The use of different types of social software in education has increased in recent years. Blogs represent one kind of social software that is increasingly employed to enhance communication environments in the educational domain (Kim, 2008; Top, Yukselturk & Inan, 2010). There are many studies that investigate the use of blogs in different educational activities. For example, Stiler and Philleo (2003), Wheeler and Lambert-Heggs (2009) and Yang (2009) examined blogs to encourage reflection; Oravec (2003) explored blogs in blended learning initiatives; Chuang (2008) studied the use of blogs as e-portfolios in teacher education, and Wang and Hsua’s (2008) research was about using blogs in in-class discussion. Also using blogs in education activities has many advantages. Such as more personalized and warm responses due to the potential for reciprocal self-disclosure (Wheeler & Lambert-Heggs, 2009); the most beneficial features of blogs are interactivity, the ability to link to other documents, support for a number of goals, ease of use and the capacity to support teaching outside class hours (Top et al., 2010); enable readers to visit the entire posting history to track an individual’s learning progress or to maintain a reflective record over a period of time (Wang & Hsua, 2008; Wheeler & Lambert-Heggs, 2009; Killeavy & Moloney, 2010) and help student teachers feel more connected to their professors and classmates (Snyder, 2009).

Blogging is both a form of self-expression as well as a form of online behaviour (Guadagno, Okdie & Eno, 2007). Online behaviours and roles can reveal how online learning communities function (Yeh, 2010). Yeh (2010) pointed out thirteen identified online behaviours and indicated the interrelationships among online behaviours, roles, and learning communities.

The goal of this paper is to analyse the behaviour of participants through blog posts, and the research question is: what kind of online behaviours student teachers exhibited during blogging discussions.

Chuang, H.-H. (2008). Perspectives and issues of the creation for weblog-based electronic portfolios in teacher education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39, No1, 170-174. Guadagno, R.E., Okdie, B.M., & Eno, C.A. (2008). Who blogs? Personality predictors of blogging. Computers in Human behavior, 24, pp. 1993-2004. Killeavy, M. & Moloney, A., (2010). Reflection in a social space: Can blogging support reflective practice for beginning teachers? Teaching and Teacher Education. Vol 26, 1070-1076. Kim, H.N, (2008). The phenomenon of blogs and theoretical model of blog use in educational context. Computers & Education, 51, 1342-1352. Oravec, J.A. (2003). Blendid by blogging: weblogs in blended learning initiatives. Journal of Educational Media, 28, Nos. 2-3, 225-233. Snyder, M. M. (2009). Instructional- design theory to guide the creation of online learning communities for adults. TechTrends. Vol 53, No 1, 48-56. Stiler, G.M. & Philleo, T.(2003). Blogging and blogspots: an alternative format for encouraging reflective practice among preservice teachers. Education, 123, No 4, 789-797. Top, E., Yukselturk, E. & Inan, F.A. (2010). Reconsidering usage of blogging in preservice teacher education courses. Internet and Higher Education, Vol 13, 214-217. Wang, S.-K. & Hsua, H-Y., (2008). Reflections on using blogs to expand in-class discussion. TechTrends, 52, No 3, 81-85. Wheeler, S. & Lambert-Heggs, W., (2009). Connecting distance learners and their mentors using blogs. The MentorBlog Project. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, vol 10, No 4, 323-331. Yang, S. H. (2009). Using blogs to enhance critical reflection and community of practice. Educational Technology & Society, vol 12, no 2, 11-21. Yeh, Y.-C., (2010). Analyzing online behaviors, roles, and learning communities via online discussions. Educational Technology & Society, vol 13, no 1, 140-151.