Questionnaire - Instructors

A questionnaire on blogs was distributed to all of the instructors in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures.
Of the 37 instructors who received the questionnaire, 16 returned it. Of the 16 who returned it 8 had never used blogs and 8 had used blogs.

Of the 8 instructors who had never used a blog, 6 were interested in a meeting to learn more about blogs. 4 commented on why they had never used blogs.
a) I don't know much about them.
b) I don't know much about technology and I really don't have the time to learn.
c) I don't know if it would be useful.
d) I have so small classes.

Of the 8 instructors who said they are using blogs in their classes, 7 were doing so this semester. One instructor was using the blog in two different classes and therefore sometimes doubled up answers. (See below)

Of the 8 respondents, only 2 had their own blog before starting the project, and 4 were regular readers of blogs.

On the questions of what motivated them to start a blog-project all 8 responded:
a) Incorporating technology in a new way, allowing students to write more and more freely as well as to read each other's writing. I also liked how I could "collect" assignments without accumulating paper!
b) Occupy lab-time in a useful, friendly and practical way.
c) It was important in the ML525 class for students to have experience with different types of technology enhanced learning. Our class worked jointly with an EFL/ESL methods course at UMD College Park to discuss a movie together.
c) Reading my daughter's blog and creating my own, I thought this would be ideal for language learning. Especially the idea that the students don't write only for me, but for a bigger audience. It is published.
d) Everyone else was doing it. Encourage writing.
e) It allowed me to ask my students questions about their lives without taking up class time.
f) I thought it would motivate students to write because it's modern and personal.
g) Others were using them and reported being happy with the successful outcomes. Good twist on the traditional response paper, to prep for class discussions in conversation class, because students could respond to each other and continue the discussion after class. I tried with 102, but stopped.

How do instructors use blogs? In most classes (8 of 9) [here we have one class more than instructors since one instructor reports on two different classes] the instructor has a blog to which students respond on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. In 3 of the 9 classes students have their own blogs. In 5 of the classes, students work on the blogs primarily in lab, and in four classes primarily or only at home. (In the 203-204 classes there are no labs). In 4 of the 9 classes the blogs were graded, in the 5 others not. No instructor corrected the blogs. 2 classes used the blogs as an extension of the textbook, 7 did not. The instructor perceived that the students liked blogging in 6 classes. Only in 1 class did the instructor think that the students did like blogging. The instructor perceived that the students improved their writing in 5 classes. In 1 class the instructor believed that the students did not improve their writing and in 3 classes the instructor had no opinion. The instructor perceived that the students improved their reading in 5 classes, and in the other 4 classes the instructor had no opinion. [This of course is only how the instructor perceived ''improvement'' since no scientific methods were used to measure improvement.] In 8 of the 9 classes the instructor was of the opinion that the students liked blogging. In one class, the instructor believed that the students did not like it. The instructors spent varying amounts of time on blogging. 3 instructors reported 1-2 hours per week, 2 less than 1 hour, and 2 instructors spent more than 2 hours a week.

Of the 8 instructors who use blogs, 6 would like to meet to discuss and share ideas. One instructor would not like to meet and one did not answer this question. [In all, it seems that 12 instructors are interested to learn more and/or discuss blogging.]

Other comments:

Instructor 1. I Had it done before and during the first 5 minuets of class. It'd be better at home.

Instructor 2. It is extra work to keep up with the blogs, but it is a lot of fun.

Instructor 3. It can be daunting to create a blog for a not very experienced user. Once created, they are very easy to use.

Instructor 4. One drawback of blogs is the repetition of errors. Students will inadvertently copy incorrect expressions form their peers. Could we see what you presented at the conference?

Instructor 5. The blogs can be read by my conversation class and by my colleague's class in France. The idea was for my students to write in French, hers in English, but so far the French students seem reticent. However they were intrigued and had some interesting reactions when my friend showed them stuff from my students in class.