidents in the classroom and stimulated interconnectivity in

groups of pre-service teachers. However, the blog did not incite deep reflection among the

pre-service teachers.

Barriers to teachers’ use of technology

In the extant literature, there has been a general discussion concerning the barriers that

teachers face in using technology. Ertmer (1999) classified these barriers into two cate-

gories, namely, extrinsic barriers and intrinsic barriers. The former set of barriers result

from inadequate and/or inappropriate configuration of technology infrastructures including

access, time, support, resources, and training (Ertmer 1999). The latter set of barriers relate

to teachers’ personal experience, including attitudes, competence, beliefs, practices, and

resistance (Ertmer 1999). This paper seeks to identify any potential barriers associated with

the teachers’ blogging participation (or lack thereof), which may provide insight relevant

to the development of in-service teacher professional development.

Individual-level factors affecting the use of blogging for teacher professionallearning

In accordance with the abovementioned barriers, the use and adoption of blogging is

dependent not only on the amount of training a teacher receives, but also the teacher’s

beliefs about the perceived benefits and uses of technology in the classroom (Vannatta and

Fordham 2004). According to the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Venkatesh et al.

2003), people are more likely to use different technologies when they find them accessible

and useful for their purposes. The model assumes that an individual’s acceptance of a

system is determined by two major factors: attitudes toward perceived usefulness and

perceived ease of use (Venkatesh et al. 2003). Attitude is defined as the degree to which a

user is interested in using the system, and attitude toward the system determines beha-

vioural intentions, which, in turn, lead to actual system usage (Cheung and Vogel 2013).

Cheung and Vogel (2013) studied pre-service teachers’ acceptance of collaborative tech-

nologies, and found that pre-service teachers are more likely to use technology in their

practicum: when it is easy to use and has a specific purpose; when they are confident that

they are able to use it and know that help is readily available; when they feel that the online

tool fills their needs and is similar to others they use; and when they are able to collaborate

with other users.

While there have been a handful of studies that examined the efficacy of blog use

among pre-service teachers in higher education settings, the use of blogs in supporting

collaborative inquiry among in-service teachers is still a relatively new phenomenon (Chu

et al. 2012; Hou et al. 2009). Previous research also provides limited guidelines and

strategies on how to implement blogging effectively in the context of in-service teacher

professional development programs (Top et al. 2010). Therefore, it is anticipated that the

results of this study will be a starting point for further research in this area.


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Methodology

Professional learning program design

Operationally, the project design was conceived of and executed by the school district. It

included the following key components: introductory plenary sessions (two full days);

collective (two full days) and flexible co-planning sessions (four half-days); in-class

observations (one-two lesson observation in family of schools); and teacher moderation

(half day) and forum (half day).

Teachers were provided with professional learning and support in the use of the

instructional methods of teacher collaborative inquiry. This was accomplished through

professional learning sessions that sought to encourage teachers to establish their own

inquiry and collaborate as they planned together and taught in parallel. As partners, these

cross-grade teachers adopted an inquiry focus that involved co-planning and debriefing

after classroom instruction.

Introductory plenary sessions

There were two full-day Introductory Plenary Sessions which were facilitated by the school

board’s K-12 Literacy Consultant (lead facilitator) and eLearning Consultant with support

from two of the school board’s literacy coaches. All teachers intending to participate in the

project were given release time to attend this 6-h session to establish their inquiry, review

their involvement in co-planning and discuss data collection. The lead facilitator sought to

guide the teachers as they self-determined their statement of inquiry and details related to

collaboration within their school sites. The final 2 h of the sessions were devoted to

training the teacher participants to use the e-learning portal. This training session was

provided by the school board’s eLearning Consultant. Utilizing a hands-on approach, the

eLearning Consultant led them through a scavenger hunt activity to familiarize the par-

ticipants with the basic features and tools of the e-learning portal. Teachers were instructed

to use the school district’s e-learning portal to support their inquiry, namely the Resources

tool to upload lesson plans and assessment tools and the Forums tool to reflect on and

consolidate their professional learning during the course of this study.

Collective co-planning sessions

Each of the participating teachers were given release time to engage in two full days of

collegial co-planning for their upcoming unit of study. This co-planning was done at the

school board’s education center. The lead facilitator conducted these 6-h sessions and

provided the foundation of the role of inquiry and their focus on assessment for/as/of

learning (Black and Wiliam 1998). Participating teachers focused their new learning

around two components (i.e., critical literacy and strategy instruction) as well as how to

construct a unit of study following the backward-design model (McTighe and Wiggins

2004). Concurrently, teachers were required to focus on the three types of assessment

during their unit planning: assessment as/for/of learning (Black and Wiliam 1998). On the

second day, the teachers spent the majority of time working together in small planning

groups that organically formed through recognition of their common interests.


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Flexible co-planning sessions

Teachers booked four half-days in advance and were given release time. At each of the

school sites the dyads/partners came together at mutually agreed upon times. The lead

facilitator, literacy coaches, and researchers were present for all the co-planning sessions.

Each session lasted approximately 3 h. During the co-planning, the teachers decided on the

lesson goals, activities and resources that would be needed to facilitate a common unit of

study in their respective classrooms. With reference to the participant sample below

(Table 1), Schools 1 and 2 (elementary) and School 6 (secondary) designed a unit that

focused on news reporting. At Schools 3 and 4 (elementary) and School 5 (secondary) the

instructional unit centred on critical literacy and bias.

Throughout the collaborative inquiry study, teachers engaged in ongoing, online dia-

logue via the school district’s e-learning blog. In addition to responding to the questions

posed by the lead facilitator and literacy coaches, and in line with the four stages of

collaborative inquiry (Coburn and Stein 2010), teachers were also encouraged to blog their

progress of their co-creation of lessons, lesson delivery, and provide evidence of their

students’ evolving understandings based on the various types of assessment data collected

within their respective classrooms.

Research design

Qualitative and quantitative data were collected over a 7-month period from the lead

facilitator, 2 literacy coaches, and 12 teachers within a local school board in southern

Ontario. Accordingly, a mixed-methods approach was used in this study (Creswell 2012).

Qualitative and quantitative data were used to capture the participants’ involvement in

blogging as well as their perceptions and attitudes toward blog use. More specifically, this

Table 1 Participants’ characteristics

School Teacher Grade Role Total # of yearsteaching

Technology self-efficacybeliefs (1 = low, 5 = high)

1 Evan 8 Teacher 8 4.3

Amy 8 Teacher 6 5

2 Stephanie 8 Teacher 13 3.7

3 Ted 8 Teacher 11 2

Tammy 8 Teacher 10 4

4 Samantha 8 Teacher 10 4.7

Mario 8 Teacher 9 2.7

5 Jamie 9 Teacher 29 4

Philip 9 Teacher 10 4

6 Tracy 9 Teacher 9 3.7

Tristan 9 Teacher 9 4.7

Larry 9 Teacher 14 3.3

James Lead facilitator/K-12 literacyconsultant

Jessica Literacy coach

Richard Literacy coach


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study used the triangulation mixed methods design in which the quantitative and quali-

tative datasets carried equal weight, priority, and consideration to answer both research

questions concurrently (Creswell 2012). The results of the quantitative data (i.e., e-learning

statistics tracking tool) were analyzed using descriptive statistics (i.e., means) and com-

pared and integrated with the qualitative data (i.e., interviews and blog entries) in the

Results and Discussion section of the present study. The resulting triangulated results show

convergence, inconsistencies, and complements (Creswell 2012). The basic assumption is

that the uses of both quantitative and qualitative methods, in combination, provide a better

understanding of the research problem and research questions rather than either method by

itself, and can facilitate each other so that the accuracy and robustness of the study is be

strengthened (Creswell 2012).

School sites and participants

A convenience sample of four elementary schools (Schools 1–4) and two secondary

schools (Schools 5 and 6) participated in this program. The original sample consisted of 7

elementary (grade 8) teachers and 10 secondary (grade 9) teachers. A specific major

obstacle that was encountered in this study was the relatively high rate of teacher par-

ticipant withdrawals; this was due to the structure of the academic calendar for secondary

education which is divided into two semesters. There were 5 secondary teacher participants

who taught Grade 9 English in Semester 1, but due to changes in their teaching schedules,

were not teaching Grade 9 English in Semester 2. Consequently, the final sample com-

prised 12 teachers (7 grade 8 teachers and 5 grade 9 teachers); their students indirectly

participated as recipients of the teachers’ professional learning. All of the teachers par-

ticipated in the whole-group sessions (Teacher Forums). The following Table 1 offers a

profile of each of these school sites, the participants, grades, roles, total number of years

teaching, and technology self-efficacy beliefs.

Data sources

Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from three sets of participants: 12 teachers,

one lead facilitator (K-12 Literacy Consultant), and two literacy coaches. The researchers

triangulated the data collected through the use of multiple sources of evidence within each

participant set.

Professional learning blog conversations

Via the blog on their school district’s e-learning platform, the teacher participants engaged

in online dialogue with each other. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, teachers had access to

communication tools such as the blog (used as a discussion board) and e-portfolio (used to

store and share their uploaded resources), email, calendar, and announcements through the

e-learning portal.

The blog was set up and managed internally by the school district and used by the

teacher participants as a resource repository (i.e., to upload lesson plans and assessment

tools) as well as a discussion space for teachers to reflect on and consolidate their pro-

fessional learning during the course of this study. Regular, online dialogue among the

teacher participants occurred before and after the professional learning sessions. Teachers

were also asked to post responses to questions developed by the lead facilitator and literacy


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coaches that centered around this study’s research questions and the teacher collaborative

inquiry model (e.g., ‘‘What do you hope to get out of today’s co-planning session?’’ ‘‘What

is the most important/interesting thing that you learned in our previous sessions?’’; ‘‘Please

respond on this blog if you plan to visit your co-planning partner’s classroom so that they

Fig. 1 Screenshot of e-portfolio

Fig. 2 Screenshot of blog


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are aware of your attendance that day.’’). The teacher participants were informed that their

blog entries would also be accessible to and analyzed by the two researchers.

E-learning statistics tracking tool

The researchers were also given access to the e-learning portal statistics tracking tool

which enabled them to track teachers’ actual blog usage including the frequency and nature

of teachers‘ blog posts, as well as the frequency and types of topics (e.g., curriculum

documents, assessment tools, lesson plans, etc.) visited within the portal.

Teacher, lead facilitator, and literacy coach interviews

At each of the schools, the 12 teachers were given release time to be individually inter-

viewed at the end of this study, with each interview lasting approximately 30 min.

Interviewees were queried about their own professional learning growth and self-efficacy

in literacy instruction as a function of participating in this collaborative inquiry. A total of

12 open-ended questions were posed; however, for the purpose of this study and to answer

the second research question, only four of the twelve questions were analyzed and dis-

cussed. The purpose of these three questions was to garner an elaboration on the teachers’

perceptions of the effectiveness of blogging as a platform for learning and collaboration.

The interview questions were developed by the researchers using the Interview Format

with Probing Questions model (Cox 1996). To this end, the questions were written in sets,

with each set examining a particular issue of relevance to the collaborative inquiry

experience. The first question in each set was typically one that could be answered by

‘‘yes’’ or ‘‘no’’ (Cox 1996). Subsequent subsets of probing questions related to each set

were designed to elicit deeper explanation, relative to the participant’s response to the

initial question. The open-ended interview questions (see Table 2) concerned the useful-

ness of blogs for learning, information sharing, and knowledge sharing, as well as some

personal information (i.e., years of teaching experience, technology self-efficacy beliefs).

Table 2 Semi-structured participant interview protocol

Teacher participant interview protocol Teacher participant interview protocol

1. Did you use the blog? If so, how often did you usethe blog and for what purpose?

1. In your opinion, do you think the blog has beenutilized to its fullest potential? How so or why not?

2. In your opinion, did the professional learning blogfoster collaborative inquiry? Why or why not?

2. In your opinion, do you think the blog has fosteredindependent and collaborative inquiry as well asmore effective communication across the panels?How so or why not?

3. In your opinion, did the blog foster or not fostermore effective communication across the panels?Why or why not?

3. What suggestions would you have (if any) toimprove the blog if it were to be used for futureprofessional development?

4. Were there any barriers or challenges youencountered when you were using the e-learningportal to blog your progress during thiscollaborative inquiry? Please describe them

5. What are your suggestions for increasing blogparticipation among teachers in futurecollaborative inquiry projects?


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The lead facilitator and two literacy coaches were also interviewed at the end of this

study (see Table 2). Similarly, the purpose of these interviews was to garner an elaboration

on their evaluation of the blog for supporting teacher collaborative inquiry and professional

development. The researchers posed the same questions to participants in the same way in

order to ensure consistency and therefore a more reliable response analysis. As part of a

member-checking process, the participants were invited to edit and elaborate on these

summaries. All of the 30 min interviews were audio-taped and transcribed by the two

researchers.

Data analysis

The researchers engaged in peer debriefing to cross-confirm the meanings they extracted

from the qualitative and quantitative data. The conclusions drawn further contribute to

veracity of the themes and findings. To address the study‘s first research question,

teachers’ patterns of participation in blogging (i.e., frequency and nature of blog posts and

topic visits) were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics (e.g., means; standard

deviations) and qualitative content analysis. Blog content analysis in this study provided a

way to illustrate the stages of the collaborative inquiry cycle in which the teachers were

involved when they were engaged in blogging (Coburn and Stein 2010). Upon completion

of the project, blog entries and comments were copied from the e-learning portal and

uploaded as text files into a word processing program, which was used to facilitate qual-

itative data analysis. The lead facilitator’s and literacy coaches’ comments were not

counted or analyzed since the focus was on the frequency and nature of teachers’ partic-

ipation in online collaborative inquiry.

An inductive approach was used to analyze the qualitative data from the interviews and

blog entries in order to provide a framework for supporting blog use among teachers

engaged in the collaborative inquiry process (Creswell 2012). Consistent with guidelines

for inductive analyses (Creswell 2012), all of the descriptive categories, themes, and ideas

discussed in the following section emerged directly from the qualitative data sets. Sub-

sequent qualitative data analysis included open coding and collapsing these data into

cohesive, mutually exclusive themes. These themes were derived in response to the first

and second research questions as well as the four stages of the collaborative inquiry cycle.

The researchers coded all data independently, meeting subsequently to share individual

interpretations and negotiate a shared understanding with any disagreements resolved

through discussion until consensus was reached. Inter-coder reliability checks were also

made between the researchers at intermediate stages of the final coding to ensure con-

tinuing inter-coder reliability (Rubin and Rubin 1995). Cronbach’s alpha revealed high

reliability (a = 0.89). After several readings of the teachers’ blog posts and interview

transcriptions, the researchers highlighted and coded recurring words, phrases and patterns.

The codes represented categories that were in response to the research questions. When the

coding was complete, the codes were moderated and regrouped into thematic clusters.

Interpretations of the themes were made and illustrative quotes were selected from all of

the participants. It is important to note herein that any comparisons between the two

participating groups of teachers (elementary and secondary) were made to look at the

integrity between the groups (Creswell 2012) Although there were fewer secondary teacher

participants than their elementary counterparts, it is worth investigating whether and how

these two groups differed in terms of their frequency and nature of blog usage.


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Findings

Teachers’ blog participation patterns

In answer to this study’s first research question, ‘‘What are the teachers’ patterns of

participating in blogging?’’ Table 3 displays teachers’ frequencies for blog usage (in-

cluding total number of initial blog entries and replies), average number of words per blog

entry, number and type of topics visited. These data were derived from the e-learning

Statistics Tracking Tool that the researchers had access to at the end of the project.

Collectively, the teacher participants blogged a total of 61 times, and total blog usage

for the duration of the project was 5.1 events (on average). Teachers made greater con-

tributions to the initial blog conversations than replying to existing threads; specifically,

teachers posted an initial blog entry 3.2 times (on average) and commented on a col-

league’s post an average of 1.9 times. On average, the grade 8 teachers also tended to post

longer entries with more words (M = 101.5 words) compared to grade 9 teachers who

posted shorter entries (M = 78.2 words). Although blog usage was higher for the sec-

ondary teachers with 6.2 visits (on average) compared to 4.3 visits for the elementary

teachers, the latter group of participants explored more variety of topics on the blog. In line

with the second stage of the collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010), the

elementary teachers most often visited the repository of online resources shared by the lead

facilitator, literacy coaches, and teachers. The topics that were assessments, lesson plans

and curriculum mapping. The secondary teachers most often visited topics related to lesson

plans and long range plan units.

Three overarching themes emerged from the professional learning blog conversations:

cognitive, reflective, and social/collaborative. Sample blog entries referring to a particular

theme and sub-theme (theme/sub-theme frequency) as well as sample responses that align

with the four stages of the collaborative inquiry cycle are illustrated in Table 4. With

respect to the first theme and in line with the second stage of the collaborative inquiry cycle

(Coburn and Stein 2010), a total of 10 blog entries related to teachers‘ sharing of

Table 3 Teachers’ frequencies for blog usage

Teacher Grade Total blog usage Average number ofwords per blog entry

Total number oftopics visited

Types of topicsvisited

Amy 8 5 (4 initial; 1 reply) 67.3 2 2; 6

Evan 8 4 (3 initial; 1 reply) 48.8 2 2; 6

Tracy 9 6 (4 initial; 2 reply) 64.2 2 1; 3

Jamie 9 9 (2 initial; 7 replies) 17.8 0 0

Philip 9 7 (4 initial; 3 reply) 67 4 3; 4; 5

Tristan 9 7 (5 initial; 2 reply) 91 4 1; 3; 4

Stephanie 8 5 (3 initial; 2 reply) 120 18 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6

Tammy 8 7 (5 initial; 2 reply) 191.9 7 1; 3; 4

Ted 8 1 (1 initial; 0 reply) 171 2 1; 3

Samantha 8 3 (2 initial; 1 reply) 77.7 1 1

Mario 8 5 (3 initial; 2 reply) 33.8 3 1; 3; 6

Larry 9 2 (2 initial; 0 reply) 151 5 3; 4; 5

1 Assessment tools (e.g., rubrics, etc.), 2 Ministry documents, 3 Lesson plans, 4 Long range unit plans, 5Teaching resources (e.g., news articles, etc.), 6 Curriculum mapping


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Table 4 Blog theme frequency, sample entries, and alignment with 4-stage collaborative inquiry cycle

Theme Subtheme Frequency Sample blog entries Alignment with4-stagecollaborativeinquiry cycle

Cognitive Informationsharing

10 -There is a DOVE campaign youshould check out onYouTube….this ties in so wellwith self-esteem, self-acceptanceand a positive portrayal ofoneself. A metacognitive task in asense (Tammy)

Second stage

Problem-solving

2 -We can learn that students havethe ability to critically assessmedia and messages they arereceiving, but some tasks wereproven tot be challenging if thestudent’s had a limited point ofreference. One debate topic wasabout whether or not athletesshould be paid money forwinning medals. Students in thisgroup found the question hard torefute. I gave them some insightabout how athletes can easilybecome spokespeople and getmillions in endorsements afterwinning a medal, which helpedthem in their brainstorming(Philip)

Fourth stage

Knowledgeconstruction

20 -What we learned from this lessonwas that group inquiry can be avery useful tool to allow studentsthe ability to take ownership fortheir learning. Group AFL’s areused in every unit of the Grade 9course, and this activity willallow us to determine where thistype of learning will work. Theability to follow the structure of anews report lends itself well tothe other writing AOL’s on thecourse, namely the SupportedOpinion piece and their firstliterary essay (Tristan)

First and Secondstage

Professional-personallearninggoals

10 Through today’s co-planningsession I hope to achieve abalanced literacy unit, that usesinquiry and includes rich tasksand a variety of opportunities forstudents to demonstrate theirlearning (Samantha)

- I hope to learn how to use theMLS system and would like tolearn how to use a blog. I want toknow more about how to use thistechnology (Jamie)

First and Fourthstage


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information and directing their peers toward sources of information such as online sources

(e.g., links to websites). Two blog entries also coincided with the fourth stage of the

collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010) which contained teachers‘ solutions to

challenges encountered in their instructional practice. A large portion of the blog entries

(n = 20) centered on teachers’ sharing their newly acquired knowledge and strategies from

the professional learning sessions. Lastly, in line with the first and final stages of the

collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010) a total of 10 entries contained

teachers’ articulated professional and personal learning goals for participating in this

collaborative inquiry project. In terms of the second theme, six blog entries involved

reflections on teachers‘ experiences and discoveries related to their knowledge gaps and

ineffective teaching methods. With respect to the third theme, social-collaborative blog

entries revealed two subthemes: posing questions to the rest of the group (n = 3), and

feedback responses (n = 10).

Table 4 continued

Theme Subtheme Frequency Sample blog entries Alignment with4-stagecollaborativeinquiry cycle

Reflective Self-reflection

6 -I really liked how she used thestrategies to teach us, that way wecan use those same strategies toteach our students. Being a partof the activity allows me tovisualize how I can use this withmy students. I always find thatparticipating in activities myselfhelps me understand theirprocess, purpose, andeffectiveness (Tracy)

Fourth stage

Social/collaborative Posingquestions

3 -I am confused about how tomeaningfully collaborate tocreate a unit based on Inquiry?All of our classes look andoperate differently, so creating aunit based in Inquiry is somewhatchallenging (Tammy)

First stage

Providingfeedback

10 -Today I had the pleasure ofvisiting Stephanie‘s grade 8class. I loved Susan’s ‘‘Bump ItUp’’ display board, on whichwere numerous examples of newsreports from Levels 2–4. Thestudents has written andhighlighted the articles todetermine why each was assignedthe level. I loved how student-centred her classroom was, andthe board was a great way forstudents to engage and trulyunderstand how to improve theirown writing (Tristan)

Third stage


123

Blogging as a means of facilitating collaborative inquiry and reflectivepractice: perceptions and attitudes

To answer this study’s second research question, ‘‘What are the lead facilitator’s, literacy

coaches’, and teachers’ perceptions and attitudes in relation to blog use for facilitating

collaborative inquiry and reflective practice?’’ illustrative quotes from the interview data

and professional learning blog conversations are presented in Table 5. These units of data

are divided into two major themes and seven sub-themes which offer insight into the

‘‘Using blogs for facilitating collaborative inquiry’’ as well as the ‘‘Intrinsic and extrinsic

barriers to teachers’ use of blogs for collaborative inquiry.’’

Using blogs for facilitating collaborative inquiry

The participants in this study viewed the blog as a tool for facilitating the sharing of

knowledge and networking among colleagues, providing an atmosphere of equal voice and

self-reflection, and providing time for teachers during the professional learning sessions to

reflect and engage in online dialogue.

Blogging as a tool for knowledge sharing and networking

Based on their interview responses and professional learning blog conversations, the tea-

cher participants enjoyed using the blog as a tool for developing and sharing their

instructional knowledge. In this project, this purpose was particularly important as teachers

from different panels of education (i.e., elementary and secondary) were coming together

to collaborate. The teacher participants also believed that the blog was a facility for

building strong relationships and connecting with other cross-panel teachers from neigh-

bouring feeder schools:

Blogging was a good way to keep in contact with the grade 8 teachers because we

don’t have a lot of communication with them unless its email. For myself, it wasn’t

anything new to me (blogging culture), but the sharing of resources was definitely

useful. (Tristan, Grade 9 English Teacher, Interview).

The teachers also appreciated the ability to view photos of their colleagues’ classroom

activities, such as the one shown in Fig. 3 which was uploaded to the blog for viewing.

It was neat to see the pictures being posted so you could see what was happening in

the classrooms that you didn’t get to visit and observe their lessons. (Stephanie,

Grade 8 Teacher, Blog Post).

In accordance with the second stage of the collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and

Stein 2010), the blog was a space for collaborative knowledge-construction and knowl-

edge-sharing interactions. The teachers enjoyed the affordances of multimodal commu-

nication, especially when regular face-to-face interactions were not always feasible.

Blogging: providing an atmosphere of equal voice and self-reflection

According to the teacher participants, the online blogging platform provided a free and

comfortable environment in which they all had equal opportunities to voice their opinions.

The blog seemed to provide an open and inclusive forum for the introverted or reflective


123

Ta

ble

5Sam

ple

ofdataanalysis:

category

generationofthem

esandsubthem

es

Them

esSubthem

esGeneral

codingcategories

Key

descriptorphrases

Exam

plesofunitsofdata

Bloggingas

atoolfor

knowledgesharing

andnetworking

Inform

ationsharing

Professional

learningresources

Assessm

ents

Ithas

beenagreat

sharingnetwork

andaresource.

Ireally

likewhen

we’re

inthesessionto

beable

totap

into

it,weareactivelyinvolved.Ithinkthat’s

agreat

support.Ifalloftheirlessonsandbreakdownoftheir

assessmentsforlearningareallonthere,

it’s

agreat

sharingsite.Itgives

youtheabilityto

shareexam

ples

whereteachersmightsayto

them

selves,‘‘Ohnow

Ihaveasense

ofwhat

that

is,andnow

maybeI’m

willingto

tryit,’’ormaybesomeoneto

goto

righton

thesite,to

askforthat

support.(Jessica,Literacy

Coach,Interview)

Blogging:Providing

anatmosphereof

equal

voiceand

self-reflection

Self-reflection

Reflectivepractice

Introversion

Iam

notthat

awesomein

groupdiscussions,Iam

more

ofan

introvert,andIpreferto

write

mythoughtsout

than

orallysaythem

.So,Ireally

appreciated

theblog

because

Icould

write

mythoughtsandthen

insteadof

havingto

saythem

.Havingablogbenefitsthequieter

ones,wherepeople

could

seethat

theirthoughtsand

feelingsaboutthingswhichthey

would

beshyto

comeupin

agroupdiscussionmaybenotas

vocalbut

theblogwould

giveeveryonetheopportunityto

showcase

theirthoughts

confidently.(Stephanie,

Grade8Teacher,Interview)

Provisionoftime:

Acritical

component

ofbloggingadoption

anduse

Tim

econstraints

Release

time

Notenoughtime

Asbusy

people

itishardsometim

esto

takethat

time

outto

blogonourown.Itwas

easier

when

wecould

blogatthesessions.Itisn’tbecause

wedon’twantto.

Ifeltbad

because

James

was

encouragingusto

post

ontheblog.Ithad

nothingto

dowithusnotwanting

toparticipateitwas

justsometim

esIwould

forget

topost.Idoapologizeforthat.(Tristan,Grade9English

Teacher,Interview)


123

Ta

ble

5continued

Them

esSubthem

esGeneral

coding

categories

Key

descriptor

phrases

Exam

plesofunitsofdata

Intrinsicbarriersto

teachers’

use

of

blogsfor

collaborative

inquiry

Lackofengagem

entandtechnical

competence

Lackofengagem

ent

Perceived

usefulness

Ifoundthat

theblogadded

anelem

entto

thelanguage

unitthatwasn’tbeneficialformeas

ateacher.Ifound

that

theblogwas

inthebackofmymindbutdidn’t

serveas

apriority

formeat

thetime.

That’s

whyI

didn’treally

participatein

itperhapsas

much

asI

should

have.

Ididn’tbuyinto

it.Iseeitas

aninefficientuse

ofmytime.

Iam

notnecessarily

interested

inhow

itworked

withyourclassorwhat

exactlyyoudid.(Evan,Grade8Teacher,Interview)

Lackoftechnical

competence

Technology

intimidation

Iam

notgreat

withtechnology.AtfirstIwas

abit

intimidated

when

Ihad

touse

itbecause

other

than

usingSkype,

Idon’tspendtoomuch

timewith

technology.AtfirstIwasn’treally

sure

what

Iwas

asked

todobecause

wehad

onesessionherewhere

weweretold

tologon….itwas

hard.Butthen

once

youget

toseeitandtryitafew

times,Icould

get

totheblogandseewhat

other

people

wereposting.Itis

notthetechnology,itisme.Hopefullyitwillbecome

easier.Iwas

tryingto

postapicture

ontheblogandI

couldn’tdoit.Iknow

ifIam

sendingapicture

Ican

justclicktouch

andforw

ard-twosteps.That

blog

wasn’ttwosteps.(Larry,Grade9Teacher,Interview)


123

Ta

ble

5continued

Them

esSubthem

esGeneral

codingcategories

Key

descriptorphrases

Exam

plesofunitsofdata

Extrinsicbarrier

tobloguse

Technical

issues

Technical

glitches

Lackofappropriateinfrastructure

Itisfrustratingformebecause

thisiswhat

Iwantto

do

withtechnologybutthisiswherethetechnologyisat.

Wehaveto

get

thetechnologyto

wherewewantitto

bein

order

forthat

tobeeffective.

Ifyoudon’thave

theinfrastructure,then

youcan’tdocertainthings;but

ifIdid

haveit,then

Icanreally

buildaculture

of

inquiryin

myclassroom

because

inform

ationisright

there.

(Richard,LiteracyCoach,Interview)

Thetechnological

issues

withthebloghavebeena

hindrance.Ourinfrastructure

isnotsetupwell.New

devices

messuptheinfrastructure

andshutsdownthe

system

.Byandlargethereareproblemswith

software,

it’s

beenastruggle.Idon’treally

understandallthat.That’s

whyyouhavethetech

ITpeople.They

arealso

ham

strungbybudget,capacity

andso

on.Sohow

canyoublogbackandforthwhen

yougobackto

yourschoolswhen

thereare

technological

issues

withtheblog?Bythen,the

learningisforgotten.They

weren’table

tocapitalize

onwhat

they

weredoing.Someteachersjusttookit

uponthem

selves

toem

ailbackandforthorcalleach

other

insteadofusingtheblogto

communicate.

(Jam

es,K-12LiteracyConsultant,Interview)


123

Ta

ble

5continued

Them

esSubthem

esGeneral

codingcategories

Key

descriptorphrases

Exam

plesofunitsofdata

Bloguse:forced

versusorganic

onlinecollaborative

inquiry?

Nature

ofbloguse

Perceived

use

Forced

conversations

Teachersarestructuredindividualsandthey

arelooking

forstructuresas

towhen

andwhat

torespond.When

they

weregiven

aquestion,posed,they

would

respondto

it.Idon’tthinkthatthecontinuoussharing

has

developed

yet.Ithinkit’sournextstep,usingthat

forum.(Jessica,LiteracyCoach,Interview)

Itwas

forced,byandlarge,

itwasn’tnatural.Even

today

Iputoutan

emailaskingthem

topleaserespond

tomyblogquestion.Ninetypercentofthem

will,but

then

itwillendthere,whichisfine.It’safindingfrom

thisproject,it’s

alearning.Itwould

beinterestingto

know

how

wellit’s

usedacross

other

boards.(Jam

es,

K-12LiteracyConsultantInterview)

Theblogwas

somethingthat

teachersfeltthey

just

needed

todo,almostas

ifthey

werefollowingorders.

Itisjustatimeconstraint.It’slike,‘‘OKwellIneedto

takeahalfhourandgoontheblog.’’

Itisartificial

inthat

way

because

itisforced.(Richard,Literacy

Coach,Interview)


123

Ta

ble

5continued

Them

esSubthem

esGeneral

codingcategories

Key

descriptor

phrases

Exam

plesofunitsofdata

Synchronousversus

asynchronous

communication:

differencesin

nature

ofresponse

Nature

ofasynchronous

discussions

Qualityofthinking(surface

level

orin-depth)

Surface-level

blog

replies

Sam

antha:Iwas

excitedto

beintroducedto

thefour‘‘A’s’’,and

‘‘ShowMeWhere’’activitiesandcannotwaitto

trythesewith

mystudents.Ialso

was

ableto

dialoguewithcolleagues

about

usingliteracy

centers

inagrade8classroom

andwhat

that

could

looklike.

Ithinkthat

thisform

atwillbeanother

useful

toolforcreatingan

engagingenvironmentforstudentsexplore

andsharelearningwitheach

other.

Jamie:Sam

antha,

Iam

also

hopingto

use

thesenew

activities.

Stephanie:Throughtoday’s

co-planningsessionIhopeto

achieveabalancedliteracy

unit,thatusesinquiryandincludes

rich

tasksandavariety

ofopportunitiesforstudentsto

dem

onstratetheirlearning;possibly

adeeper

understandingof

wheregapsexistbetweenthepanelsbycollaborating,

dialoguingandplanningtogether;amore

cohesivemodel

of

meetingstudentneedsthat

makes

theirtransitionbetween

elem

entary

andhighschoolmore

effectiveandmeetstheir

learningneedsmore

effectively.

Mario:Couldn’thavesaid

itbettermyself

Nature

ofasynchronous

discussions

Lim

itationsofasynchronous

discussions

Naturalflow

of

conversations

Ijustfindthat

when

youpostaquestionorwhen

youare

engaged

inadiscussion,it’s

rightthere.

Twelvehours

later

when

yougoonagain,it’satthebottom

ofthediscussionand

then

youaresearchingforit.Withe-mailit’s

adirect

conversation,‘‘Here’swhat

Iam

lookingfor,canyouprovide

mewithhelp?’’Yougetthatem

ailback—

great,andyoumove

on.(Tristan,Grade9English

Teacher,Interview)

IfIneeded

something,Iwould

emailmycolleagues

atthe

feeder

schools.Ipreferusingem

ailto

get

myresponses

because

itisone-on-one.IfIneeded

resources

orlessonplans,

Iwould

justsay,‘‘Can

yousendmeyourunit?’’Ifitdoesn’tfit

inan

e-mail,I’veeven

sentamem

ory

stickthroughthe

courier.That’s

theway

IthinkIwould

rather

use

it.Iwantit

now.(Evan,Grade8Teacher,Interview)


123

teachers who were less likely to express their opinions in the face-to-face professional

learning sessions:

I found on the blog that people would comment more on personal things they

wouldn’t bring up in the group. (Tristan, Grade 9 English Teacher, Interview).

The blog offered the teachers unique opportunities for self-disclosure, encouraged

feelings of disinhibition, and uncovered their attitudes toward collaboration. As shown in

Table 5, reflective processes relating to a teacher’s own beliefs and discoveries related to

her knowledge gaps (e.g., I should know this…) were observed in a few blog entries (Chan

and van Aalst 2008). For example, engaging in reflective practice allowed one teacher

participant (Stephanie) to become aware of her ‘‘default’’ teaching methods, which may not

be effective and may have adverse effects on her students’ literacy learning. This entry

indicates the teacher‘s personal insights into the fourth stage of the collaborative inquiry

process and implications of her collaborative experiences into her own instructional

practice.

Provision of time: a critical component of blogging adoption and use

The most frequently mentioned disadvantage of blogging was time-constraint. A few

teacher participants reportedly had competence and confidence in blogging, but they still

made little use of this online professional development tool outside of their professional

learning sessions, because they did not have enough time to explore, reflect, and post a

blog entry in their respective classrooms or at home.

In an effort to prevent the extrinsic barrier of time constraint, the teachers were given

approximately 15 min before and during their professional learning sessions to reflect and

engage in online dialogue via the blog; they valued this dedicated time:

I liked when we had the professional learning sessions and it was ‘‘Ok, you’re taking

10 minutes to go on the computer and answer this question rather than saying ‘‘OK,

Fig. 3 Photo of assessment for learning activity in a grade 8 classroom


123

when you get home can you do this’’ because people just don’t do it. Students

wouldn’t do it unless you said, ‘‘Ok everybody, we have the laptops out, you have

10 minutes, everyone needs to post’’ and you can make sure they did. (Tracy, Grade

9 Teacher, Interview).

The reality of finding time to reflect and write is an important consideration for teachers

as they pursue blogging adoption and use. Regardless of the convenience of online cogi-

tating and expressing thoughts, time is a factor that permeates teachers’ take up of such an

activity. In this project, time was built into the professional learning sessions. This begs the

question: do these teachers see sufficient value in blogging to invest time beyond the time

set aside for this purpose?

Intrinsic and extrinsic barriers to teachers’ use of blogs for collaborative inquiry

In conjunction with the potential of blogging comes intrinsic and extrinsic barriers that

must also be addressed (Bingimlas 2009; Ertmer 1999). As discussed below, the lead

facilitator, literacy coaches, and teacher participants cited lack of engagement and tech-

nical competence as the intrinsic barriers to teachers’ use of blogs for collaborative inquiry.

Insofar as the extrinsic barriers to teachers’ blog use, participants noted the following:

insufficient time, forced versus organic online collaborative inquiry, technical issues, and

differences between synchronous and asynchronous communication in terms of the nature

of response.

Intrinsic barriers to blog use: lack of engagement and technical competence

During their individual interviews, teachers were also asked to rate their perceived con-

fidence level using technology, with 1 being not confident, and 5 being very confident. As

shown in Table 1, elementary (M = 3.8) and secondary (M = 3.9) teachers’ level of self-

confidence in their technology skills were found to be high. However, teachers’ high

technology efficacy beliefs were not aligned with their blog usage. According to one grade

8 teacher participant, although he reportedly used technology in his classroom on a daily

basis, the blog added an element to the collaborative inquiry that was not deemed to be a

high priority for him. The following quote from the lead facilitator also illustrates the

critical influence of the teachers‘ engagement, dedication and competence for blog use for

professional development, which the facilitator believed subsequently affected the teach-

ers’ frequency and nature of participation in blogging:

Certain teachers were immediately disengaged from the start. You can track on there

how many times they went on the blog. There were a couple of teachers that were a

part of this that didn’t even go on the blog. They would give an excuse and say ‘‘Oh,

it doesn’t work,’’ because they get busy or it’s just not an interest of theirs. (James,

K-12 Literacy Consultant, Interview).

Another intrinsic barrier which is directly related to engagement and dedication is

teachers’ perceived competence in using the blog. As illustrated in the following quote, a

few teacher participants reported technology intimidation, lack of knowledge and skills to

use the blog:

I’m not very comfortable with the blog to be honest. I think there’s a lot of potential

there for a lot of things. They are rolling it out but I need a little bit more training and


123

clarification on it first…I’m one of the ‘‘oldies.’’ (Jamie, Grade 9 English Teacher,

Blog Post).

Although the majority of teachers had high technology self-efficacy, this finding was not

reflected in their blog usage. Although a few teachers were admittedly reluctant to par-

ticipate because of their novice status with this technology, ‘‘perceived ease of use’’ was

less influential compared to ‘‘perceived usefulness of the blog,’’ which was the primary

driver of usage intentions.

Extrinsic barrier to blog use: technical issues

Technical problems with hardware and the e-learning portal were an unanticipated major

barrier for teachers’ blog use. These problems included ease of blog access, malfunctioning

computers, and teachers having to work on old computers. Typical mixed expressions

about blogging often started with a brief statement acknowledging blogging’s helpfulness,

but followed by a feeling of frustration on how to use it:

I really was excited about the blog to begin with. But it was a bit onerous to get on

there and I couldn’t log in. (Amy, Grade 8 Teacher, Interview).

As revealed in their interview responses, the majority of teacher participants felt

strongly that operational supports need to be in place to effortlessly facilitate and increase

teachers’ use of a blog for communication.

Blog use: forced versus organic online collaborative inquiry?

Although the cross-panel, co-planning teams and collaborative relationships were formed

organically through recognition of their common interests, the lead facilitator and literacy

coaches believed that one of the main barriers to blog use in this project was forced

compliance to use the blog, contrived, and consequently, inauthentic online collaboration.

In this way, the lead facilitator and literacy coaches believed that the forced compliance

from teachers to use the blog may not have produced lasting sustainable change, but rather,

short, temporary transformative change. As apparent in the following excerpt from a blog

conversation and in the number of ‘‘replies’’ in the blog usage statistics, online dialogue

and comments to posts were not as fluid, prevalent, or substantive as the initial postings.

Blog Conversation #1:

James: What is the most important/interesting thing that you learned in our previous

sessions? What confused you? What do you want to know more about?

Samantha: I was excited to be introduced to the four ‘‘A’s’’, and ‘‘Show Me Where’’

activities and cannot wait to try these with my students. I also was able to dialogue

with colleagues about using literacy centers in a grade 8 classroom and what that

could look like. I think that this format will be another useful tool for creating an

engaging environment for students explore and share learning with each other.

Jamie: Samantha, I am also hoping to use these new activities.

A few blog replies from teacher participants contained surface-level statements (i.e., ‘‘I

agree,’’ ‘‘I am also hoping to use these activities,’’ ‘‘I couldn’t have said it better myself’’)

which included sharing the conclusions or judgements made by other participants without

offering justifications. These excerpts also illustrate two barriers that influence the adoption

and frequency of blog usage, namely, lack of time and motivation to use the blog. Teachers


123

need sufficient time to carefully respond to their colleagues’ posts; as well as they need to

perceive benefit to their practice from blogging and when they do they are likely to be

genuinely engaged and not simply complying.

Synchronous versus asynchronous communication: differences in nature of response

As evidenced by the following quotes, the asynchronous nature of blogs lacked the

immediacy of conversation and synchronous interactivity, which made the blogging

experience constrained and limited:

As a teacher I would call that person’s classroom or text them to get an immediate

response, in case they weren’t on. Or I would actually send them a physical file. I still

did use technology to do it, perhaps not that one (the blog). I would rather get the

immediate feedback. If it was just a reflection maybe it’s not as important. But if we

are planning and think ‘‘Oh, let’s use this’’ or ‘‘Can you come to my class tomor-

row?’’ those kinds of things I needed to know right away. (Amy, Grade 8 Teacher,

Interview).

Synchronous interactivity was crucial to teachers. According to the teacher participants,

synchronous communication helped them connect to their co-planning partners, ask

immediate questions, get individualized instruction and just-in-time professional devel-

opment. This sentiment was also shared by one of the literacy coaches:

Maybe if there is another way of going about it where everyone could meet at a

certain time in a chat room so it is more in the moment rather than trying to come up

with something you’ve done a few weeks ago and trying to put it into words. I think

it could be great. (Richard, Literacy Coach, Interview).

Collectively, the findings have provided the perspectives of the lead facilitator, two

literacy coaches, elementary and high school teachers, who remarked on the benefits and

challenges of using blogs for supporting teacher collaborative inquiry. Following is a

discussion of these perspectives as positioned in the existing literature, some considera-

tions for practical implications, and future directions.

Summary of the findings

In answer to this study’s first research question, ‘‘What are the teachers’ patterns of

participating in blogging?’’ teachers made greater contributions to the initial blog con-

versations than replying to existing threads. Although blog usage was higher for the

secondary teachers, the elementary teachers explored more variety of topics on the blog;

the elementary teachers most often visited the repository of online resources shared by the

lead facilitator, literacy coaches, and teachers (i.e., assessments, lesson plans and cur-

riculum mapping). The secondary teachers most often visited topics related to lesson plans

and long range plan units. With respect to this study’s second research question, ‘‘What are

the lead facilitator’s, literacy coaches’, and teachers’ perceptions and attitudes in relation

to blog use for facilitating collaborative inquiry and reflective practice?’’ three overarching

themes emerged from the professional learning blog conversations: cognitive (i.e., sharing

of literacy-related information, instructional strategies, professional and personal learning

goals), reflective (i.e., experiences and discoveries related to their knowledge gaps and

ineffective teaching methods), and social/collaborative (i.e., networking, posing questions

to the rest of the group and feedback responses). The most frequently mentioned challenges


123

of blog adoption and use were insufficient time, lack of engagement, technical competence,

technical issues, lack of immediacy and synchronous interactivity.

Discussion

There is a growing body of evidence supporting the use of online technologies for edu-

cation, and in particular, the utility of blogging in education has been gaining attention

(Boulos et al. 2006; Chu et al. 2012; Grassley and Bartoletti 2009; Loving et al. 2007). This

project examined the efficacy of blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional

learning and development during a collaborative inquiry that involved co-planning and

debriefing after classroom instruction. To examine the potential use of blogging as a tool

during professional learning, teachers’ frequency and nature of use, as well as percep-

tions of blogging throughout the collaborative inquiry process were examined.

In response to the first research question and in line with the first stage of the collab-

orative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010), the teachers primarily used the blog to

obtain professional learning resources. Teachers made greater contributions to the initial

blog conversations than replying to a colleague’s post. Blog usage was also higher for the

secondary teachers than for the elementary teachers. Yet, the elementary teachers explored

more variety of topics on the blog. Fullan and Hargreaves (1996) noted that balkanization

of the teacher culture is often found in ‘‘high schools where separate and competing groups

seek power and influence for their own ends’’ (p. 22). Competition, ineffective commu-

nication between departments, as well as a greater emphasis placed on recall knowledge,

objective assessments, and summative grades characterize these schools (Fullan and

Hargreaves 1996). The isolation of competing groups dejects the sharing of ideas and

networking of practical knowledge that is more typical in collaborative settings (Peterson

and Brietzke 1994). Neither vertical nor horizontal coordination is very successful in high

schools (Peterson and Brietzke 1994). This competitive atmosphere may explain the

secondary teachers’ low frequency of topic visits.

With respect to the second research question, findings from the interview discussions

with the participants and blog entries offered insight into the benefits and barriers to

teachers’ use of blogs for collaborative inquiry. The participants in this study viewed the

blog as a tool for facilitating the sharing of knowledge (i.e., teaching strategies, assessment

practices) and networking among colleagues; this finding was also supported when the

researchers analyzed the content of the teachers‘ blog posts and comments. The cognitive

theme was the most salient theme that emerged from the blog content analysis. In line with

the first and second stages of the collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010), the

cognitive aspect of learning was very evident in blogs in which teachers appeared to share

knowledge and sources of information, engage in problem-solving, and self-disclose their

personal and professional learning goals. The generally high level of knowledge co-con-

struction attained by the cross-panel teachers is consistent with earlier studies suggesting

that the functional features of blogs support information and knowledge exchange (Chong

2011; Chu et al. 2012; Du and Wagner 2007; Hou et al. 2009; Top et al. 2010). Moreover,

if classroom observations were not possible, then reading about their colleagues’ experi-

ences still allowed them to learn from each other’s experiences both within and across

grade levels. Appreciation for the various features of the blog, including the ability to

upload and share videos, images, word files, was also apparent in teachers’ positive views

on multi-modal information sharing.


123

Consistent with previous research, the blogs were also more likely to benefit teachers

who were shy, introverted, and reflective (Ruday 2011; Wang and Woo 2007; Yamat

2013). For instance, one of the grade 8 teacher participants revealed that having a blog

benefited her as she was an introvert who preferred to write down her thoughts rather than

orally share them. Online discussions seemed to provide an inviting environment in which

participants had ample time to reflect and consider posts carefully before responding, had

equal opportunities to voice their opinions, and were less influenced by others (Ruday

2011; Wang and Woo 2007; Wopereis et al. 2010; Yamat 2013; Yang 2009). Meyer (2006)

also found that shy learners preferred the online setting, which increased their confidence

to participate as they developed an online voice. In answer to the first research question and

corroborating the final stage of the collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010) a

few blog entries contained reflective themes (Chan and van Aalst 2008; Chu et al. 2012).

Blog contents showed that teachers seldom reflected on their own preferred learning and

teaching styles; a few teachers came to the realization that there was a disconnect between

their dominant learning style and their teaching methods.

In line with the second research question, blogging posed challenges for the teacher

participants, which were referred to as intrinsic and extrinsic barriers (Bingimlas 2009;

Ertmer 1999). The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) developed by Venkatesh et al.

(2003) states that the successful adoption and use of technology is measured by perceived

usefulness and perceived ease of use. In terms of the intrinsic barriers, and specifically, the

perceived usefulness of the blog (Venkatesh et al. 2003), one teacher admittedly reported

that the blog did not serve any useful purpose, did not enhance his instructional effec-

tiveness, and would not fulfill any of his personal or professional needs. Thus, perceived

usefulness was found to greatly influence this particular teacher’s attitude toward blogging

(Kwon and Wen 2010; Venkatesh et al. 2003). In support of this, it was found that the

secondary teachers were willing to engage in blog activity for a limited number of relevant

topics, and the elementary teachers explored an array of topics that covered the spectrum of

their professional purview. Having said this, teachers’ blog participation patterns appear to

reflect their priorities and professional realities. The blog was frequently used to engage in

the first and second stages of the collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010). That

is, the blog was seemingly a space to share personal and professional learning goals as well

as a repository for professional learning resources.

With respect to perceived ease of use, one of the TAM constructs (Venkatesh et al.

2003), another teacher-level, intrinsic barrier was the teachers’ competence in using the

blog (Cheung and Vogel 2013). It appears that lack of confidence, skills, and experience

with the blogging tool influenced a few teachers’ motivation to use the blog as frequently

and consistently as other colleagues (Balanskat et al. 2006). Relatedly, the barrier most

frequently referred to in the literature is lack or insufficient amount of effective in-service

training for teachers (Albirini 2006; Balanskat et al. 2006; Ozden 2007; Schoepp 2005;

Sicilia 2005; Toprakci 2006). Specifically, the teachers cited the lack of training con-

cerning the use of the blog (aside from the one-time workshop provided to them in the

introductory plenary session) as another extrinsic barrier to effective blog use. Notwith-

standing, although there were a few teachers who were admittedly reluctant to participate

because of their novice status with this technology, ‘‘perceived ease of use’’ was less

influential compared to ‘‘perceived usefulness of the blog,’’ which seemed to be the pri-

mary driver of usage intentions.

Although teacher participants appreciated the time they were given during the profes-

sional learning sessions to use the blog, they still made little use of it outside of the

sessions. A significant number of researchers have identified time limitations and the


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difficulty in scheduling enough time for blogging as a barrier to teachers’ technology use

(Bingimlas 2009; Loving et al. 2007; Schoepp 2005; Sicilia 2005). Sicilia (2005) found

that the problem of lack of time exists for teachers in many aspects of their work as it

affects their ability to complete tasks because technology use requires time to explore the

technology and/or deal with technical problems. Likewise, lack of access to resources,

including school internet access, was another complex barrier that discouraged some

teachers from using the blog on a regular basis (Sicilia 2005). In Sicilia’s study (2005),

teachers similarly complained about a lack of appropriate infrastructure and access to new,

functioning computers within the school. Toprakci (2006) also found that low numbers of

computers, oldness or slowness of computer systems, and scarcity of educational software

in the school were barriers to the successful use of computers. Similar to Sicilia’s (2005)

findings from almost a decade ago, technical problems were found to be a major extrinsic

barrier for the teachers’ limited blog use. These technical problems included failing to

connect to the blog, and teachers having to work on outdated computers. Teachers strongly

felt that operational supports need to be in place to effortlessly facilitate and increase

teachers’ use of a blog for communication. This provision is not negotiable and accord-

ingly it needs to be considered a priority by professional learning facilitators and school

district administration.

In answer to the second research question, although the cross-panel, co-planning teams

were encouraged to establish their own inquiry and collaborative relationships were formed

organically through recognition of their common interests, the lead facilitator and literacy

coaches believed that one of the main barriers to blog use in this project was forced

compliance, contrived, and inauthentic online collaboration. The lead facilitator and lit-

eracy coaches indicated a perceived lack of depth in some of the teachers’ blog entries; the

forced compliance from teachers to use the blog may not have produced lasting sustainable

change, but rather, short, temporary shifts in their practice. This finding contradicts the

essence of collaborative inquiry: if teachers and academics collaborate with one another in

forced ways, the collaboration in teacher inquiry may inadvertently serve to reinforce the

status quo (Heron 1996). Hargreaves (2007) argued that while teacher collaborative inquiry

can be powerful and productive, teachers cannot be coerced into arrangements and pro-

cesses that are unsuitable for their needs. Notwithstanding, the teacher participants were

given plenty of freedom and space to engage in collaborative knowledge building through

blogging. The major role of the lead facilitator was to facilitate and scaffold the blog

discussions by providing prompting entries to stimulate and facilitate the development of

an online community of inquiry. In line with the constructivist learning model, the lead

facilitator assumed a more facilitating than domineering role (Hargreaves 2007). The lead

facilitator did not over-participate or intrude in the teacher participants’ discussions, but

rather, maintained a flexible position, limited his role to initiating new topics, scaffolding

or redirecting online discussions (Hargreaves 2007).

Relevant to the second research question, the teacher participants revealed that the

asynchronous discussions had the advantage of allowing them to take time to thoughtfully

compose their responses before posting them online. However, the asynchronous nature of

blogs also lacked the immediacy of conversation and synchronous interactivity, which

caused the blogging experience to have a weak sense of social presence (Malikowski et al.

2007). In answer to the first research question, social-collaborative theme accounted for a

relatively small proportion of the blog entries. Such entries indicated that the teacher

participants were infrequently using the blog to engage in the third and fourth stages of the

collaborative inquiry cycle (Coburn and Stein 2010); teachers seldom posed questions to

their peers and received feedback as they collaborated through online responses. This


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finding is also apparent in the low number of replies in the blog usage statistics. In response

to the second research question, a commonly reported drawback of online discussions is

that participants can hardly get immediate feedback from others because not all participate

at the same time. This drawback appeared to frustrate some teacher participants who were

in need of a prompt response (Wang and Woo 2007). As a result, some postings have held

back certain portions of discussion while others lost their intended audience. It has been

found that teachers and professional development providers need to connect synchronously

to engender the feeling of community (Francis and Jacobsen 2013). Analogous to any

successful professional development program, synchronous interactivity also provides

teachers with contextually specific, on-the-ground, just-in-time support, training, and

advice within locally sustained communities of practice (Francis and Jacobsen 2013). Chen

et al. (2009) and Malikowski et al. (2007) similarly suggest that synchronous interaction

effectively enhances dynamic interactions among participants, strengthens social presence,

and enhanced interpersonal connections.

Implications

The findings and their discussion offer fodder for the question: is it beneficial to blog or not

to blog as part of teacher collaborative learning? Based on the study’s findings, the

blogging process can support collaborative inquiry; the face-to-face and online learning in

a professional development program can complement each other. The face-to-face sessions

provided topics and targets for the online discussions; online discussions, in turn, provided

opportunities for teacher participants to digest and reflect on what was learned during the

face-to-face sessions. The following section proposes some design principles, guidelines,

and conditions for using blogging to enhance in-service teachers’ professional learning and

development during a collaborative inquiry.

According to the teachers in this study, the level of perceived usefulness of the blog was

fairly low. This low rating might be attributed to the fact that the collaborative inquiry

project described in this paper was unsuccessful in demonstrating the usefulness of

blogging to teachers. Future professional development projects should explain more

effectively the usefulness of blogging for supporting teachers’ professional development.

With respect to future project implementation strategies, adequate pre-planning and a

needs assessment can also provide the data needed to guide choices about content,

methods, and formats which can help gage staff receptivity and cultivate staff buy-into

blogging.

The most immediate positive outcome of blogging is that it serves as a convenient

vehicle for teachers to share their knowledge and offer each other feedback. In the event

that distance or site-based constraints are present such as in rural school districts or when

teachers are communicating across different levels of education, blogging might be the

means for professional collaboration. In these circumstances, school district administration

should make efforts to connect teachers to form compatible and productive working

relationships. We propose a peer-mentoring approach to promote effective blog use. Peer-

mentors can serve as technology lead teachers who legitimize the active participation of

less-experienced peers by engaging them collaboratively in blog use in order to establish

their ‘‘buy-in’’ and enhance their professional learning.

Blogging might be a form of reflection that is facilitative for teachers who are pensive.

As such, teachers can take time to plan, act, gather evidence, reflect and share. In essence,


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an online forum such as blogging may engage some teachers who might have otherwise not

participated in the 4-stage process of teacher collaborative inquiry (Coburn and Stein

2010). In particular, during the final stage when teachers are sharing their evaluation of the

results of student and professional learning, encapsulating this thoughtfully in a blog entry

might be quite facilitative. This requires that the inquiry task and subsequent debriefing are

not time sensitive. Teachers, their administrators, and district professional learning facil-

itators should be aware of the reality that these collaborative learning practices take time:

allocate time to allow teachers to share their unique ideas and provide opportunities for

negotiating between different perspectives and meanings. Another implication of this study

is that reduced visual cues per se may have also contributed to the increased self-disclosure

in the blog entries. Future research should elaborate on these findings and investigate the

underlying processes and mediating variables that enhance self-disclosure in web-based

environments compared to face-to-face communication.

Like all professional learning initiatives in education, there needs to be teacher

engagement. Teachers must see the value in blogging as a tool to enhance their collabo-

rative learning and reflective practice. Teachers need to embrace blogging as a conduit for

collaborative communications and not an imposed task that is tangential to the collabo-

ration. It is easy to default and use a blog as a static resource. To combat this, professional

learning facilitators need to clearly convey the notion that blogging is an integral part of

the collaborative inquiry at all phases and not an add-on repository for summative

comments.

Teachers must feel empowered and competent with technology and this will contribute

to their confidence. In some cases, teachers will need more than a brief introduction to a

platform or technological tool. Technological support staff should be a part of the pro-

fessional learning team and provide ongoing assistance for blog access and usage. This has

staff budgetary and human resource implications. School districts should also be willing to

commit infrastructure funds to up-to-date systems and network solutions. To successfully

blog, teachers cannot be encumbered by operational constraints.

Finally, the employment of blogging should be compatible with the ways in which

teachers work. Teachers work in flexible ways within their dynamic classroom environ-

ments. Often teachers are networking ‘on the fly’ and impromptu planning and discussions

are the norm in school hallways. Perhaps, blogging needs to be blended with (instant)

messaging to provide a simulated in situ conversation that is fluid and evolving. For

teachers who are engaging with colleagues via distance, there is a need for dedicated time

to collaborate and network as they will need to be confined to technology. Allocations for

this time should be considered by school district administrations when budgeting for

teacher release time.

Recommendations for future studies or future iterations of this particular approach are

warranted. The current study included a small number of teacher participants from a

medium-sized school board which results in a low level of generalizability. In light of the

small sample size, the case study approach might be better suited to the current study. The

case study approach would have allowed in-depth, multi-faceted exploration of blog use as

a tool for facilitating collaborative inquiry and reflective practice among elementary and

high school teachers. Yin (2009) stated that ‘‘a case study is an empirical inquiry that

investigates contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-life context’’ (p. 18).

Accordingly, the case study approach would enable one to gain further insights into

teachers’ perceptions and attitudes toward as well as experiences with blog use in situ

within their practitioner contexts. Future research should also explore the relationship


123

between the frequency and nature of teacher‘s blog use and such mediating variables as

teachers’ gender, age, work experience, grade level taught, technology self-efficacy.

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Katia Ciampa is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education, Innovation, and Continuing Studies atWidener University. She teaches courses in language arts. Katia’s current research interests includesupporting pre-service teachers’ literacy instructional practices and students’ literacy learning throughtechnology.

Tiffany L. Gallagher is a member of the Teacher Education Department of the Faculty of Education atBrock University. She teaches courses in educational psychology and assessment and evaluation. Tiffany’scurrent research interests include supporting teachers’ practice and students’ learning through literacyassessment, reading and writing strategy instruction, and special education resource instruction. Tiffany’swebsite is http://www.ed.brocku.ca/*tgallagh/.


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