Blogging

When it comes to private vs. public blogs, there are both good and bad points to both. Good points to both blogs include: the admin can set the blog to public or invite specific users/authors to the blog to collaborate via creating and responding to posts, the admin can set how many posts/comments are shown at a time, posts can be hidden if inappropriate, you can set whether or not your blog is listed or found via search engines, you can have adult content be displayed or not, and you can list who can make posts.

Bad points include: when you have many authors invited, all of those can post and/or edit work, some posts could be inappropriate, some people might not think fully before posting something which later could cause them to get in trouble, videos could be added, but may not be appropriate to all users, and public responses to posts might not be appropriate.

Student blogs are great, but should be monitored. Cyber bullying is on the rise unfortunately. Content should be monitored by parents and/or teachers if it is a classroom blog. Classroom blogs could be great to review material, post videos to view, agendas/assignments to be completed, display upcoming events, or even to simply write and respond.

I came up with a blog for my lacrosse team. It only includes some team pictures, post about open fields, and a post about summer weight room hours. I am currently working on adding the 2011 team schedule. 27 players have been invited, only because that’s all the emails I had! Eventually motivational speeches and quotes will be posted. I would like to have either individuals add inspirational comments or positive comments about game play, maybe even grade levels encouraging others like secret buddies…

There are always concerns when it comes to the internet. Concerns include: what content (pictures/videos) is displayed on blogs, are the blogs an appropriate level for the student, do they allow explicit material to be posted, what other links might be displayed on them, who is monitoring the content, and who can read and respond to posts.