The Media Spot

PS 124 Blogs: Community monitored school blogging Over the past 2 years we've been promoting school blogs as a tool for incorporating media education in the classroom and teaching students safe and responsible online habits. Any talk of blogging or social networking and kids these days doesn't get far without a discussion of online safety. With all the hype around Internet predators and cyber-bullies lurking on blogs and sites like MySpace (enter Dateline NBC's "To Catch a Predator I, II, or III...") there is (understandably) a lot of resistence to introducing social networking tools into the K-12 environment.

User-contributed and up-to-the-minute content are becoming the norm on the Internet in recent years due to the ease-of-use of "web 2.0" software, which has created a dynamic and democratized media landscape that is changing politics, news, and culture as we know it. Uncertainty about how to protect kids in this emerging culture can make adminstrators uneasy about allowing teachers to experiment with online networking tools in the classroom. Kids should be taught how to recognize dangerous activity on the Internet, and learn best practices for protecting themselves, because the reality is that they will inevitably be browsing the Internet somewhere unmonitored. We believe that by learning to publish to the web, and interacting with others within a closely monitored network, such as a school blog, students will internalize that knowledge.

School blogs can be powerful low-maintenance tools for schools to showcase student work, archive lessons and discussions, and if set up and monitored correctly, can teach students how to participate in the 21st century digital landscape safely. Last year I worked with teachers at PS 124 and PS 130 in Brooklyn to integrate blogs in their classrooms, and Andy and I helped a high school class in Colorado develop a blog for a media literacy unit. The blogging activities showed the potential for dynamic student writing and multimedia production work on the Internet, established connections with other school bloggers, taught media literacy lessons and reinforced general computing, typing and Internet skills. The blogs also served as dynamic school websites to the Brooklyn schools, who otherwise would not have been able to easily maintain an up-to-date online presence.

The inevitable (albeit few) incidents of hooliganism or risky behavior among the student bloggers became excellent teaching opportunities. Because all activity on the blog was collected in moderation queues requiring approval from a blog administrator, or monitored live from an adult's work station as student posts went up, we were able to catch inappropriate behavior or material immediately. When students made poor decisions we were able to capitalize on the teachable moments related to online behavior and safety, while controlling the content on the site and responding directly through blog 'comments' or face-to-face. We were also able to intercept SPAM in the form of blog 'comments' from unauthorized users outside of the school community by setting the blog to queue all posted material to be deleted or approved at an administrator's convenience. The set-up of the blog and blogging activities allowed us to keep the environment safe, and reinforce appropriate online behavior.

This year as we continue to develop blogs within these schools and others, we are making it a priority for all school staff to routinely contribute writing to their school blogs as a way to insure a baseline of technology skills and understanding of the digital landscape their students are increasingly immersed in. More school staff members participating on the blogs means more "eyes on the street" looking out for students, and developing valuable media-based activities and applications of these powerful new tools.

For more information on our priorities regarding student privacy and safety, have a look at the TMS Privacy and Online Safety Policy, and student consent forms linked from that page.