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Is blogging safe to use in the classroom? Blogging can be a great way to get students engaged in a discussion in the classroom. It is also a way to help improve writing skills for some students. How does a teacher keep the blog safe for all students? If a teacher plans to implement a blog in the classroom the first thing they need to do is give a blogging safety class. The class should be given to students, parents and anyone else who might use the blog. The teacher needs to instruct students to use their first names only when they blog. At a K-12 level it may be a good idea to use a made up blog name or the number that they use in class. (Richardson, 46) Furthermore, if a student does not recognize a name of a person who responds to their post they must not respond back.
The teacher will need to monitor the student blogs on a regular basis. It would be a good idea for the teacher to distribute the blog address to the parents of the students so they can help monitor the blogs. Along with using first name only the students must be taught to always keep the blogs positive. They would never want to say something negative about another person.
A good overview for internet safety can be found at www.wikihow.com/Keep-Your-Blog-Safe
Richardson, W. (2010) Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms. A sage company.
Tami, I definitely agree with you and Richardson that blogging in the classroom can be a useful tool for expression, but with proper security. It is important to teach the students that there are dangerous people out on the internet and to never offer any information that could enable these people to identify them. I think a blogging safety course/unit would be a good way to remind students of how to keep themselves safe in an online forum.
ReplyDeleteTami,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post. Students at the secondary level take for granted much of the embedded security that their schools provide online. Many do not realize how dangerous that blogging can be. They need to be aware of what they are posting as far as their online etiquette is concerned. Students also should be aware of who their audience is while posting.
I completely agree that blog safety is key. I'm wondering if there is a school safe blog website or a way to privately have class-only access to student blogs? This might be something that teachers would want to consider doing when assigning blog activities to students.
ReplyDelete