Classroom blogging : A study of teachers' use of blogs in the classroom in primary school

The purpose of this study was to explore the use of a blog in the classroom. This paper describes why the teacher created the blog and how the blog is used by teachers and pupils in and outside the classroom. The study also describes teachers’ thoughts regarding future use of the blog. Seven primary school teachers were interviewed and the material was analysed using a multimodal design theoretical perspective on learning (Selander & Kress 2010). The conclusion of the study was that the teachers created and designed blogs to give parents, pupils, relatives and others an opportunity to have an insight into the pupils’ school day. The blog is used mostly by teachers and pupils’ school work is published on the blog. The pupils in some classes use the blog to write weekly journals, make films and interviews that are published. Several teachers mention that publishing school work on the blog improves the quality of the school work. It seems that pupils try harder when the school work is published on the blog. Some teachers mention pupils’ age and their ability to write when discussing pupils posting work on the blog. The blog is though a multimodal way to communicate. It seems that the blog has the ability to support both pupils’ writing development and their competencies in multimodal communication. Regarding future use of the blog the teachers have many ideas and all teachers agree that pupils will be given the opportunity to use the blog more in the future. The ideas of future use can be related to the idea of the blog as a virtual third space, a link between home and school. In this third space pupils are able to use knowledge from home when carrying out school tasks. Since there are few studies regarding blogs in the classroom and especially regarding younger pupils, this study has given a wider perspective regarding the use of blogs in the classroom.