1. Introduction

The more time I spend integrating web-logs into my teaching pedagogy, the more I am convinced they are wonderful tools in the classroom.

The level of engagement in my students is powerfully seen in the pride they take in their work. They know their parents and classmates will be scrutinising and analysing every word they write and they are – for the most part – fastidious in their care about what and how they compose their texts. Described by Alexander (2006, p.8) as “social software”, blogs provide the perfect platform for creativity. They are entirely malleable to the student’s desires and the teacher’s tasks.

The learning – when lessons are properly planned – is deep and far-reaching, allowing for each and every aspect of a quality lesson. Planning, explaining desired outcomes, engaging, striving, feedback and positive reinforcement.

It is a very simple task for students to combine their blog with other multimedia and Web 2.0 technologies. Their blog can be linked with Twitter, Facebook or MySpace and they can ‘subscribe’ to other students blog, thus creating a powerful and learning-rich learning environment.

I chose this platform over other Web 2.0 technologies as “blogs are a popular way to help students engage with text and provide opportunities for an authentic writing experience…to develop [more] authentic topics” (Robyler & Doering, 2010, p.287). For me, as an English teacher, this is paramount.

Well-documented is the fall in the quality and quantity that students in many secondary schools produce. There seems to be a pervading thought that essays and assessment tasks can be somewhat rote-learned and this has always disappointed me. We should be eschewing such notions in favour of academic writing with purpose, creativity and drive.

Web-logs allow for such learning to take place.

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