Running head: BLOGS & DISCUSSION THREADS: DIGITAL

Blogs and Discussion Threads: Digital Tools to Enhance Critical Thinking Skills
A Review of Literature
Clara Guerra
Sam Houston State University

BLOGS AND DISCUSSION THREADS: DIGITAL

The world is becoming more technologically complex at a breakneck speed. Just in the
last ten years, smart phones have become ubiquitous in teenagers lives for social
communication, searching information, and photographing their lives. Digital communication is
the ability to create persuasive communications using different forms of media. It is a foundational skill
for many careers today since most people will be involved in some form of conceptualizing, producing,
delivering, and receiving these communications in their jobs and personal lives. In school, its important
for all students to communicate what they know; digital communication levels the playing field. While
some students may struggle with writing, others will find their stronger voice in images, video and audio.
Special-education students may also find it easier to express themselves verbally or through images rather
than in writing (Aho, 2005). Jacobs (2010) suggests that educators should aggressively go out of
their way to search for better ways to help their learners demonstrate learning with the different
types of products and performances that match our times (p. 25). She also suggests that to make
the 21st century learning skills meaningful to specific learners is to translate them into highly
discrete classroom applications connected to the assessment types and to the curriculum content.
(Jacobs, 2010, p. 26)
One of the primary responsibilities for K-12 schools is to prepare all students to become
21st century learners; students must demonstrate the ability to become critical thinkers and
proficient technology users. These generic skills endorsed by national organizations and
businesses are often referred to as part of the 4Cs (collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and
communication) espoused by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (www.p21.org). Therefore
educators that use digital communication tools in their classrooms allow students to develop both
their technology and 21st century skills simultaneously.

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Overview of Research and Studies

The purpose of this literature review is to provide research in support of using blogs and
discussion threads as digital communication tools to enhance critical thinking skills in students.
Overall, research studies have found a positive effect of digital communication tools on students
outcomes. These outcomes include students academic performance, enhancing their critical
thinking and problem solving skill development, increase the students satisfaction, improved
students understanding of their subjects and effectively reinforcing active learning process
(Lennon, 2010; Luehmann, A. L., & Frink, J. (2009); Mosley, Darper, & Waller (2012);
Prettyman, Ward, Jauk, & Awad (2012); Sawmiller (2010)). Much has been written on the
success of blogs and discussion threads at developing critical thinking skills in STEM academies,
undergraduate schools, and graduate universities which may be due to better technology
infrastructure and strong implementation of distance learning and online courses (Chih-Hsiung
Tu, C., Blocher, M. M., & Gallagher, L. L. (2010); Ellison, N. B., & Wu, Y. (2008); Ertmer, P. A.,
Sadaf, A., & Ertmer, D. (2011); Mosley, Darper, & Waller (2012); Prettyman, Ward, Jauk, &
Awad (2012); Shana, Z. Z., & Abulibdehb, E. E. (2015)). There is little research supporting
similar results at the middle school level in public schools with economically-disadvantaged
student populations. There is evidence that positively points to middle school students interest in
the use of blogs as a digital tool to communicate their thoughts and ideas as shown in a study of
nine classroom blogs in which five were in high school classrooms and four were from middle
school classrooms. The study rated one of the middle school blogs as exceptional in terms of
number of lines responded compared to the rest of the classroom blogs (Luehmann, A. L., &
Frink, J., 2009).

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Summary and Conclusion
Through blog forums, discussion threads, electronic journals, presentations and
traditional written products, students are providing their teachers with a window into their
thoughts and are an effective means of assessment of their learning. Special student populations
such as special education students and English language learners can show that progress of
learning through their development of technology skills and in turn demonstrate improved
critical thinking skills when they critique their peers body of work in a forum. As their fluency
with these tools continues to develop, the students will have a digital toolbox for engaging
confidently and competently with increasingly complex digital information in school and for
navigating their lives. Blogs and discussion threads are continuously being updated to include
visual, audio, and video technology in which all students can participate in spite of their
limitations. There is no way of knowing what technology will be available to todays middle
school students when they reach college or the workforce in five years. However, what we do
know is that middle school students will need improved skills to communicate, create, critically
think and collaborate successfully in the 21st century.

BLOGS AND DISCUSSION THREADS: DIGITAL

References
Aho, K. (2005). Teaching Digital Communication to All Students. T H E Journal, 32(10), p. 34.
Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2005/05/01/Teaching-DigitalCommunication-to-All-Students.aspx
*Chih-Hsiung Tu, C., Blocher, M. M., & Gallagher, L. L. (2010). Asynchronous Network
Discussions as Organizational Scaffold Learning: Threaded vs. Flat-Structured
Discussion Boards. Journal of Educational Technology Development & Exchange, 3(1),
pp. 43-56.
*Ellison, N. B., & Wu, Y. (2008). Blogging in the Classroom: A Preliminary Exploration of
Student Attitudes and Impact on Comprehension. Journal of Educational Multimedia and
Hypermedia, 17(1), 99-122.
*Ertmer, P. A., Sadaf, A., & Ertmer, D. (2011). Designing Effective Question Prompts to
Facilitate Critical Thinking in Online Discussions. Design Principles & Practice: An
International Journal, 5(4), pp.1-28.
Jacobs, H.H. (2010). Upgrading the Curriculum: 21st Century Assessment Types and Skills. In
H.H. Jacobs (Ed.), Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World (pp. 1829). Alexandra, VA: ASCD
Lennon, S.M. (2010). Using Online Learning Platforms to Enhance Students' Reflective and
Critical Thinking. (2010). Journal of Educational Technology, 7(2), pp. 8-17.
*Luehmann, A. L., & Frink, J. (2009). How Can Blogging Help Teachers Realize the Goals of
Reform-based Science Instruction? A Study of Nine Classroom Blogs. Journal of Science
Education and Technology, (3). P. 275.

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McVerry, J. G. (2007). Forums and Functions of Threaded Discussions. New England Reading
Association Journal, 43(1), pp. 79-85.
*Mosley, B. F., Draper, S. R., & Waller, L. S. (2012). Youth Technology Program (YTP): Using
Digital Tools to Promote Critical Thinking. National Teacher Education Journal, 5(3),
pp.71-75
*Prettyman, S. S, Ward, C. C., Jauk, D. d., & Awad, G. G. (2012). 21st Century Learners:
Voices of Students in a One-to-One STEM Environment. Journal Of Applied Learning
Technology, 2(4), pp. 6-15.
Serim, F. (2011). Digital Learning. [electronic resource] : Strengthening and Assessing 21st
Century Skills, Grades 5-8. Hoboken : John Wiley & Sons, 2011. p. 46.
*Shana, Z. Z., & Abulibdehb, E. E. (2015). Engaging Students through Blogs: Using Blogs to
Boost a Course Experience. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning,
10(1), 30-38. doi:10.3991/ijet.v10i1.4240
*Yang, D. J. (2011). The development of a content analysis model for assessing students'
cognitive learning in asynchronous online discussions. Educational Technology Research
& Development, 59(1), pp. 43-70.