The Vancouver Education Blogging Sessions
The Vancouver Education Blogging Sessions (Via D’Arcy Norman Dot Net.) D’Arcy shares some reflections on what he calls “some extremely interesting and engaging discussions about the nature of ‘blogging’ in education.” His thoughts are well organized with bold titles, and include this important gem: “Blogging is not a classroom/class activity.”
I’m not sure I entirely agree, in fact I’m sure I don’t (especially in a 1:1 environment, or a lab, or with a pod of computers students can visit throughout the day or class period), but this sentiment might help teachers new to blogging understand that it doesn’t all have to happen in their classroom, an important aspect of the anywhere anytime learning blogging can facilitate – and an important aspect of the “porous classroom” of the 21st century.
UPDATE:Blogging is a Class/Classroom Activity … for now (Via A Difference.) Darren adds his thoughts on the subject.
February 13th, 2006 at 9:57 am
What I was trying to capture there was the radical nature of some of the conversations – that weblogs (and all other aspects of a person’s online identity) exist as much (or moreso) outside of The Classroom as inside. Or, rather, that they SHOULD – and that we currently only recognize “in-class” blogging.
February 13th, 2006 at 10:10 am
Thanks for the comment, D’Arcy. I did sort of run with the quote. ;) I realize you didn’t mean it can’t happen in the classroom. You meant something like “blogs are not ONLY a classroom/class activity.” I agree that it would be tragic for a blog to be limited to the classroom… this is one reason I often campaign against password protected blogs, or even worse – blogs hosted only on an intranet.
February 13th, 2006 at 11:04 am
Mark – exactly. I wasn’t exactly as coherent as I could have been… ;-)
So, what’s your take on non-secure blogs in K-12? The general assumption is that it’s “safe” to do that in Higher Ed, since students are (usually) adults. But, what about a 12 year old? Issues about consent, self-representation, online identities, etc… come up.
February 13th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
Hi Mark, I’ve only recently discovered your blog. Thanks for the positive feedback on my posts. ;-)
D”Arcy, I realize you were only giving a quick summary of what had happened and I really appreciate your doing that — I had really wanted to try to skype in but was called away.
Your last comment here touches on a topic that I’m currently working out with teachers in my small network of schools. Without fully fleshing out my position, I think that 12 year olds (grade 7) should be be included in the blogosphere. There should be a divisional “acceptable use policy” that they and their parents should be made aware of and sign and they should discuss acceptable blogging policies in class and on their class blogs. This would include discussing steps taken to protect their identities and how they should most appropriately represent themselves online.
The real “blog juice” is only available from open blogs where the world can leave comments. We’ve got a growing international community of educators who are quite willing to participate in each other’s classes. Blogging teachers can orchestrate a positive blogging expereince for their students by leveraging the power of this community. Someone who nonetheless leaves an inappropriate or nasty comment opens the door to a teachable moment. At least, that’s the way I see it. ;-)
February 14th, 2006 at 11:50 pm
[...] A related question came up from Darren Kuropatwa in the comments here earlier this week, and I am planning to post a reply soon. I expect I’ll need a good one before the internet safety parent class in Brea-Olinda anyway. [...]
February 15th, 2006 at 12:16 am
[...] It seems Alan Levine was involved in some of the same conversations as D’Arcy Norman who commented here. [...]
February 15th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
[...] So, what’s your take on non-secure blogs in K-12? [...]
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