BLOGS IN DISTANCE EDUCATION: An Analysis of Physical Educators‘ Perceptions of Learning

The flexibility of open and on line learning in meeting different kinds of needs in a
variety of ways and the need for planners to make appropriate choices, taking a number
of factors into account indicates the need to find out more about the evaluation of
teacher training through on line distance education. In recent years web 2.0
technologies such as blogs enable sharing and collaboration between geographically
remote users and offer the opportunity for new forms of student-centered pedagogic
practices. The purpose of this study was to examine the physical educators‘ perception
of learning toward three blog courses, carrying on during an eight week period, in order
to enhance their professional development and their skills in effective teaching. In each
blog a different cooperative teaching method was applied (STAND, COOP and ICL).
Participants were fifty four (n=54) physical educators who teach in elementary and
secondary schools of different Greek regions, with an experience of 1.67 to 21.75 years.
Data was collected using an online questionnaire after the education programme was
completed. Overall, participants‘ responses in the perceived learning questions
supported the benefits of use asynchronous web 2 tools in distance education
programmes. Their perception of learning using blogs appears to be positively increased
regarding the regulation of the applied cooperative procedure.