Chapter 10: Leveraging Blogging to Enhance Student Engagement, Deep Learning and an Applied Learning Orientation for Marketing Education

The purpose of this study was to explore how the adoption of edu-blogging contributed to improved learner engagement and deeper learning in marketing courses for business studies undergraduate learners in a public university in the Sultanate of Oman. Tertiary study learning facilitation in the Sultanate of Oman inclines towards a didactic approach where students tend to learn by rote and memorisation resulting in a short-term learning orientation. The existing learning delivery approach has resulted in learners with superficial learning and getting a simplistic view of real-world business practices. To improve this situation, we trialled the use of blogs to (1) encourage greater levels of learner participation, (2) improve the levels of critical thinking and (3) provide an applied/practice learning context for three marketing courses in the business studies undergraduate degree programme. This study analysed qualitative post-course reflective comments on students’ participation in blogging learning activities to evaluate improvement in student engagement and deeper learning. The data analysis showed that learning through blogging learning activities increased levels of learner engagement, participation and critical thinking and provided perceptions that blogging enabled learners to have improved connections to an applied ‘real world’ context. We contend experiential learning through blogging is a complementary learning approach to supporting skills and capability development for ‘tomorrow's graduate’ for business studies marketing undergraduate learners.