Current Research on Blogging

There is tons of research out there on blogging in high school and post-secondary schools.  From what I could find, most of the literature on the use of blogs in elementary classrooms are anecdotal, reports, or case study based.  However, one study in particular (McGrail and Davis, 2011) supported the articles in their suggestion that blogging can be a useful tool  in improving student writing.  I found this paper the most interesting, particularly in the way the were able to quantify changes in writing that occurred over the course of the project.  Another (Lin, Lin and Hsu, 2011) suggested that the technology needed for blogging was so complicated and time-consuming that it's hardly worth the effort, even though improvements in writing were seen.  This study came out of Taiwan, and I can only imagine what hoops they had to jump through to be able to get onto blogs.  At least I just turn on my VPN!
From the articles I read it seems pretty clear that blogging can definitely improve student writing, but it's obviously not a magical solution.  Classroom teachers need to put a lot of planning and organization into a blog project...but what good teaching strategy doesn't require some forethought?

For my full annotated bibliography and literature review click......here!

McGrail, E., & Davis, A. (2011). The Influence of Classroom Blogging on Elementary Student Writing. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 25(4), 415–437.

Lin, M.-H., Lin, C.-Y., & Hsu, P.-Y. (2011). The unrealistic claims for the effects of classroom blogging on English as a second language, students’ writing performance. British Journal of Educational Technology, 42(6), E148–E151.