Reflections 7/06 Tom Hanninen

• What are your thoughts about private vs public blogs?
  

I have reservations about blogs and I'm not entirely sure why. It seems like so many people are writing blogs so how can people also have the time to be reading them also. If you are writing a worthwhile blog then it should be public. The purpose of a blog is to express a thought and have people comment on the thought. If it's a private blog then that seems to be more of an essay as opposed to a discussion. I can see where a private blog could be used for a classroom to limit the number of people reading and commenting to ensure some sort of control.

• What about student blogs?
  

Student blogs can be useful if they are taught how to blog responsibly and if it is monitored by the parents and teachers. Students need avenues to express themselves and blogging could be an avenue for a creative or shy student to express thoughts and opinions.

• What ideas do you have about blogs for students?

SInce we spend a considerable amount of time doing lab work students could use a blog to collaborate about there findings or to state conclusions and analysis. Peers could then comment on their findings and offer suggestions for further study

• What concerns do you have about blogging with students?

As we talked about in class, my biggest concern would be inappropriate content expressed by students. People have a tendency of being meaner on the web than the do in person. I know a number of people think the student's identity should be unknown but I think their identities should be known to prevent some of that inappropriate content.