An emancipating space

Reflective and collaborative blogging

Abstract

This paper discusses the philosophy behind utilizing blogs to engage Postgraduate learners at the College of Fine Arts (COFA) University of New South Wales (UNSW). Digital diaries (Gleaves, Walker & Grey, 2007) were established to enable a reflexive and collaborative space in which students could discuss and reflect on their personal experiences while completing a compulsory arts industry Internship. The virtual learning environment (VLE) through my eLearning Vista allowed for a range of asynchronous communication initially in the discussion forum (DF) for these online learners to increase student engagement while completing their internship. The DF did allow students to collaborate and discuss their work practices in the arts industry it however, did not offer students the reflective learning space that a digital blog diary could provide. It will be argued that blogs are effective teaching and learning tool for engaging students proactively in a collaborative learning space in higher education.