As far as I’m concerned, the simpler the instructions the better. The following were my instructions for my students on a teacher training course in 2006. Astonishingly (to my mind), none of them blogged, and I think one had a Flickr account, and only a few had even heard of Flickr. So much for “digital natives”!
Another thing to note is that “Superglu” is no longer available. These days, I periodically save, back up or export anything I publish on the web in preparation for the day when (rarely “if”) the service disappears.
But enough of this persiflage. Here are the instructions I told you about:
1. Create a blog account at www.blogger.com.
2. Record your evidence for ICT on the blog.
3. See the evidence from everyone else at http://tfreedman.suprglu.com/
Commentary
I think the important “takeaways” from this are as follows — important because they are still apposite:
I expected the trainees to start a blog. This was partly in order to serve as a means of reflecting on their learning and practice, and partly because I think people should walk the talk. If you’re going to be teaching people about technology, you should use it yourself.
I expected them to make at least some of their evidence of reflecting public.
Unfortunately, I did make a mistake. I assumed that people were more savvy about potential libel than proved to be the case. One of the trainees started a blog in which he lampooned the various tutors on the course. These sketches were extremely humorous, but alas also potentially libellous. She ended up being threatened with expulsion, and her response was to complain about me. Fortunately, the powers that be could see that that was a flimsy and desperate course of action.
Perhaps I ought to have given out guidelines, and asked trainees to submit draft blog posts to me for prior approval. To be honest, I’m not sure, because I like the idea of people being responsible for what they write, and I should have thought that most people, adults at least, would be more aware of the fine line between harmless ribbing and public ridicule, and therefore libel.
I think the best instruction in this respect is that in any kind of writing, especially in tweets, blog posts and emails, unless you are an extremely skilled writer it is very hard to get across any kind of nuance. A wry remark delivered in person with an arched eyebrow and a small, lopsided smile can come across as laughing at someone instead of with them. Much better to observe the old adage, if in doubt, leave it out.
If you found this article interesting and useful, why not subscribe to my newsletter, Digital Education? It’s been going since the year 2000, and has news, views and reviews for Computing and ed tech teachers.