Potential Affordances Blogging has on Developing Teacher Preparation:

As each new generation of future teachers enter into the profession, they enroll in teacher preparation programs with more awareness of technology and more unique experiences with it than their predecessors (Funkhouser & Mouza, 2012). This study sought to explore this awareness and experience as they relate to blogs. A blog is best described as an online journal (Williams & Jacobs, 2004), a web-based tool for people to digitally record their thoughts, experiences, and insights about any subject at anytime for personal reflection, public consumption, or a combination of the two. This study investigated the use of blogs by preservice teachers as they travelled to Zambia and Chile as part of an international professional development school experience. This presentation shares insight gained from exploring the ways these online journals contributed to the pedagogical development of future classroom teachers.