Collaborative learning and the use of edublogs at university. Assessing an experience

• Main Authors: María D. DAPIA CONDE, Ricardo ESCUDERO CID
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca 2014-10-01
• Series: Enseñanza & Teaching
• Subjects: aprendizaje colaborativo; blogs; docencia; entorno virtual; comunidades virtuales; evaluación; innovación; universidad
• Online Access: https://revistas.usal.es/index.php/0212-5374/article/view/10243

Blogs are one of the collaborative tools offered by 2.0 web. Their layout makes them a privileged space for communication and group knowledge construction. They are finding a niche in on-site university education against the more classical unidirectional, lecturing teaching model. Research on this subject is increased in the context of the EHEA, which aims at autonomous, student-centered, collaborative and reflective learning. This current work analyzes the potential of edublogs in the context of higher education, from the evaluation that both students and teacher make of a group blog in the context of the subject of <em>Health Education and its Teaching</em> (2nd year of the Early Childhood Education Degree). For this assessment, an adapted questionnaire from Duran’s (2011) was used attending regularly and the teacher an interview about the pros and cons of using a blog. A descriptive analysis of the data illustrated with graphs is presented. The results reveals a high degree of student satisfaction in the scales checked: «dynamization of the teaching-learning process», «personal relationships», «motivation» and «content acquisition». The results also show high students’ involvement in the subject, shown in the high percentage of students who visit, read entries or make comments on the blog. For the teacher it has also been a very positive and rewarding experience; the biggest drawback being the big dedication and effort required to keep the blog updated.