Collaborative Literacy: Blogs and Internet Projects

TLDR

Popular technologies such as blogs and collaborative Internet projects enable authentic, process‑oriented writing and online interaction, offering new ways to engage students in multimedia‑rich collaborative writing. These activities increase student motivation and literacy engagement by encouraging meaningful, authentic reading, writing, and creation.

Abstract

Popular technologies offer new and exciting ways to capitalize on the strengths of authentic writing, the power of the writing process, and the engagement of collaborative writing. Blogs are one of those technologies. Blogs are websites that allow individuals to create personal webpages of text, pictures, graphics, videos, and other multimedia with the same ease as creating a word processing document. Unlike traditional websites, however, they provide a space where people can post comments and engage in online conversations. Collaborative Internet projects are another way to use technology in the classroom. Such activities can result in increased motivation and literacy engagement as students read, write, create, and produce for meaningful and authentic purposes.