Concerns of Blogging in Education

· What are the concerns of blogs and blogging in education?

There are numerous concerns about opening up blogs and blogging in education. Within our district we had to rewrite our Acceptable Use Policy and an addendum to it. These policies centered around the use of blogging and Web 2.0 tools. Opening up teachers to share their thoughts or ask questions can open them up to more liability legally. Their words are also a reflection on the district. We had many questions when discussing the revisions to the policies. One was what we would do if a teacher says derogatory things about the district. How were we going to handle these situations? Another aspect was that of the student to the teacher. What type of posts could be posted? We needed a blogging method that was more protected than most of the blogging programs that were available. We found one that allowed teachers to monitor and approve the posts. Therefore, this would provide the teacher and the district with some protection. A further aspect would include putting legitimacy on the blogs and for students to realize many of these are only opinions and not always proven factual information. There is a great danger in looking at blogs as research information.