Curiouser and Curiouser! on learning-theory http://matt.blogs.it/ RSS feed for topic learning-theory Copyright 2006 Matt Mower Squib/0.1 self@mattmower.com self@mattmower.com en-gb The weblog method Wed, 06 Aug 2003 09:16:20 +0100 <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> <P><A href="http://jej.notatnik.net/blog/001056.html">Edu-blog experiment</A>. </P> <BLOCKQUOTE cite=http://jej.notatnik.net/blog/001056.html> <P>While being offline, I had more time to think about my own research ideas. <BR>A part of describing a little bit quantitatively and more qualitatively the Polish blogosphere, from the psychological and sociological point of view, I had an idea of an experiment.</P> <P>How to proove that a blog can be a useful edu-tool when searching news, structuralizing them and acquiring them?</P> <P>Let's choose three groups of students. <BR>The course, the teacher, the time, the age, etc, is as similar as possible. <BR>In the first group there is no permanent homework required. <BR>An essay, a report and a final exam. <BR>The students are asked to read some texts each week and make some searches, but there are no output to deliver, only a soft discussion at the beginning of the lesson. </P> <P>The second group is asked to run a weblog, where the students should put the same essay and report, but they are also asked to write down their ideas about the texts they have read during the week and the results of the searches they were asked to do. Their weblogs are discussed at the beginning of each lesson. The students would pass the same final exam at the end of the course. </P> <P>In the third group I would apply a classical edu-method, e.g. a test at the beginning of each lesson, plus the essay, the report and the final exam. The test would be related to the texts and searches to do at home. It is necessary to have this third group because I would like to differentiate the impact of blogs from the impact af any educational method applied to students. </P> <P>I suppose that the final exam should be composed of several parts - some knowledge, some skills, some creativness related to the knowledge and skills, some logical thinking on the base of the acquired knowledge...</P> <P>My hypothesis is that the results of the final exam should be different in each group. Probably different also depending of the several parts of the exam. I would love to see that the knowledge is worse in the first group than in the second and third group, and that the skills and creativity are better in the blogs group. <BR>The first group is not motivated to learn during the whole year (or semester), the second group is externally motivated to get the internal self-learning process. The third group is externally motivated (forced?) to learn because of the tests. </P> <P><BR>What do you think about it? What should I change to make the experiment better in methodology and more interessant for research? Is there anybody who did it already?</P><BR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><A href="http://seblogging.cognitivearchitects.com/SebastianFiedler"><IMG alt="<a href=" src="http://static.cognitivearchitects.com/images/Seblogging/SebastianFiedler2.jpg" SebastianFiedler? Seblogging.cognitivearchitects.com http:>Sebastian Fiedler</A>" height="20" width="20" border="0" /></A> Marysia proposes a classic quasi-experimental setting to "proove that a blog can be a useful edu-tool." For various reasons I don't think this type of research desing is necessarily appropriate. What are your thoughts on this? [Sebastian Fiedler] </P> <P>[<A href="http://Seblogging.cognitivearchitects.com/">Seblogging News</A>]</P></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><FONT color=purple>ยป</FONT>I would be interested in the results of this experiment.&nbsp; One interesting point for me would be about the requirements on the instructor in each case and, in particular, for case#2 how comfortable the instructor is about (a) writing a weblog and (b) helping others to do so.&nbsp; Does the instructor even need to be writing one themselves?&nbsp; (After all, most of the time instructors do not take tests with their students).</P> http://matt.blogs.it/entries/00001539.html