Chapter 4. Implications and conclusions
4.2. Conclusions
Blogs are easy to use and possess interactive features, thus attracting wide use and leading them to be regarded as communication media in web-based information technology. Blogs made it feasible for the communication process to be much larger, less technical, with a higher number of users. Therefore, blogs have become an increasingly popular form of
communication on websites, and have been adopted by users for several applications in domains such as journalism, business, and education. This thesis tried to investigate why people accept blogs, how people use blogs, and what blog applications do for people.
This thesis contains two studies. The first study incorporates the technology acceptance model with media choice factors to explain and predict the blog acceptance behaviors. The media choice factors include media richness, critical mass, social influence, and media experience. The technology acceptance factors include perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use. An online field survey was conducted and the structure equation modeling method was applied to investigate the empirical strength of the relationships in the proposed model. 521 experienced blog users were surveyed to examine this model. The results strongly support the proposed hypotheses indicating that technology acceptance and media choice factors influence the blog acceptance behaviors.
The second study explores the usage of blogs in education setting, and how student attitudes towards online peer interaction and peer learning, as well as motivation to learn from peers, may differ when using the blog comments feature, and when students are encouraged to read and comment on each other’s work. We contrast two ways blogs affect learning engagement: (a) solitary blogs as personal digital portfolios for writers; or (b) blogs used interactively to facilitate peer interaction by exposing blogging content and comments to peers. A quasi-experiment was conducted across two semesters, involving 154 graduate and undergraduate students. The result suggests that interactive blogs, compared to solitary blogs, are associated with positive attitudes towards academic achievement in course subjects and in online peer interaction. Students showed positive motivation to learn from peer work, regardless of whether blogs were interactive or solitary.
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4BAppendix
Appendix A. Question constructs and items used in the first study Construct and Items Measure
Perceived media richness (PMR)(Carlson and Zmud 1999)
PMR1 Blog allows poster and replier to give and receive timely feedback.
PMR2 Blog allows poster and replier to tailor their messages to their own personal requirements.
PMR3 Blog allows poster and replier to communicate a variety of different cues (such as emotional tone, attitude, or formality) in their messages.
PMR4 Blog allows poster and replier to use rich and varied language in their messages.
Perceived critical mass (PCM) (Louet et al. 2000)
PCM1 Most people in my group used blog frequently.
PCM2 Most people in my community used blog frequently.
PCM3 Most people in my class/office used blog frequently Media experience (ME)
(King and Xia 1997)
ME1 I use blog frequently.
ME2* I feel competent using blog.
ME3 I feel comfortable when using blog.
Social Influence (SI) (Venkatesh and Morris 2000)
SI1 People who influence my behavior think that I should use blog.
SI2 People who are important to me think that I should use blog.
Perceived usefulness (PU) (Davis 1989)
PU1 Using blog enables me to receive\share information more quickly.
PU2 Using blog improve my performance on receiving\sharing information.
PU3 Using blog increase my productivity of receiving\sharing information.
PU4 Using blog enhance my effectiveness on receiving\sharing information.
PU5 Using blog make receiving\sharing information easier.
PU6* Overall, I find blog is useful.*
Perceived ease-of-use (PEOU)
(Davis 1989, Gefen 2003)
PEOU1 Learning to use blog is easy for me.
PEOU2 I find it easy to get blog to do what I want it to do.
PEOU3 My interaction with blog is clear and understandable.
PEOU4* I find blog to be flexible to interact with.*
PEOU5 It is easy for me to become skillful at using blog.
PEOU6 Overall, I find blog easy to use.
Attitude toward using blog (ATT) (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980)
All things considered, I feel using a blog is : AT1 Bad - Good
AT2 Foolish - Wise AT3 Unfavorable - Favorable AT4 Harmful - Beneficial AT5* Negative - Positive
Behavioral intentions to use blog (BI) (Agarwal and Karahannal 2000)
BI1 I plan to use blog in the future.
BI2 I intend to continue using blog in the future.
BI3 I expect my use of blog to continue in the future.
Note: 1. All constructs except ATT have seven-points scales ranging from 1 (disagree strongly) to 7 (agree strongly). ATT is measured using five standard 7-point semantic differential rating scales.
2. * Denotes that items were dropped from data analysis.
Appendix B. Questionnaire in the second study
Construct Measure
Online peer interaction
1. The use of blogs increases the frequency of interaction with my classmates.
2. The use of blogs improves my understanding of classmates’
communication style.
3. With blogs, I am more willing to offer my opinion regarding how a course topic differs from other topics.
Motivation
4. The use of blogs increases the frequency of interaction with my classmates.
5. The use of blogs improves my understanding of classmates’
communication style.
6. With blogs, I am more willing to offer my opinion regarding how a course topic differs from other topics.
Learning effectiveness
7. Blogs are an effective tool for peer learning.
8. The use of blogs improves my understanding of course materials.
9. I would recommend the course to my friends because the use of blogs improves my academic performance.
Note: All constructs have five-points scales ranging from 1 (disagree strongly) to 5 (agree strongly).