Weblogging as a part of academic practice: Reflections on graduate students’ early experiences

Weblogs are being used for a range of purposes in education. To support learning, pedagogical and technological implementation issues need to be informed by user experience. In this paper we present the early experiences of nine graduate students who used weblogs during a three month period to support their academic progress. An analysis of participant reflections regarding their expectations, processes, and outcomes from using the weblogs are presented. Generally, participants indicated that they considered the weblog environment to be journal-like and suitable for reflection, and while they found the public nature of the internet inhibiting, they recognized that there was value in publishing their ideas. The perceived lack of interaction was also a factor that constrained value for the participants. Given time, participants recognized that keeping a weblog might prove worthwhile for individual development through writing. Implications for how to make a weblog environment more conducive to the social and developmental needs of graduate students are suggested.