Blogging for beginners? Using blogs and eportfolios in Teacher Education.

Abstract

This paper explores the use of an eportfolio and an educational blog within, and beyond, a professional pre-service teacher education programme, the Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) for the post-compulsory sector. Writing within dialogic storytelling practices in an online environment allows student teacher development and identity to be seen “as a gradual ‘coming to know’” (Winter, 2003, p.120) dependent upon connections and interactions with others through both text and non-text formats such as metaphor, music and video. The authors explore their personal experiences as teacher (Julie) and learner (Emma) and eportfolio’s potential for longer term impact on and in their professional teaching lives.