Safe Blogging for Students

Using blogs is exciting, but don't haste to start posting. Here are some tips for safe blogging which are better to be kept in mind.

1. Keep your personal infromation out of your posts. You are not expect to post or give out your family name, password, username, e-mail address, home address, school name, city, country, or other infromation that could help someone locate or contact you in person. Your interests, ideas, and preferences are free to share.

2. Your username and password is your own secret. You are not expect to share them with others. And you should never log in using others' names.

3. You are expected to behave properly, treating blog spaces as classroom spaces. Consider whether your posts are appropriate for class before posting. You are encouraged to engage in debate and conversation with other bloggers. However, you should not forget you are also the manner representative of yourself.

4. You will receive comments on your posts, most of which are respectful or helpful messages. If you happen to receive any comment that make you uncomfortable, please contact your teacher, do not response to that comment.

5. Take care of your computer by not downloading or installing any software without permission, and not clicking on ads or competitions.

These are only some basic items to pay attention to. Here are some links to other useful sites for safety. View them as you like.

Safetyweb | SafetyWeb Blog

Connect Safely |Safety Tips & Advice

Using Blogs in Teaching

It is a great idea to introduce blogs into teaching. I would like to create a class blog.

     The blog can be used as an information collection. All the class activities will be recorded on the blog, probably with pictures and videos if possible. Some other useful information, like tips for learning, recommended readings, or message for coming activities, can also be published on the blog. Students can use the blog to track the class history or use it as a resource for learning. I try to correspond this to the communication standard 1.2: students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics.

   

     The blog can act as platform for students and me to communicate. Students are not only viewers of the blog. They can freely leave message to each other, as well as to me. They are welcomed to make comments about recent events, give suggestions to me, and share their thoughts about learning or about the class. This sees correlation with the communications standard 1.3: students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.

 

     I will also encourage students to create their own learning blogs. I will teach them how to use blogs. Thus they can post what they like or what they think are worth to share on their own blogs for their classmates to view.  This idea correlates with the connections standard 3.1: students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language.
   

    I'm considering a group blog that allows students to do groupwork by using blogs.