Supporting Transparency between Students
Christian Dalsgaard1
1 Aarhus University/Department of Information and Media Studies, Aarhus, Denmark in this link
In this case study we can see that it is possible to make students visible through their writings and questions, primarily through weblogs and, to some extent, through social bookmarking.
Students’ thoughts, opinions and understandings were brought into class. Because weblogs
are created and managed by the students themselves, they gain ownership of the weblog. This means that they decide how to use it. This kind of ownership is more difficult to achieve with a discussion forum created by a teacher within an institutional LMS. This personal nature of weblogs might be the reason why students also wrote posts that did not directly relate to the assignments.;)
In that sense, weblogs encourage empowerment, because they are open to individual or personal writings of students.
However, the study showed that the personal writings on the weblogs were limited. Whereas the weblogs were used for group work and primarily for writings of direct relevance to the entire class, it was obvious that the students used social bookmarking first and foremost as a personal tool. From the point of view of transparency, the problem with the employment of social bookmarking in the case study was that they were not read very much by other students. Also, students’ answers in the questionnaire indicate that a weblog was not the most suitable tool to support their collaborative group work.
Although the weblogs supported transparency, they did not fully support the collaborative work of the students. The case study has shown that use of digital media for transparency can support empowerment of students and inspiration among students in a course. First of all, students used the writings of fellow students for inspiration. Secondly, students were made more visible in
the course through their weblogs. This meant that they had influence on the content of the seminars.
However, the conclusions of the case study also pose a challenge to support of transparency and empowerment. The challenge is to create a balance between personal tools and tools for collaborative group work that are also suitable for transparency between students.
Students’ thoughts, opinions and understandings were brought into class. Because weblogs
are created and managed by the students themselves, they gain ownership of the weblog. This means that they decide how to use it. This kind of ownership is more difficult to achieve with a discussion forum created by a teacher within an institutional LMS. This personal nature of weblogs might be the reason why students also wrote posts that did not directly relate to the assignments.;)
In that sense, weblogs encourage empowerment, because they are open to individual or personal writings of students.
However, the study showed that the personal writings on the weblogs were limited. Whereas the weblogs were used for group work and primarily for writings of direct relevance to the entire class, it was obvious that the students used social bookmarking first and foremost as a personal tool. From the point of view of transparency, the problem with the employment of social bookmarking in the case study was that they were not read very much by other students. Also, students’ answers in the questionnaire indicate that a weblog was not the most suitable tool to support their collaborative group work.
Although the weblogs supported transparency, they did not fully support the collaborative work of the students. The case study has shown that use of digital media for transparency can support empowerment of students and inspiration among students in a course. First of all, students used the writings of fellow students for inspiration. Secondly, students were made more visible in
the course through their weblogs. This meant that they had influence on the content of the seminars.
However, the conclusions of the case study also pose a challenge to support of transparency and empowerment. The challenge is to create a balance between personal tools and tools for collaborative group work that are also suitable for transparency between students.
Christian Dalsgaard1
1 Aarhus University/Department of Information and Media Studies, Aarhus, Denmark in this link
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