The blog to motivate students to write

Writing a blog in class helps increase students' writing motivation throughout the school year. This is at least one of the elements that emerge from a study carried out among two sixth-year classes by professors Stéphane Allaire, Pascale Thériault and their team from the University of Quebec in Chicoutimi last year.

In one class, blogging was mandatory while in the other it was optional. The topics of the posts were determined by the students and the sport emerged as the most popular. The main goal of the two teachers was to make the pupils want to write. While the motivation of young bloggers increased significantly, that "of students who have not used the blog decreased significantly between the beginning and the end of the school year", we note in the report of research published this fall.

“Although the motivation of the girls was higher than that of the boys, the motivation of the latter did not decrease during the year (contrary to what generally happens), which can be seen with a good eye. considering the current issues in terms of school perseverance for boys, ”say the researchers. They also find that imposing the project does not necessarily thwart student engagement. Unsurprisingly, it was the young people who liked to write the most who wrote the most posts.

Write for the world

Teachers in both classes insisted on the public nature of the blog. However, the researchers observe, "it is not because the tool makes it possible to reach the whole world that the latter necessarily comes to the pupils". In fact, the young people received very few comments following their writings. “However, on the motivational level, this did not have a negative impact, which raises questions about the real need for fully public writing to engage students. In particular, in class 2, from the middle of the school year, the pupils began to comment on each other's posts and that was appreciated, ”it is mentioned.

Read also :

The blog, a tool for learning to write

Internet and social media generation: unstructured education

Social media is entering the classroom