The 5 C's of literacy and literary skills development: Conversations, community, collaboration, creativity and connection

The use of blogging has been explored on how it can enhance and extend support for student participation and learning: as collaborative learning spaces, for increased participation and interaction amongst students, as a valuable asset to the learning schedules of large cohort university teaching, for promoting writing skills. The limitations and lack of perceived benefits have also been acknowledged in some studies. At our university, blogging has been applied in a course to enhance the engagement of students in the study of literature, to extend community with peers, and to build skills for future employability. It is precisely because of the less formal nature of the blog, one more in harmony with students' own social networking practice, that this Web 2.0 tool segues so effectively from students' native skills into the academic arena. The increasing use of social media in academic contexts has however, raised the question of whether the largely informal nature of Web 2.0 can act as a pathway to develop students' writing or if this could hinder the development of competence in academic discourse.