The Changing Roles of Staff and Student Within a Connectivist Educational Blog Model Elaine Garcia 1 , Mel Brown 1 and Ibrahim Elbeltagi 2 1 Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth, UK 2 University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK egarcia@plymouthart.ac.uk melbrown@plymouthart.ac.uk i.elbeltagi@plymouth.ac.uk Abstract: Whilst the use of web 2.0 tools and specifically blogs is becoming increasingly popular within Higher Education (HE) and has been shown to promote learning (Garcia, Brown & Elbeltagi, 2012) relatively little is known about the manner in which such tools may affect the roles of both staff and students within teaching and learning. It is within this context that connectivism, a learning theory for the digital age, provides a model through which the roles of staff and students when using collective student blogs for teaching and learning can be considered. Within this research a case study of a collective student blog project, undertaken by students based within an HE institution, is utilised to explore the changing nature of the roles of both staff and students through a connectivist-learning model of blog usage. From this case study it would appear that connectivism does provide a sound theoretical model for the way in which staff and student roles may change as a result of the use of blogs within teaching and learning. However the experience of staff and students who undertook the project suggests that whilst a number of elements of the connectivist model can be identified, these are not seen universally amongst all students. Where a connectivist model of learning through blogs can be seen to be effective, staff were considered to be able to be more constructively critical in their feedback whilst being less directly involved in formative feedback to the student, which was welcomed by staff. Students meanwhile also considered benefits to exist and these largely related to the manner in which students were able to provide and receive peer review and feedback in a more critical and constructive way than they had before, seeing the benefits this could provide. These benefits were however dependent upon other group members also responding in a timely and constructive manner. Keywords: blogs, connectivism, higher education, changing academic staff roles, changing student roles 1. Introduction The use of Web 2.0 within Higher Education (HE) has become increasingly popular in recent years and consequently much has been written concerning the manner in which such tools can be used to enhance teaching and learning. What has been less clearly articulated however is the manner in which such tools can fundamentally change student and staff roles, not only as a result of the use of technology but also the effect that the use of such tools has on how learning occurs. This has led, particularly through the use of blogs, to the development of new forms of teaching, learning, pedagogy and learning theories. One of the most relevant theories, to come to prominence due to the rise of Web 2.0 is Connectivism. Connectivism is not an area in which a great deal of research has been conducted particularly in relation to the use of blogs within teaching and learning and the effect the use of blogs may have on both staff and student roles. The roles of both staff and students are particularly important within a connectivist-learning model and this is therefore an area that requires further investigation. Before considering the extent to which blogs reflect a connectivist-learning model and the manner in which this affects staff and student roles, in terms of both teaching and learning, it will be first necessary to consider the nature of connectivism as a teaching and learning theory before considering the manner in which this will be reflected in the use of blogs for teaching and learning. 2. Connectivism The learning theory of connectivism was developed as a result of a belief that there was a need for a learning theory, which took into account the manner in which society has changed as a result of the new technologies of the digital age. (Siemens, 2004) Connectivism is driven by the influence of social constructivism, network theory and chaos theory (Couros, 2009) and highlights the importance of learners making connections, which allow the flow of information to occur between the learner and their learning community. (Kop & Hill, 2008) 165