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Narrative Communities: Co-Authored Weblogs as a Space for Reflective Community and Critical Engagement

, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States

Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference, in Orlando, Florida, USA ISBN 978-1-880094-58-7 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Waynesville, NC USA

Record type: PROCEEDINGS

Abstract

This paper presents the preliminary results of a study in which multi-authored weblogs replaced traditional individual journals in a social foundations short course for pre-service teachers. Drawing learning communities research, the course's curriculum relied on literature circles and online collaborative blogs to create a space where critical issues were discussed in meaningful, open ways. This paper offers the ideology, methodology, and results of replacing traditional reflective journals with weblog communities. It looks at two different weblog community structures, one strictly limited to course conversation and one which included both personal blogs and joint course blogs. Highlighting both the advantages and disadvantages of such communities, it argues that there are substantial benefits to using online interactive technologies such as this to re-vision reflective journals as collaborative and critical narrative spaces.

Citation

Pyne, K. (2006). Narrative Communities: Co-Authored Weblogs as a Space for Reflective Community and Critical Engagement. In C. Crawford, R. Carlsen, K. McFerrin, J. Price, R. Weber & D. Willis (Eds.), Proceedings of SITE 2006--Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 2639-2642). Orlando, Florida, USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved March 28, 2024 from .

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