My thoughts on private vs. public blogs are this: there is a place and time for both. In my classroom, I would most definitely want to keep my student blogs private. I would want to keep my students in a safe electronic environment. I am not against the use of public blogs; I just don’t want to use them in my classroom. Public blogs are a great tool for people to share information with the world. I love to read blogs about technology because I am always looking to learn more!
I love student blogs! I have high school students and they love to have an opinion. Blogging gives them the freedom to voice an opinion and also to learn what is appropriate. I only approve of student blogging if it can be moderated by the teacher. Giving students freedom can sometimes lead to some trouble and a teacher needs to watch what students produce.
My ideas for student blogging would be student reflection, chapter reflection, and even answering the LEQ in a blog. I generally use blogs for many different things and I am always open to new ideas!
The concerns I have were already stated: I am concerned that without moderation students may use inappropriate language and not focus on the content, but rather chat with friends. Overall, I think this can be prevented and blogging can be a great tool in the class!
What would be the student's motivation to post to a private blog, other than a grade? Why not use a discussion forum, then?
ReplyDeleteIf security is your concern there are lots of ways to protect identities. Maybe I should post more links to student blogs.