The use of blogs in education: A short overview of the Brazilian scientific production in the past decade

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14244/19827199746

Blogs are used for communication and interaction among people, and have been used in the educational context as a resource and pedagogical strategy, or as a reflective portfolio and collaboration space, in the informal continuing education of teachers. This study aims to describe how blogs are being used in the teaching context, and the impacts of their use. To this end, we carried out a survey of theses and dissertations on this topic, published in the past ten years, in the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD), Brazil, using the descriptors 'blog', 'blogs', 'blogue' and 'blogues'. We selected the theses and dissertations that dealt with the use of blogs in the educational context both in their utilization as educational resources and as tools in the training of teachers. In order to select these theses and dissertations, the abstracts were read, selected, and then the full paper was analyzed. Three theses and 12 dissertations were selected. They were categorized according to the area of knowledge in which they were produced, year of publication, focus of the research, and impact in the educational context. The results show that the papers were produced mainly in the area of education, and that 40% of them were published in 2011. These studies present different focuses, which may be classified into (i) analysis of blogs, (ii) application for teaching, and (iii) teacher training. These studies show that the impacts of the use of blogs in education are positive, because they help in the process of teaching and learning, but they can be negative if teachers do not change their attitude.

Keywords: Blogs, Education, Pedagogical practice.