The document discusses using student blogging to promote social learning and agency. It defines agency as the power to take meaningful action and construct reality that others will receive. The project involved two student groups blogging stories related to weather idioms, profiles for a reality show, and articles. The results showed varying levels of participation between the groups, with more students in one group publishing stories, profiles, and receiving votes than the other group.

1. Having students blog as a means to stimulate social learning and agency. Raquel Rodrigues

2. Web 2.0 & social learning In the beginning the internet used to host websites, software and applications that have been referred to as ‘read-only’. This has changed and what we see are collaborative and interactive forms of producing and sharing knowledge as much as receiving it.

3. “The Web is evolving to become more like an area for social and idea networking. Students negotiate meanings and connections within the Web 2.0 social spaces or idea networks, exchange bits of content, create new content, and collaborate in new ways” (Duffy, 2007).

4. Agency The satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our decisions and choices(Murray, 1997, p. 126). Also defined as the power to construct a representation of reality, a writing of history, and to ‘impose reception of it’ by others.(Kramsch, A’Ness, & Lam, 2000, p. 97, quoting Bourdieu).

5. The Project Level: Plus 4 Groups: A or Whyme...? – 19 students B or Trufas – 15 students Task 1 - Stories Step 1: Writing a story related to a ‘weather idiom’ and publishing it on their blog without revealing which one they thought of. Step 2: Reading each other’s stories and guessing the idiom, writing it as a comment.

6. Task 2 - Profiles Step 1: Publishing their profiles as an application for the reality show mentioned in the book. Step 2: Visiting the other group’s blog and voting for a profile in a poll.

8. Trufas: 7 out of 15 wrote a story, 9 published their profiles and 1 published an article. Votes: Until Jan 27th there had been 6 votes for the profiles in Trufas and 10 for the ones available at whyme...