2. ENGAGING STUDENTS IN REFLECTIONS WITH BLOG
Numerous strategies have been recommended for encouraging reflection, such as Socratic questioning, journal writing, Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR), and reflecting teams. Journal writing as a feature of webblog serves a number of purposes, including allowing a student to externalize his or her reflections on experiences and then to reframe experiences within the current context (Pinkman, 2005). Writing about their experiences may allow students to think critically and develop keener insights into assumptions and beliefs that can interfere with their judgments. It also suggested that students liked journal writing because it permitted instructors to “monitor” students’ development and journals help them form connection between concepts in class and everyday experiences. One technology-based instantiation of journaling has emerged in the form of tools and practices surrounding personal Webpublishing. The most common instantiation of personal Webpublishing is a Weblog, which offers mechanisms for learners to publish their thoughts, commentaries, and reflections in the form of individual posts on a Web page. The individual posts are time stamped, archived, and appear in reverse chronological order: that is, the most recent posts appear on the top of the page and older posts are at the bottom of the page. Weblogs allow for personalization and customization by individual Webloggers.