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ERIC Number: EJ1055396
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-Apr
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0092-055X
EISSN: N/A
Private Journals versus Public Blogs: The Impact of Peer Readership on Low-Stakes Reflective Writing
Foster, Drew
Teaching Sociology, v43 n2 p104-114 Apr 2015
This article isolates and observes the impact of peer readership on low-stakes reflective writing assignments in two large Introduction to Sociology classes. Through a comparative content analysis of over 2,000 private reflective journal entries and semipublic reflective blog posts, I find that both practices produce distinct forms of reflection. I argue that these differences can be understood in terms of the risks that students take in their writing. Journals, which do not incorporate peer readership, appear to compel students to take more personal risks and engage in emotional labor to process assigned materials. Blogs, which do incorporate peer readership, enable students to take more intellectual risks and engage in logical mental endeavors. The results suggest that instructors should be cognizant of the variety of risks their assignments are likely to compel students to make as they determine how best to engage students in reflection on sociological materials and ideas.
SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Michigan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A