Using assessed blogs to enhance student engagement

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the powerful role of blogging to promote student engagement. We use the experience of students on four courses at one university, which all included blogging in their assessment portfolio. The paper draws on focus groups undertaken with the students participating in the courses to provide a detailed examination of how and why blogging fosters engagement. We show how a focus on assessment practices, including blogging, is an important addition to the literature on student engagement. In the empirical section, we present detailed findings from the student interviews, including discussion of how blogging enables students to develop their own voices as part of the writing process. The evidence suggests that a broader understanding of student engagement depends not only on the complex interaction between students and assessment practices, but on understanding the role of students’ investment in the learning process.