In this last segment of the series, I explore the challenges facing educators seeking to use blogging as an educational tool, and argue for the need for a more comprehensive edublogging framework.

In every case study I examined, instructors encountered challenges with providing instruction using blogging.

In most cases students were not adequately prepared to participate in blogging. Though students generally

agreed or remained largely neutral about the potential benefits of edu-blogging when asked during summative

assessments, they mentioned that those actual benefits had not been experienced during the courses

they took. In fact, both students and instructors struggled with learning new technologies and learning

how to use them effectively. In general, most students neglected their blogs, and did not post regularly

or comment on other learners’ ideas. Students needed more structure and support than expected.

In addition, the rates of participation, the depth of engagement, and the amount of reflective blogging

and discourse among students and their instructors was less than anticipated.

Much of the confusion surrounding the effectiveness of edu-blogs is attributed to the various ways

edu-blogging is described in terms of its benefits to learners. The lack of focus on purpose,

combined with confusion over which instructional strategies are effective for edu-blogging, can result

in poor choices when deploying edu-blogs for instruction with beginner bloggers (which is applicable

for both students and instructors). Combined with the lack of experience instructors have with actually

maintaining one’s own blog over an extended period of time, there is insufficient feedback and support

from mentors with the required expertise. Cognitive apprenticeship and mentoring cannot occur

effectively under such condition.  Moreover, when instructional strategies associated with other forms

of instruction are being grafted on to edu-blogs (such as learning journals or forums), instruction

will not be as effective. Blogs are not threaded discussion forums or hard-copy personal learning

journals, and yet the benefits from these other strategies are anticipated by educators for edu-blogs.

However, edu-blogs should not be considered hands-off by instructors, considered as students’

learning spaces that act as virtual sandboxes without guidelines, support, feedback, or direction

from instructors. In effect, a more inclusive framework for using edu-blogs needs to be developed,

based on providing the appropriate level of support, the appropriate instructional strategies, and the

most effective assessment tools. Such an alternative framework needs to account for the various ways

blogs are used, but also account for the ethical concerns.