EXAMINING PROSPECTIVE U.S. PRESERVICE SECONDARY MATHEMATICS TEACHERS' CONTRIBUTIONS TO AN ONLINE DISCUSSION BOARD OF A BLOGGING ACTIVITY

This paper examines the themes that emerged from an analysis of preservice secondary mathematics teachers' contributions to an online blogging activity. The blog was conducted as a standard component of a college Eucl idean Geometry course offered in a university in the western United States. Participan t contributions to the blog were analyzed with MAXQDA, a qualitative data analysis program. About twenty major themes emerged in the online discussion. These themes demonstrate that th e preservice mathematics teachers who participated in this study raised a variety of impo rtant and relevant issues that they may not have otherwise considered. Additionally, this study sugg ests that blogs could provide a great opportunity for students and classroom teachers to share their voices and perspectives on an open, free, and public forum.