Comments on: Teachers…Think Before You Blog

By: Steve Dembo

Steve Dembo — Fri, 18 Feb 2005 17:37:17 +0000

Very well written and well thought out. This is something that I have struggle with myself quite a bit. I have decided to keep my blog and podcast public, and child safe. Believe me when I say that there have been many occasions where I’ve wanted to rant about the goings on at my school, but I force myself to assume that anything I write or say will be heard by parents, students and administration here. As educators, we are public employees and role models for our students.

I’d love to see this post get turned into a Wiki, possibly something that Edupodcasters could contribute to and link to formally. A bloggers code of sorts for educational environements.

By: Tom Hoffman

Tom Hoffman — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 14:45:35 +0000

Student confidentiality is one thing EdWonk and I agree on

By: EdWonk

EdWonk — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 20:33:29 +0000

You have written some outstanding common-sense guidelines that teachers should consider in order to avoid falling into some of the pitfalls that await those classroom teachers/administrators that blog work-related issues.

I think that it might be a good idea to add something about the absolute importance of maintaining student confidentiality. What will get an educator into trouble faster than anything else (at least here in California) is failing to maintain “professional silence” regarding kids.

By: Tom Hoffman

Tom Hoffman — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 17:30:56 +0000

I think the nature of “anonymous” blogging needs closer consideration. It is difficult to stay anonymous over the long run, especially if you give away details like the city in which you work, since this will encourage greater attention from the people most likely to be able to identify you. And anonymity encourages sloppiness regarding the privacy of people you’re writing about.

I also think that people don’t quite grasp the implications of the temporal specificity of blogs. If I say, “a while ago I had a meeting with a really difficult parent,” I can’t easily be accused of violating that parent’s privacy (unless there are a lot more subsequent details). On the other hand if I say “Feb. 11, 2005: I had a meeting with a difficult parent today,” that parent has grounds to get me in serious trouble if they read my blog.