Saturday, November 3, 2007

Issues and Risks

Teachers and users alike all have a responsibility to have some understanding of issues related to privacy, plagiarism, codes of conduct and responsible public publishing. Other factors to consider include moderation, facilitation, and information or time overload.
After careful consideration of these issues such as moderation facilitation and information or time overload, the use of blogs as a learning tool should provide a positive experience.

a) Learning social eteqacies.
There are inevitably people who will use blogs inapproriately. Blogs provide a space for sharing ideas and opinions so when commenting on these one should disagree or agree with the idea not the person, generalisations should be avoided, and all information in the links should be read to ensure it is appropriate.[1] The use of written language should be appropriate to society and exclude personal attacks, swearing, racist or sexual comments. Developing guidelies for the use of blogs will provide a framework by which users can ensure they are communicating responsibly.

b) Privacy
Weblog users need to have some understanding of issues related to privacy to ensure that their site does not breach any policies or laws. Blog entries should avoid publishing personal information such as address, date of birth, and phone numbers to protect privacy. Dahna Boyd believes that “privacy is dead’ and we need to learn how to ‘negotiate this heightened state of public-ness that we have created, and how to manage invisible potential audiences’. According to Boyd many of the problems presented by blogs are not new but simply a bigger and more visible social information issues, not a technological one[2]. Teachers and users generally can become more net savy through discussion on issues of privacy and general experience in using the internet.

Using blogs with learners under 18 years of age also presents its own risks. Teachers must ensure that they maintain their duty of care in regard to privacy and child protection. By establishing semi-open community, restrictions can be placed on people who can get access to blog sites.

c) Codes of Conduct
Public access to blogs exposes everyone to the potential to be subjected to inappropriate comments or information, abuse or personal attacks. This Code of Ethics has been developed to assist teachers using blogs as an educational tool and can be summarise as [3]:
a. I will tell the truth.
b. I will write deliberately and with accuracy.
c. I will acknowledge and correct mistakes promptly.
d. I will preserve the original post, using notations to show where I have made changes so as to maintain the integrity of my publishing.
e. I will never delete a post.
f. I will not delete comments unless they are spam or off-topic.
g. I will reply to emails and comments when appropriate and do so promptly.
h. I will strive for high quality with every post – including basic spellchecking.
i. I will stay on topic
j. I will disagree with other opinions respectfully.
k. I will link to online references and original source materials directly.
l. I will disclose conflicts of interest.
m. I will keep private issues and topics private, since discussing private issues would jeopardise my personal and work relationships. [4]

Links:
http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/04/draft_bloggers_1.html

Bloggers code of conduct

Protecting Australian families online:
http://www.netalert.net.au/01624-What-are-Mobile-Internet-Technologies.asp


d) Plagiarism
With so much access to information its is very easy and tempting to cut, copy and paste information from the web. However to maintain our ethical standards it is important to respect intellecutal property and avoiding plagiarism. Hyperlinks and feeds provide easier referencing to the source of information when using blog.

Blog users also need to be mindful that not all information is truthful, or can be validated to be accurate. The importance of checking all information when adding links to a blog ensures that we are forwarding on reliable and reputable information.

Reference:
Oblinger, D., Becoming Net Savvy, Educase Quarterly No 3. 2007.
Issues in Plagiarism for the New Millennium: http://ultibase.rmit.edu.au/Articles/dec98/gajad1.htm

e) Policies & Procedures
There appears no explicit policies for use of blogs to support educational delivery, however TAFE NSW Northern Sydney Instititue provide a list of documents that provide guidelines effecting the use of blogs by teachers and learners. [5]

Student Discipline Policy
Code of Conduct (for staff)
Management of Conduct and Performance (for staff)
Internet and Email Services: Acceptable Usage for Schools
Use by Staff of Employer Communication Devices
Policy for Protecting Children and Young People
Release of Student Information Policy
Anti-Bullying Plan for Schools
Anti-Racism Policy
People With Disabilities - Statement of Commitment
Web Publishing Guidelines (Intranet only)
Privacy Code of Practice (Intranet only)
Intellectual Property Policy - TAFE NSW
Copyright Amendment (Digital Act) 2000
Cybercrime Act 2001
Policy Guidelines for Mobile Communication Devices and Associated Services


e) Facilitation
Initially students ‘don’t get blogging on their own without considerable assistance from teachers.’[6] The teacher therefore has an important role in facilitating the use of blogs through posting questions, links, making suggestions or comments to further extend conversations. However there is a tendency to want to use new technology is old ways rather than rethinking our practice and adapting it accordingly. [7] Therefore teachers need to be mindful of utilising this tool in ways to facilitate collaboration, and reflective learning practice rather than teacher directed learning.

It is easy to set a blog is relatively easy, rememebering that it is waiting for the next post is easy to forget. Prompt such as adding ScribeFire as a firefox addon, to the blog helps remind bloggers to visit their blog on a regular basis. One way to keep blogs active may be to incorporate this to students assessment requirements, but this will influence the nature of the blogging that takes place.

f) Moderating
If blogs are being used as a teaching tools, teachers have a responsibility to ensure that students are using these in an appropriate way. This can be done by teachers constantly monitoring behaviour, and providing the support and feedback that will help students learn
how to moderate their own behaviour [8] Through making blogs public, students will hopefully be inclined to think more carefully about what the say or post on their blog.


g) Overload
Information overload can be a negative result of blogging when so much information suddenly becomes available. This may occur through seeking out contact with blogs or through RSS feeds which automatically provided updated information as it becomes available. Time overload is also of major concern and requires an appropriate amount of discipline and self monitoring to know when to limit time spent blogging.

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