Blogging toward information literacy: engaging students and facilitating peer learning

Abstract

Purpose This paper describes how a course-integrated blog was used to facilitate the learning of information literacy skills. It also reports on how the effectiveness of the blog was evaluated. Research limitations/implications These results reflect just one course at a single university, therefore it is not possible to use the findings to make generalizations. The study could serve as a starting point for further inquiry into the evaluation of blogs as a support tool. Originality/value While others have reported on using blogs in a similar manner, this study also attempts a thorough evaluation of the efficacy of the blog in helping students learn. Given the positive results of this evaluation, librarians could consider using blogs and other Web 2.0 tools to engage students in their own learning.

Using Blogs in Teaching Tertiary Esl Writing

“…Validating the findings of recent studies (Chan & Cmor, 2009;Zinger & Sinclair, 2013;Dyer, 2017), this study also found out that blogging can facilitate peer-to-peer engagement through comments and feedback among their blog posts. Because students were required to read and comment on at least five blog posts of their classmates every week, they were aware that they had audience or readers.…”

Web 2.0 and Information Literacy Instruction: Aligning Technology with ACRL Standards

“…While the use of Web 2.0 for information literacy instruction is a relatively new area of study, previous research found that these technologies had the potential to help students improve their information literacy competency (Bobish, 2011;Bussert, Brown, & Armstrong, 2008;Chan & Cmor, 2009;Deitering, 2008;Godwin, 2009). Bobish (2011) examined the connection between ACRL IL standards and Web 2.0 as a tool for supporting various learning outcomes listed within the standards that relate to constructivist pedagogy.…”

“…Previous research on the use of Web 2.0 for information literacy instruction typically researched one or two specific Web 2.0 tools (Bussert, Brown, & Armstrong, 2008;Chan & Cmor, 2009;Deitering, 2008;Maggio et al, 2009;Zazzau, 2009). Using four very different Web 2.0 technologies allowed for greater insight into how Web 2.0 could be used for information literacy instruction.…”

“…However, these studies do provide useful information on how specific Web 2.0 tools are being used in libraries and for information literacy instruction. Blogs have been used to promote library events and for information literacy instruction (Chan & Cmor, 2009;Coulter & Draper, 2006;Draper & Turnage, 2008). Wikis have been popular as a portal to course resources (Mackey & McLaughlin, 2008), as a tool to discuss the academic research process (Deitering, 2008) and to foster group work (Zazzau, 2009).…”

Building a User Blog with Evidence: The Health Information Skills Academic Library Blog

“…User statistics are a useful tool (Chan & Cmor, 2009), as blog content is only valuable if it has an audience. The team made use of the StatCounter tool to see which posts are popular, the number of new users, how many users make return visits, the length of time people spend viewing blog content, and the path they take coming into and leaving the site.…”