Our setup closes the blogs to the public. Only invited folks (other students in the class and the teacher) can see it. If students and their parents decide to open up the blogs beyond that, more power to them, but the default for our purposes is a closed system. However, even though the blogs are technically restricted to class members, we have to be really careful that we don't fool ourselves into thinking that online privacy truly exists. Whatever is read by a class full of students can be passed by mouth, by paper, or by digital copying.
Configuring the blog to auto-email the teacher adds another layer of protection. Posts and comments will be archived in the school's e-mail system in accordance with federal law, and they'll be retrievable in case of problems. Again, though, we cannot fool ourselves into thinking that we've found a technological answer for what is essentially a community issue.
Bullying, harassment, and other kinds of bad choices existed before the computer, and they will continue to exist no matter what kind of technological measures we put in place to catch the offenders. The real answer isn't catching at all, though. The answer is to create a culture that views nastiness for what it truly is: unacceptable. Kids need to have the opportunity to exercise their voice and to moderate it. They need to learn to give criticism constructively and to take it maturely. They need to learn how to conduct and protect themselves in an increasingly interconnected world. And what better way to learn than by doing it in a supportive environment with a teacher to guide the way?
We need to have conversations, online and in person, about how to act, just the same we as we set expectations for classroom behavior by discussing it and managing it when it happens. Punishing a student after the fact is not nearly as effective as giving him a chance to make a good choice up front.
Bullying, harassment, and other kinds of bad choices existed before the computer, and they will continue to exist no matter what kind of technological measures we put in place to catch the offenders. The real answer isn't catching at all, though. The answer is to create a culture that views nastiness for what it truly is: unacceptable. Kids need to have the opportunity to exercise their voice and to moderate it. They need to learn to give criticism constructively and to take it maturely. They need to learn how to conduct and protect themselves in an increasingly interconnected world. And what better way to learn than by doing it in a supportive environment with a teacher to guide the way?
We need to have conversations, online and in person, about how to act, just the same we as we set expectations for classroom behavior by discussing it and managing it when it happens. Punishing a student after the fact is not nearly as effective as giving him a chance to make a good choice up front.
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