This document summarizes a study on using blogs to connect students personally to course material on the history of religion. Researchers had students in a university history of religion course blog twice weekly about readings and personal reflections. Analysis found blogging encouraged deeper engagement with readings and provided an outlet for personal perspectives. While some found it time-consuming, most students enjoyed the format and it correlated with better exam performance. The semi-private nature of the blogs created a safe space for discussion of potentially sensitive personal views and histories.

1. RELIGIOUS NARRATIVES AND
NETWORKED LEARNING
SPACES:
USING BLOGS TO CONNECT
INDIVIDUALS TO HISTORY
George S. Williamson
Vanessa P. Dennen
Florida State University

2. Study Context:
History of Religion Course
■ Upper level undergraduate elective course
■ Mostly history majors, a few religion majors
■ Modern European religious history, Enlightenment – post 1945
■ Expansive treatment of “religion” (includes Protestantism, Catholicism, Russian
Orthodoxy, Judaism, aesthetic and political “religions,” spiritualism and the
occult, secularist or scientific “worldviews”). “Confession” as key analytical term.

3. Why blog?
■ Issue: Course topic is potentially sensitive
– Students have personal narratives related to overarching topic
– Individual students benefit from exploring the relationship between personal
religious narratives and historical ones
– Students benefit from practice with academic writing about topic before
completing formal papers and tests
■ Solution: Blogs
– Provide students with outlet for sharing their personal thoughts about
religion and history
– Space to practice writing about historical narratives of religion

4. Research Questions
1. How did students perceive the use of blogs to explore personal connections to
the readings and course material?
2. How did the use of a semi-private networked public space contribute to the
students’ experience?
3. How did the blogging assignment contribute to student learning outcomes?

5. Method
Participants: 34 students in course
Data collection:
1. Student blogs
2. Student grades
3. End-of-term survey (response: 25 / 73.5%)
4. Instructor reflections
Approved by ethics board, and students provided consent.

6. Blogging Assignment
■ Instructor created “disposable blogs” (Pimpare & Fast, 2008)
– Edublogs
– Pseudonyms for all
– Not indexed
– Not shared (unless student chose to do so)
■ Requirement
– 2 posts per week (1 on readings, 1 self-selected)
Pimpare, S. & Fast, J. (2008). The disposable blog: Using the weblog to facilitate classroom
learning and communication. The Journal of Effective Teaching, 8(1), 3-12.

9. Example: Blog Post and Comment
■ Student: Recently in one of my literature classes I made a connection that I most
certainly would not have if not for our “Formation of European Christianity”
lecture. One of the assigned readings for my English class was Jonathan Edwards’
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Recognizing that Edwards was a Calvinist, I
began to familiarize myself with the text much more quickly than I would have if I knew
nothing about Calvinism. …
■ Instructor reply: I’m glad you were able to draw that parallel. It would be interesting to
know just how big a role the “hellfire and damnation” rhetoric characteristic of people
lke Jonathan Edwards played in early Calvinist thought. Certainly there were very few
“revivals” among the early Calvinists (which is how Edwards made his reputation).

10. Example: Blog Post and Comment
■ Student: After learning what the term “theodicy” meant in class on Monday, I began
trace my thought process regarding God’s omnipotence and goodness. As a child I
could never understand why bad things were happening to me at certain times if God
was always watching out for me. As I grew older I began to train myself to think that it
was all part of molding my character, or a sort of test.
■ Instructor: I’m glad this topic struck a chord with you. It has certainly been a stumbling
block for me in my attempts to understand history and the role (if any) of divine
providence within in it. It is also interesting (to me) that this event provoked not only a
deep reconsideration of theodicy but also so many different responses to this problem.

11. Example: Student Sharing Personal
POV
I agree with the statement: “Now that there no longer is and never again can be an
exclusive national religion tolerance should be shown to all those that tolerate others, so
long as their dogmas contain nothing contrary to the duties of a citizen.”
I think that if a nation wants to expand its territory a battle should not involve religious
prosecution. The battle should involve each nation on a strategic defense and
offense situation and thats all. If there is not a national religion then the beliefs of each
individual should be kept to themselves and they should praise their god how they believe
they should. Too many times other countries prosecute one another for not having the same
religious beliefs. This shows a man ignorance and selfishness.

12. Example: Student tying in outside
sources
While scouring the internet to fulfill one of my duties as a student (time-wasting,) I
came upon this small excerpt about European religion.
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Religion_in_Europe
As might be assumed based on our previous readings, it shows a drift towards an
atheistic belief. However, I found it interesting that some countries didn’t seem far
off from the United States, and that maybe looking at as US vs. Europe is skewing
the religious score in our favor. The link above states that the United Kingdom has
around a 70% Christian population while having 15% state they have no religious
affiliations.

13. Findings: Student Impressions of Blog
Assignment (Overview)
■ T-test showed NSD in interest in blogging from beginning to end
■ At end, 17 students (63%) were interested in blogging and 19 (76%) reported
enjoying the experience.

14. Findings: Student Impressions of
Blog Assignment (Positive Elements)
Comments:
I do not like to speak in class so I liked how I was able to share my ideas and
thoughts about different topics we discussed
I enjoyed writing on whatever I wanted related to the class
I liked being able to use technology in an effective manner and utilize a virtually
untapped way to learn
Getting to explore the readings in connection to ideas not necessarily pertinent to
class discussion but that interest me
I liked posting my thoughts in general on religion and getting instructor feedback on
them

15. Findings: Student Impressions of
Blog Assignment (Positive Elements)
Summary of open comments related to learning / studying:
Pushed to read more deeply (n=15)
Reinforced class sessions (n=4)
Practice writing on course topic (n=3)
Pushed to keep up with readings (n=2)

16. Findings: Student Impressions of
Blog Assignment (Negative Elements)
■ Workload was too much (11)
■ Forgot to do it (4)
■ Challenge to come up with topics (4)
■ Should not be graded (4)
■ Interferes with Wednesday night hangovers (1)
■ Inconvenient to do when pet hamster died (1)

17. Findings: Use of Semi-Private
Networked Space
■ Five students shared their blogs with others (friends, dating partners, parents)
■ Three students were uncomfortable with the assignment
■ Clear sense of writing for audience
■ Enjoyed and expected response from instructor
Instructor Reflections:
• Students need to share their personal experiences “If you don’t allow a space for
that to happen, it’s still going to come out some way.”
• Lessened student use of class discussion as platform for sharing personal religious
beliefs

18. Findings: Blogging and Learning
Outcomes
■ Positive correlation between blog grade and final exam grades
– R=.657, n=34, p=.01

19. Discussion
■ Blogs provided a direct student-instructor connection not present in the
classroom
■ The semi-private, pseudonymous nature of the assignment was sufficient to
provide most students with a safe space for sharing their thoughts
■ The blogging format encouraged greater reflection than is present when
commenting in class and all students had a chance to articulate
■ Students were able to explore intersections of personal narratives and religious
thoughts alongside historical narratives being taught within the course
■ Blogging is time-intensive for students and instructor – needs to be accounted
for in course structure

20. Contact Info
■ George Williamson – gwilliamson@fsu.edu - @george_s_w
– Department of History, Florida State University
■ Vanessa Dennen - vdennen@fsu.edu = @vdennen
– Department of Educational Psychology & Learning Systems, Florida State
University