UC prof proves success of student blogging
“Despite the challenges encountered by students, academic blogging is embraced eagerly in the classroom. With proper guidance and consistent practice, our students will become true digital scholars,” University of Cebu – College of Liberal Arts professor Gianne Rensen V. Antonio asserted during the Third International Conference on Teaching, Education and Learning (ICTEL) in Flora Grand Hotel, Deira, Dubai, United Arab Emirates last Feb. 18 to 19.
His mixed-method action research titled “Enhancing Academic Writing Skills through Blogging,” which determined the perceptions of university students on how blogging activities as class requirements improved their academic writing skills, revealed that aside from an enhancement in their scholarly written outputs, students also reported an increase in their levels of social skills, self-confidence, critical thinking and creativity. The challenges encountered by students, however, include time management, video and picture uploads and plagiarism.
The faculty researcher, recognizing the limitations of his study, also noted the insights that can be derived from the difficulties experienced by the students and the need for further investigations relative to this pedagogical innovation.
More than 80 academicians and scholars from all over the world in the research conference showed interest in Antonio’s proposed guidelines and rubric for classroom blogging. During the technical sessions, some participants inquired on the specifics of his methodology and proposals as seed for replication in their respective settings and contexts.
After the series of blind reviews, the research will be published soon in the international journal of the Association for the Development of Teaching, Education and Learning under the Global Research Development Services Publishing. /