Communicating Educational Research to Teachers Through Features of Social Media and Modeling on a Blogging Platform

• In Event: 60.085 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: 60.085-3 - Learning Environments: Social, Mobile, and Active

Abstract

With a blog that pairs educational theories with classroom activities, this study disseminated research to teachers in an applicable form. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions that varied in levels of communication. The control condition was exposed to a static website. One experimental condition experienced a natural blog that allowed teachers to communicate with each other and the researchers, and the second experimental condition was exposed to a vicarious experience blog. This condition included instances of implicit written modeling in the form of comments. Using pre- and post-test assessments to evaluate teachers’ level of educational research content knowledge, results showed higher levels of learning in the groups with the implicit modeling compared to the control condition.

Authors

• Meredith Derian-Toth, McGill University

• Krista R. Muis, McGill University

• Tara Tressel, McGill University