What is a weblog?

I've come back from Wales - more on that later - to see some blogging depression chez John and a post from David, which I think has come from a misunderstanding (my fault, I believe) about what I reckon makes a blog a blog.

Secondary vs. Primary
Recently particularly, I have been coming from a secondary education perspective (and yesterday the Higher Ed. point of view) in trying to explain to teachers what a blog is and how it can be used to develop skills well beyond the technicalities of how one writes French, German, Italian, Spanish, Gaelic... One of the main skills is responsibility and 'manners' when writing for a public audience. If you don't express yourself clearly you get what I have come back to: a flurry of comments and posts based on what you've said. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. To really push this message of responsibility home I do believe that it's essential to post moderate. If students don't see their post appear rightaway they are not learning about responsibility in blogging at all - they're just being policed.

I think John is absolutely correct, though, along with those who've commented on his post, in pointing out that the Primary sector is very different. There is a different level of care that has to be taken to make sure that kids' posts are responsible and will not put them in danger. Pre-moderation seems a logical step.

What I would like to suggest, though, is a compromise. Would it be possible in the Primary sector to wean the kids off pre-moderation, the practice of blogging now being entrenched in their school work (and mighty well entrenched at Sandaig, too!), moving towards post-moderation? Post-moderation could come live or almost live, in any case, so anything that isn't safe is whipped off immediately.

Just a thought.

Group blogs vs. Individual blogs
As for James' post on group blogging 'sucking' for education - nonsense. Blogging is great for creating community and it doesn't matter if that community features on one web page or several. As David points out, in a classroom situation we work in groups sometimes, as individuals sometimes, occassionally a mixture of both. It would be madness to preclude one type of blogging for education for any reason.

And nor is blogging about being alone. Au contraire. It's about sharing your work and learning from each other in just the way I've learned about primary blogging today from John.

It's elementary stuff, no?

Comments

[John]

What I would like to suggest, though, is a compromise. Would it be possible in the Primary sector to wean the kids off pre-moderation, the practice of blogging now being entrenched in their school work ... moving towards post-moderation? Post-moderation could come live or almost live, in any case, so anything that isn't safe is whipped off immediately.
This would be an ideal to aim at, in my class we have 2 pcs so it seems easiest to just read over the children's work and give an ok before they post. If we had a lab, I might do things differently. Some of my reasons for moderation are to do with quality and to protect the children, not from internet monsters but from failing in some way in a very public arena that they do not fully understand.
My classroom (dis)organisation might play a part too;-)
Mainly I feel that the theory of blogging is way ahead of the practice at the moment. The theory is quite well established, and the practice is often just starting to scratch the surface of what is possible.
I often conceive a grand blog plan at the weekend only to watch it shrink as it battles against the real world. On the other hand an occasional idea drops out of the sky and blooms.