1:1 Notes #2: Student Blogging / Parent Permission Policy

Real quick: I’m lucky to have a strong, sharp principal. We talked about how to approach the student blogging / parental permission / privacy issue, and came up with such a no-nonsense and sane solution (unless you can show me what I’m missing, seriously), that I see smooth sailing ahead.

It’s this: We already have a school newsletter that’s online and public, and it often shows photos of students with their names - sports teams, student council members, etc. Obviously, being featured as a student on this newsletter is a mark of distinction most parents will want their children to gain.

Since that is already a precedent, we’re going to include student blogs on the parent letter of consent to the use of their child’s name and photo on other online work. We’ll probably still limit students to first names on their blogs, and generally discourage revealing too much information.

But to simply include blogs, wikis, and other works in the general consent form is a nice way of treating them as normal. To have a separate “Blogging Permission Letter” or whatever just invites seeing it as a special case; subsuming it instead under the same policy as our school newsletter suggests that it’s normal.

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Written by Clay Burell

August 11th, 2007 at 1:12 am

Posted in blogging

Tagged with 1:1

15 Responses to '1:1 Notes #2: Student Blogging / Parent Permission Policy'

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Good idea, Clay. It makes blogging a more natural thing, just like any other kind of student expression.

I’ve just started my first student blog but I’ve set it up using a site that has already been created for this purpose. That is, our state education department and the School Library Association of Victoria worked together to establish a blogging place for teachers and students to use. (If you want to see how that works, go to http://globalteacher.org.au/ and have a squiz.)

My student blog ( http://pegslibrary.globalstudent.org.au/ ) hasn’t received comments from the kids yet - it’s still very new. The first time we met, though, we (I’m a teacher librarian and the English teacher who’s running the book club) asked students what they thought would be some good guidelines to use when blogging, using the headings “Safe” and “Proud”. They came up with some great suggestions.

I feel so exposed with this blogging stuff. I feel protective of people’s identities. I notice that most bloggers enjoy the sharing while I move cautiously, slowly, taking peeks and little tastes. Not sure what I’m afraid of. But I give myself points for daring to explore.

Joanna

[Reply]

Joanna

11 Aug 07 at 5:00 am
Clay,

Great precedent to set, but what about having a backup plan in case you get some parents who are alarmed by the connotations associated with blogging as perceived through the media?

What’s going to happen if you get a large number of parents who pull their kids from the newsletter because of the inclusion of the blogs, etc. Just playing Devil’s Advocate for you, but I know that if your parents are anything like ours, they will question that.

[Reply]

Patrick Higgins

11 Aug 07 at 6:25 am
Joanna, I’ll take a look at those sites, thanks. Patrick, Devil’s Advocates are always welcome in my heaven. I think parents who opt out will soon opt back in when they see their children left out of the free publicity. Korean parents are not like American parents, and in this case that’s a good thing. Remember “the media” is one thing in your country, another one in other countries. Luckily, we’re not so paranoid here.

Really, why should they get the option of Yes to school newsletters, no to school blogs? I can see the need for moderation of blogs - or, more efficiently, first name only and no identifying photos on blogs - but beyond that, if they opt out, they opt out.

Again, our parents in this competitive Confucian culture want the distinctions and showcasing.

You’ve got to side with the progressive parents to make progress. Otherwise, the reactionaries and “regressives” will always win.

Thoughts?

[Reply]

Clay Burell

11 Aug 07 at 6:50 am
“You’ve got to side with the progressive parents to make progress. Otherwise, the reactionaries and “regressives” will always win.”

This one I like. Mind if I use it?

The way you describe the parent culture there sounds a bit refreshing, yet I think we do see that a bit here, but mixed with such girded angst fueled by NBC’s “To Catch a Predator” series where fake kids are baited to online predators. It really lends itself to snap judgments about online safety.

That idea of media you wrote about, that could be something to explore between student groups.

[Reply]

Patrick Higgins

11 Aug 07 at 7:19 am
Gee, use away. Maybe play with “let the 20th century parents watch the 21st century parents leave them behind” or somesuch. It really does seem like an easy way to move ahead with those who are ready, and allow the laggards to lag.

I’m blessed to live a TV-less life (okay, I get Korean cable with CNN and Fox News, but the content of both is so insulting I just scan YouTube for news clips from the networks).

That comparative media idea of yours is a good one. You should run with it.

[Reply]

Clay Burell

11 Aug 07 at 7:31 am
Our district has a “Permission to Publish” form that spells out the policy. I modified that document to include our classroom website.

You can see it online here.

I agree that we want to make it seem normal and natural. I also think that everyone’s comfort zone should be respected. So I offer a variety of options.

There are many good reasons for someone to not want a child to become a “public figure.” Since I work with elementary kids, I also let the kids use pseudonyms. Sometimes they disclose family information that that might be sensitive, and which I might not even recognize as being a problem for anyone.

[Reply]

Doug Noon

11 Aug 07 at 5:18 pm
Clay, I like your “business as usual” approach to this. I’ve had my third graders blogging for the last two years. Have never asked for parent permission. Our district AUP and web publishing guidelines clearly say student work and names can appear. They even say pics are OK, with no identifying names. I’ve been publishing student work on the web for over a dozen years with more stringent guidelines than those.

Since every single word they write must be approved by me before it appears on the web, it is no different from what schools have been doing with student work for a long time. However, if my kids could publish without my approval, it would be a different ball game - I wouldn’t do it, even if their parents said OK.

The only signed agreement is between me and my kids, a code of ethics, safety, and responsibility, the Bloggers Contract, adapted from David Warlick’s original. Good luck - Mark

[Reply]

Mark Ahlness

11 Aug 07 at 7:46 pm
Doug, Thanks for the link. I like the idea of offering a series of options, though managing that on a school-wide level - did this parent say no, or anonymously, or first name, or full name - seems like it might become aversive to teachers (like using anagrams, which I tried last year), and difficult to manage.

As for the posts revealing personal things about families, I see your point. Do you think a combination of teacher monitoring of blogs, plus a preliminary conversation in class about the difference between private writing and public writing, might mitigate that issue?

I always have to remember that I speak from the high school point of view, and that the issues differ for different age groups. Thanks for the reminder.

[Reply]

Clay Burell

11 Aug 07 at 8:44 pm
Hi Mark - Nice to hear your input. Like Doug’s, it will be valuable for the teachers in our elementary and middle school.

And thanks for the links

[Reply]

Clay Burell

11 Aug 07 at 8:47 pm
The blog ate my original comment because the captcha wasn’t visible. I have a heck of a time leaving comments on your blog due to technical glitches.

Anyhow, the options should be kept to a minimum, I agree. I offer them because they are part of the district form, and I’m not writing new policy; I’m simply applying it to a new purpose.

The conversation with kids is essential. I think elementary students need moderation where high schoolers can probably be trusted to understand the difference between public and private speech. In any case, the kids should know that people keep blogs for various purposes, and a school blog is not a personal blog.

I think I had another point in my other comment, but I can’t remember what it was. Must not have been too important, eh? Hope this one flies. I should remember to copy these things to the clipboard before I try to publish them. It’s a me v. Blogspot issue. Sorry. I enjoy your blog, but the haloscan window gives me fits.

[Reply]

Doug Noon

11 Aug 07 at 11:25 pm
You crack me up, Doug. And I hereby kill the haloscan. Let’s see if the spam increases without it.

[Reply]

Clay Burell

12 Aug 07 at 12:35 am
Clay,

This year will be my (and my district’s) first experience with student blogging. I like the “treat it as normal” approach but agree with Patrick that a back-up letter is a good plan.

Our kids participate is a number of locally-publicized activities without any problems. The district newsletter is not online (at least, not yet) so linking there is a non-issue for the present. Come to think of it, that might be a good public service project for my students: creating some type of local/school current events link from our school webpage.

You have inspired me - again. Can’t wait to get started!

Diane

[Reply]

diane

12 Aug 07 at 9:51 am
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