摘要：Objectives. We evaluated whether “seminar blogs” enhanced learning in a large graduate-level introductory public health school class. Methods. Sixty students were divided into 6 online blog groups. Students posted their assignments (case analyses, news commentaries), prompting comments from other students. Anonymous poll surveys of students were conducted at midpoint and at the end of the course. Results. Sixty percent reported that blog participation enriched their learning quite a bit, 34% a small amount, and 6% not at all; 54% said that the blogs provided opportunities to learn from classmates. When comparing writing on the blog to speaking in class, 60% found it easier, 30% about the same, and 10% harder. About 65% said that skills attained by participating in blogs were useful for current or future work. Major criticisms involved time issues. Conclusions. Small seminar blogs offer opportunities for increased student participation, interaction, and learning. To be most effective and appealing, assignments for postings need to allow sufficient time for commentary. This educational technology has potential to expand the classroom experience and is worthy of further development and testing. Introductory classes at public health schools often use a lecture format to teach a large group of diverse students. This structure does not utilize principles associated with enhanced learning outcomes and good practice in education, such as promoting student interchange and collaboration, encouraging active learning, and facilitating different learning styles. 1 – 3 Active learning “involves students in doing things and thinking about the things they are doing” 1 (p2) and has been found to be effective for learning content and “probably superior to lectures in promoting the development of students’ skills in thinking and writing” 1 (iii) Examples of active learning include case-based discussions, debates, simulations, cooperative learning, and problem-based learning. Some educational settings have created a more active learning environment through the introduction of educational online technologies, such as “Web logs” (a name that has been condensed to “blogs”). Blogs started out primarily as a self-publishing movement for professional and armchair journalists writing for an open online press. 5 – 7 Some writing and humanities classes have adapted this digital diary format as a way for students to immediately and publicly present their work and obtain commentary and feedback from teachers and fellow classmates. 8 The educational use of blogs has expanded to include diverse age groups (see http://educational.blogs.com ) and fields of study. 9 Blogs can be used in education as individual platforms for sharing personal and professional commentary, as course platforms that invite comments on controversial questions from students (such as the class blog for the Harvard University course Justice: Moral Reasoning 10 ), and as collaborative research platforms. Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society has organized projects to explore the potential benefits of blog technology in a variety of educational and community-building projects and contexts ( http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/weblogs_at_harvard_law ). 11 There are also organizations that promote online education and publish articles that describe these endeavors (such as http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/index.asp and http://www.sloan-c.org/index.asp ). Despite this burgeoning use of innovative technology in educational and professional settings, research assessing the impact of blogs and online discussion groups on student learning is limited. Publications in peer-reviewed journals are scarce. 9 We have found no studies describing or assessing blog discussion groups in public health classes. In an effort to promote student collaboration and learning in a graduate level environmental health course, we introduced the use of what we termed “seminar blogs” (small groups of students engaged in online discussions of cases and news articles). We surveyed students on the impact on their learning and solicited feedback about their experience. We hypothesized that this intervention would increase student participation and enrich learning of environmental health issues. We also hypothesized that, although there was little face-to-face contact, some level of group dynamic would develop within the separate groups.
