Week 3 - Dangers & Benefits of Using Blogs in Schools

The following is a PMI Analysis on the dangers and benefits of using blogs in schools;

Positive

• Posting of resources, lessons and homework
• Keeping parents up-to-date on class happenings
• Sharing of schoolwork with peers, parents and the community
• Students' can collaborate on projects and get feedback from others
• Students' can keep a reflective journal
• Students' can use a blog for assignment construction (i.e. post a new blog entry when new information is found, or complete their assignment in sections (per blog posting for example), similar to the style that is being conducted for FAHE11001 Managing E-Learning.
• Can be password protected to ensure privacy
• Provides a platform for higher order thinking using critical analysis tools such as SWOT, de Bono's Six Thinking Hats & PMI

Minus

• If not password protected, there is a risk of privacy breaches
• If a student or teacher has used third party material, and it is uploaded without adding password protectoin and restricting access to teachers, students and parents, they are breaching 'Fair' use copyright laws.
• Potential for cyber bullying

Interesting

• EduBlogs provide a blogging platform purely for education. http://edublogs.org/why-edublogs/ - Have a look at this video for more information.

Resources:

Copyright Advisory Group. (2008). Smartcopying: the official guide to copyright issues for Australian schools and TAFE. Retrieved from http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/scw/go/pid/1

Edublogs. (2011). Edublogs. Retrieved from http://edublogs.org/

infinite thinking. (n.d.). Blogger ® in the classroom. Retrieved from http://www.infinitethinkingmachine.org/stuff/Blogger.pdf