4 weeks ago
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
To Blog or Not to Blog....
The prevalence of the web in modern society has made it the main vehicle for the sharing of ideas and information. Networking with other professionals in the educational field is one of the most successful ways of obtaining informal professional development. The existence of Web 2.0 has made this endeavor easier than ever to pursue, however fear has limited this opportunity for many in the education field. Many educators are fearful to blog due to possible ramifications on the part of administrators. Freedom of expression, one of the rights accorded by the Constitution, is being curtailed by fear....fear that expressing personal beliefs and opinions will be result in retaliation in the workplace. Educators should have a level of accountability for their actions; blogging about specific individuals in a manner which could be considered slanderous should not be tolerated, however educators should have the peace of mind that expressing their own personal views is a liberty which we all possess. Or at least should...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This issue is one that has come to the forefront of my mind now and then, but it seems that it leaves almost as quickly as it comes in. There are most likely circumstances where teachers get in trouble for something they wrote on a blog, but I don't think we should let this rule whether or not we feel we can express ourselves like the rest of society in this more public format. I also feel like this might be more of a common sense issue. Like you wrote, we should obviously save our stories about specific students for more private writing, but I think that expressing ourselves in general, as long as we are smart about should really not pose an problem.
ReplyDeleteTricia, your entry inspired me to Google "Should teachers blog?" which naturally returned 37 million hits, but one worth checking out is by "The Cool Cat Teacher." (not surprisingly - she's been at this tech thing a long time). The privacy issue is one space where the expecations of different constituencies may clash (parents, school board, etc): Should teachers be putting themselves out there? Remember when students were shocked to run into their teacher at the store (maybe they still are)--you mean she is like a real person? Another issue is the nature of writing. The idea of blogging as developmental...words and thoughts in process...formative...may clash with the traditional image of teachers as having answers in hand.
ReplyDelete