Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of students' meaning-making processes, as they are part of an e-assessment practice via written blog posting upon their own, and their co-students' performances, presented online through shared video media. Design/methodology/approach: The research relies on qualitative data to provide an analysis of students' use of the educational technology tool called VoiceThread[C]. These data were provided by collecting Swedish higher education students' postings and comments in relation to two video clips published in VoiceThread. The formal learning sequence model by Selander together with theories on communication and reflection were used in the analysis. Findings: The data and the analysis show that shared video media and blogging embrace a potential to facilitate communication and reflection among online higher education students. In addition, the design of the course seems to strengthen the use of formative e-assessment. Research limitations/implications: The research reported on in this paper should, preferably, be followed by additional research on educational technology, social software and e-assessment; informed design of practices of formative e-assessment; and the role of formative e-assessment in the facilitating and enhancement of the students' learning and meaning-making processes. Practical implications: This paper provides researched-based ideas of ways in which teachers in online higher education can design their courses, if they want to cultivate the students' communicative and reflective skills. Originality/value: This paper provides an important insight into the use of shared video media and blogging in online higher education, especially, the way it can be designed for within a formative e-assessment course approach. (Contains 6 figures.)