‘Blogging Phyllis’ by Thomas Widmann

This case study explores the use of student blogging to help students develop skills in reflection, particularly in reflective writing, and highlights how this approach can be used to ease the transition of students into higher education. The tutor wanted a way that would support students through their first few weeks at university and provide a way to encourage students to develop reflective writing skills, the lack of which had been identified as a common issue on the programme.

The tutor set up private blogs for the students where they were encouraged to write about the challenges they were facing and reflect on their successes. The blog posts were assessed and contributed a small fraction of the marks for the module, though the tutor had made clear that only quality of reflection was being assessed, not the actual content of the posts.

The approach was successful in both aims, with the tutor being able to identify issues that could lead to students dropping out and start to address them before they went too far, and a noticeable improvement in the quality of writing and reflection by the end of the module.

You can read more about this approach by reading the two-page case study entitled: Encouraging Reflective Writing through Blogging.

If you are willing to share your experiences in teaching online in a similar case study, please contact us through the Suggestions link.