Comments on: Share Your Advice on Using Student Photos on Blogs

By: Sue Waters

Sue Waters — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 08:57:52 +0000

@rjr52, At the moment contributors can’t upload media – that is a default setting in this version of WordPress MU that we use. However I sent our development team a list of recommended changes that I believe most people would like to see happen.

Ability to upload media as a contributor is one of the changes. They quickly developed a solution to allow contributors to upload media. And hopefully it should be installed on Edublogs very soon.

By: rjr52

rjr52 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:44:42 +0000

I am trying to have students add to the class blog as a contributor and make posts about our class topics. How do I allow them capabilty to add media, such as images and video links…which of course I will approve as I review?
Thank you.

By: Sue Waters

Sue Waters — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:54:22 +0000

@Talia That definitely makes it hard when you are doing a Prac in the class and not the regular teacher however sounds like you came up with a good solution.

By: Talia

Talia — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 03:52:04 +0000

I’ve just finsihed my prac, but while I was doing it I wanted to share with my friends what I was doing in my classroom. The best way to do this is of course, photos!

I put some on facebook, and then on my blog, but they were just of the classroom, and sometimes of kids- if it was of the back of their heads- no faces.

I was a bit disapointed, because I got some really cool shots of the kids doing things that would’ve been great to share with others, but felt like I couldn’t put them on the internet because I might get in trouble.

The other thing I was aware of is kids in situations like foster care, where they may have had an abusive parent, or even just a child living with one parent, and they’ve ‘escaped’ from the other violent parent or partner. I wouldn’t want their safety put jeopardy because that person stumbled on my blog, or some random saw it and recognised the kid or anything like that.

I just made sure that I took shots of kids without their faces so that I could show them doing work as well.

In hindsight, I could have just asked the parents… but seeing as this was just a person thing, and only for a few weeks, I didn’t deem it necessary. I could live with not updating my facebook photos!!

By: Sue Waters

Sue Waters — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 23:32:15 +0000

@Justin Thanks for sharing how it is managed in your school. Unfortunately the media portrays the negative aspects of the Internet which is why we need to ensure we communicate effectively with the parents so they become comfortable with the process. @Lesley Sorry about that -- I also had trouble reading. It was GlassGiant.com. Just one of the many image generators I use for creating images for blog posts and presentations.

By: Lesley Edwards

Lesley Edwards — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:48:08 +0000

Hi Sue,
What application did you use to create the graphic for this post? I tried to read the ……com at the bottom but my eyes are old and tired!

By: Justin K. Reeve

Justin K. Reeve — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:57:31 +0000

In our school district, we are in the process of formalizing policies on issues such as this. In general, though, our rule tends to be: Show the pictures, and if you’re showing the same students repeatedly, get waivers; if you’re providing student name associations with the pictures, you should have a parental waiver. Waivers are a must. I tell the teachers to work with their administrators before posting class photos on their blogs.

On a side note, sometimes I wonder if we’re overreacting. Actually, not so much overreacting, but just not communicating with parents well enough to know what THEY consider acceptable displays of their children. After all, these are their kids. The state laws and school policies governing how we handle child safety in our schools is supposed to suit their needs. The majority of parents are excited to see their children on the web. It gives them a closer feeling to the classroom, to see them engaged in activities, learning, having fun. Some teachers in our district further close this gap between the classroom and parents with videos, podcasts, and more. It’s so important to make sure parents are involved.

By: Sue Waters

Sue Waters — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:12:22 +0000

@anonymousflower thanks for sharing how you handle the use of student images.

By: anonymousflower

anonymousflower — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:23:40 +0000

I worry and struggle with this too. So because of that, I just don’t do it at all. No pictures. I don’t even want other adults to know who I am, much less my students. I just find ways around subjecting children to exposure. Use the item they have produced, use their voice, I even heard of one teacher using paper plate masks which I thought was cute! I also heard another teacher only does the backs of their head, that the parent knows who they are, but most others that don’t know the child won’t.

By: Sue Waters

Sue Waters — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 11:16:11 +0000

@Tiana Agreed another option is to use a password protected site.

@wmchamberlain It’s great how these technologies do empower the students to realise they are connecting with a much greater audience than was achievable previously.

@murcha The family members who live overseas must really enjoy being able to check out the students work. I definitely agree that this provides us the best opportunities for educating the students on the issues.