Moderating and Ethics for the Classroom Instructional Blog by Patricia Deubel, Ph.D.
I had been pondering the use of Blogs in my lesson plans since we took a look at them in class. I had many of the same concerns addressed in this article, especially as to how you manage the site with a class of 30-40 students all doing multiple posts. You want to give the students as much freedom as possible to express thoughts and share ideas, without letting it go too far. It would seem that students who would have a tendency to speak together rather than paying attention while you are teaching might do the same thing on the blog, focusing on each other’s posting rather than contributing to the group as a whole. The idea of passing part of the load to the students and allowing them to moderate makes a great deal of sense.
1. How does having students moderate help them outside the classroom blog? The skills they learn moderating the blog teaches them good internet etiquette. The controls placed on them in the classroom blog will become a natural part of their practices and the move on to the World Wide Web.
2. How do you keep the student moderators from going mad with power? When setting up the structure of the blog you make it clear that being a moderator is a privilege and not a right. Making the moderator position a rotating position gives everyone a chance to gain experience. You could have the previous moderator mentor the new moderator until they are more comfortable with the position.
Indeed, the teacher should not be the only person "monitoring" the class blogs. Students should be given opportunities to learn about digital citizenship.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I could have done that in 422. Except for self introductions where class members exchanged ideas, most interactions occur between you and me. Too bad.