International Journal of Education and Development using ICT

International Journal of Education and Development using ICT > Vol. 1, No. 2 (2005)

DITonline: A journalistic experiment in blended, collaborative teaching and learning

Tara Turkington, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
Richard Frank, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa

Abstract
DITonline is an independent, daily news website run by students, for students, at the Durban Institute of Technology (DIT) in Durban, South Africa. The website is a collaborative project, emanating from blended teaching and learning environments in the university’s journalism department. DITonline was launched in August 2003, in response to a need for a credible student publication which would be an independent and reliable news source and which would provide a training ground for student journalists. By June 2004 than 100 students had contributed to the site, which now attracts thousands of hits each day. This paper discusses the philosophical underpinnings of the project, and the growth of the site in terms of contributors, content served and its user community. Particular attention is paid to the development of student collaboration in the cyclical context of action research. The paper is mostly narrative, as we seek to document the growth of DITonline as a collaborative teaching and learning environment.

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