Peer Communication Through Blogging

Educating students in the 21st century has necessitated a shift in the way in which pre-service teachers are prepared to use, understand and interact with social media (e.g. blogs) in the classroom. This paradigmatic shift demonstrates a movement towards a participatory culture using Web 2.0 technologies - dynamic environments that are reshaping our educational landscape. With the emergence of mobile technologies, students’ access to computing devices is omnipresent as is their ability to collaborate through multiple modalities. These dynamic changes present both new types of challenges and vast opportunities for teacher educators. Using understandings associated with identity theory, social media, this study examines a unique cell of students participating in a social media community to explore how these communities reflect interactions that occur within professional settings