IJLM
FORMULATIONS & FINDINGS
Teaching with Blogs: A Case Study of Technologically
Mediated Literacy
Abstract
The mismatch between the print-based literacy
focus of most classrooms and the lived electron-
ic lives of teenagers prompted our case study of
educational blogging. We conducted classroom
observations in an eighth- and a ninth-grade
English class over a two-month period and con-
ducted thematic analyses of blogs created by
the teacher and 28 eighth-grade students. We
observed that the students were engaged in their
class and eager to read and write online and to
collaborate with their peers. They demonstrated
hybrid literacies that met academic, social, and
personal goals. We found that digital literacy as
taught in this class comprised three aspects. First
was proficiency in decoding and comprehending
the symbols of print text (reading), as well as en-
coding (writing) these symbols and integrating
them digitally with other expressive modes, such
as images. Second was technological proficiency
in the use of digital media, or digital fluency.
Third was dynamic engagement in the interac-
tive construction of meaning in a socially appro-
priate way. We propose that these aspects may
serve to guide teachers in implementing digital
literacy pedagogy.
Lapadat, Brown, Thielmann, and McGregor / Teaching with Blogs 63
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doi:10.1162/ijlm_a_00049
© 2011 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Published under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No
Derivative Works 3.0 Unported license
Volume 2, Number 2–3
Judith C. Lapadat
School of Education, University of Northern
British Columbia
lapadat@unbc.ca
Willow I. Brown
School of Education, University of Northern
British Columbia
brown@unbc.ca
Glen Thielmann
School District no. 57, Prince George, BC
gthielmann@sd57.bc.ca
Catherine E. McGregor
Faculty of Education, University of Victoria
cmcgreg@uvic.ca
Keywords
digital literacy
blogs
multimodal literacy
pedagogy