Blogging Students?

Blogging in the classroom?  Hmm... this is an interesting subject and not one I had considered until recently.  Are there benefits to having students blog?  I can list a few off the top of my head:

• Blogging helps create writing skills which include critical thinking skills as well as grammar skills.
• Students receive feedback in the form of peers and strangers from around the world. 
• Blogging helps feed the technological cravings student have as well as helping to develop technological skills such as creating links to videos and articles.
• Students can be more free to express themselves and debate topics that are important to them.

In the same breath I can use some of these same examples to explain why blogging can be a dangerous addition to the classroom if not used properly. 

• Students can be more free to express themselves and debate topics that are important to them.

While students need to be able to debate topics freely to develop their critical thinking skills, many do not have to ability to guard themselves from predators on the Internet.  I have neices and nephews who reveal too much on facebook about themselves.  This can include pictures, times and places of social events, and personal information such as phone numbers and addresses.   This leaves them vulernable to internet stalking and/or creeping.  Another concern I have about this is that future employers looks at Facebook and Myspace accounts.  Inappropriate pictures and comments could exclude them from future employment opportunities.   However, if done properly in the classroom the teacher can explain proper conduct of blogging that includes the protection of identity as well as instructing on what is appropriate to display on the Internet.  These skills could then carry over to 'other' Internet socializing.

A second example would be:

• Students receive feedback in the form of peers and strangers from around the world for their writings.

Writings that are public can create feedback from a stranger (i.e. from another age group, a different part of the world, etc...).  The instructor would need to prepare the students on how to handle information that is nonconstructive and/or harmful.  Mainly to keep the student from ingesting everything he or she reads. 

These few concerns are easily controlled by teaching the proper uses of the Internet.  Since kids of all ages are already using the Internet for socializing, blogging would be a constructive way to help guide students on the proper use.  A proper blog might look like this AP College English  blog.  Note that there are no real ways to identify the blogger other than the stamp in the right corner that displays the High School's name.  This blog includes inciteful debates on class content as well as the bloggers opinions on different topics in the classroom.  If I were to create a classroom blog, this is an example of some of the things I would want my students to write about.  I would want their blogs to form an opinion on a variety of topics and in the end show a reflection about those opinions enough to help them develop critical thinking skills and debating skills.