To Blog or not to Blog

To Blog or not to Blog, that is the question!

ISTE article "POINT/COUNTERPOINT IS BLOGGING WORTH THE RISK?"

Maybe yes...

Like so many things in life, blogging as an educator boils down to balancing risk and reward. There is certainly significant risk to putting personal information and opinions out there in such a public forum. As long as that risk is carefully managed there can be great potential for reward. Does the potential reward outweigh the inherent risk?

Maybe no...

The potential risk is enormous. People lose their jobs because of bad decisions with internet social media. The damage to a person's life can be devastating. You can confuse people with misinformation or poorly phrased information. We can bring grief upon ourselves. The horror story detailed by the author of the article is concerning.

I think the question is moot. There is no making Blogs go away. Being opposed to blogging won't make blogs go away. At this point, I think that using blogs in education is inevitable. I will stop short of saying that I think blogging is necessary. A good teacher can be effective using a variety of media and techniques. However, the more methods we use to communicate with students, parents, and peers... the more ways the better.

Different student interact in different ways. We should interact with all of them, not leave any students behind. The argument for "no blogging" is based on a horror story, a bad experience. I believe that as educators, we can not let the possibility of a mishap derail us from our objectives. Sure I might offend someone... sure I might say something off queue. We should avoid doing these things, as much as possible. If we hedge ourselves into a box and never take any chances, then we are being too timid.

Discretion is the better part of valor. So on the "to Blog or not to Blog" question... I come squarely down in the middle. Do it, but do it with exemplary caution. Don't do it, and use other techniques. It all comes down to the students.