Should Student's be blogging in our classrooms?
Blogging is nothing new by now, it's been around for quite some time on the internet as a whole. Despite this, blogging hasn't really become a hugely common practice in the K-12 classroom. Our province of Alberta has one of the most highly regarded and progressive education systems in the entire world, yet many teachers have not integrated blogging or another form of web-sharing into the curriculum; why is that?
It has been noted that having students blog comes with challenges and concerns, much like anything we do. Some are concerned that students will be publishing posts and comments with inappropriate language, or that they will take the opportunity of commenting on another student;s work as a chance to insult and attack others. I for one, find these concerns to be completely unwarranted. As mentioned in the "Blogging in the Classroom - Why your students should write online" article on the guardian, students were not prone to using bad language or being bad online citizens. In fact, it reinforced the point that these kids are perhaps even more aware than we are that anyone can read those posts and comments, and this prompts them to post responsibly.
Try to think of it this way, there is nothing a student can post on a blog meant to negatively impact others that they can't have just said in person. Of course, one could argue this way the bully could reach the target 24/7 over the internet, and through the comfort of his screen. The prospect of cyber bullying is scary to teachers, and this is a perfectly fair concern to have. To put this in perspective, think of how many students have either a cell phone, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc, especially in the middle and high schools. These students already have an arsenal of outlets for which cyber bullying may occur, do you REALLY think that a student would choose to use a teacher-moderated blog as an opportunity to be hurtful towards others? I don't think so. If any sort of inappropriate commenting does occur it is now visible to the teacher and action can be taken to correct the problem. Not only are most students aware of this accountability, but most of them will be critically thinking about how what they write may look like to others, and moderating their use of language carefully. So, if anything the learning blog in the classroom presents students with a much more safe way to express their thoughts and attitudes, where they still feel as if they are connected to the classroom and the teacher, not adrift in the dangerous waters of social media.
Long story short, we should not shut out the many advantages of classroom blogs highlighted in both the short video on weblog basics and the interview with Jessica about he classroom blogs, simply because we don't trust the kids with the ability to interact out of the classroom. I don't believe that introducing a blog community to the classroom presents students with any more negative opportunities than they already would have had. Naturally we have to educate our students on internet safety and give the guidelines about what kinds of information to share, and what kinds of responses are appropriate, but any interactions they have with each other on the blog would simply be expected to follow from how they would act at school and in the classroom.
I agree with both the article and the short video posted on the class website in that blogging is a fantastic way to help our students broaden their skills and perspectives and allow them to experience the concept of public writing in the context of the classroom. There is always going to be some potential for students to misuse this tool, but this is ALWAYS a risk that is prevalent in the classroom with any tools or technology, and it should not stop us from utilizing them to enhance the learning potential of our students.
Blogging is nothing new by now, it's been around for quite some time on the internet as a whole. Despite this, blogging hasn't really become a hugely common practice in the K-12 classroom. Our province of Alberta has one of the most highly regarded and progressive education systems in the entire world, yet many teachers have not integrated blogging or another form of web-sharing into the curriculum; why is that?
It has been noted that having students blog comes with challenges and concerns, much like anything we do. Some are concerned that students will be publishing posts and comments with inappropriate language, or that they will take the opportunity of commenting on another student;s work as a chance to insult and attack others. I for one, find these concerns to be completely unwarranted. As mentioned in the "Blogging in the Classroom - Why your students should write online" article on the guardian, students were not prone to using bad language or being bad online citizens. In fact, it reinforced the point that these kids are perhaps even more aware than we are that anyone can read those posts and comments, and this prompts them to post responsibly.
Try to think of it this way, there is nothing a student can post on a blog meant to negatively impact others that they can't have just said in person. Of course, one could argue this way the bully could reach the target 24/7 over the internet, and through the comfort of his screen. The prospect of cyber bullying is scary to teachers, and this is a perfectly fair concern to have. To put this in perspective, think of how many students have either a cell phone, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc, especially in the middle and high schools. These students already have an arsenal of outlets for which cyber bullying may occur, do you REALLY think that a student would choose to use a teacher-moderated blog as an opportunity to be hurtful towards others? I don't think so. If any sort of inappropriate commenting does occur it is now visible to the teacher and action can be taken to correct the problem. Not only are most students aware of this accountability, but most of them will be critically thinking about how what they write may look like to others, and moderating their use of language carefully. So, if anything the learning blog in the classroom presents students with a much more safe way to express their thoughts and attitudes, where they still feel as if they are connected to the classroom and the teacher, not adrift in the dangerous waters of social media.
Long story short, we should not shut out the many advantages of classroom blogs highlighted in both the short video on weblog basics and the interview with Jessica about he classroom blogs, simply because we don't trust the kids with the ability to interact out of the classroom. I don't believe that introducing a blog community to the classroom presents students with any more negative opportunities than they already would have had. Naturally we have to educate our students on internet safety and give the guidelines about what kinds of information to share, and what kinds of responses are appropriate, but any interactions they have with each other on the blog would simply be expected to follow from how they would act at school and in the classroom.
I agree with both the article and the short video posted on the class website in that blogging is a fantastic way to help our students broaden their skills and perspectives and allow them to experience the concept of public writing in the context of the classroom. There is always going to be some potential for students to misuse this tool, but this is ALWAYS a risk that is prevalent in the classroom with any tools or technology, and it should not stop us from utilizing them to enhance the learning potential of our students.
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