Do you have guidelines for appropriate blogging, commenting, online behavior or student privacy on your class blog for parents, administrators, and students?
Could you share what you use with us?
I’m looking for examples of this type of information, or the methods you use to educate parents and students, to include with the ‘must read’ posts on student blogging. Anything you use that will help other educators!
Thanks Robert Baker for your forum post that reminded me of the need for these types of examples.
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Thank you for sharing your rules. I am just starting my students with blogs this coming year and needed some help with the rule.
I used Jing last year with a great amount of success. It’s super user friendly and makes giving instructions a breeze! I just switched to Camtasia (the paid version). I am in the process of re-making some and making new ones related to using the blog. You are welcome to check them out (there’s only one there right now, but I will be adding more over the next day or so).
http://www.lahaiseslair.com/videos/
I’d love to see your screencasts!
Here are some guidelines I use with my 8th graders:
Internet Safety
In order to ensure the safety of all who share this blog and to maintain the integrity of your teacher and school, you must agree to the following internet safety rules. I will hold each of us accountable to these standards. If these guidelines are abused in any way, the offending individual will no longer have the privilege of membership in our class blog.
1. Never give away your user name, password, last name, e-mail address, IM, phone number, or any other personal information. Use only your first name.
2. Do not link to your personal blog, MySpace, or any other personal web site.
3. Make sure the tone of discourse is civil. If you wish to share your opinion or disagree, there are ways to do this that invite intelligent debate. In that same vein, remember you are representing your school when you post here, and you may not criticize other groups, schools, or organizations in the name of your school.
4. Be sure to check your posts for grammar, mechanics, usage, and spelling. It might be helpful to type it in a word processing program first.
5. Remember that this is writing for school. If you wouldn’t turn it in to your strictest teacher, don’t post it here.
6. Make sure you have permission before you write about others, even if it is praise. People have differing levels of comfort with sharing information on the web.
7. Share your sources. If you used other web sites or books to defend an argument, link to them so your readers can check them out, too.
8. Unless stated otherwise, the law automatically grants full copyright over any creative work a person makes. Using copyrighted images exposes you to the risk of copyright infringement. It is important to use only images you are positive are not copyrighted, which is why most bloggers use images licensed under Creative Commons.
9. Make sure your posts are relevant to education. Post your academic writing, important club events, reporting on school, etc., but do not share your weekend plans or goofy online quiz results.
10. Click on the Internet Safety Rules link in the blog roll on C101 and carefully read these additional internet safety guidelines.
How to Comment on This Blog
Bless means the work is finished, and the author would like positive feedback from readers about what they liked in the text. This is an invitation to celebrate the finished piece.
Press means the piece is almost finished, and the writer would like readers to “iron out any wrinkles” that they may perceive in the work. This is an invitation to comment on any aspect of the writing.
Address means the author has a specific question about a specific aspect of the writing and wants reader feedback on that aspect only. This is an invitation to address the author’s specific request(s).
How to embed a video into a post or page
In order to add an appropriate video into a post or page, you must follow these steps to embed the video so that it is not linked back to the site where you found the video and does not include related videos. Of course, you will first check to be certain the video is not restricted for use by copyright law.
Here’s what you do:
1. Find the video you’d like to embed.
2. On the video play page, to the right of the video, you’ll see the video’s embed code.
3. Next to the embed code, you will see a button that allows you to customize the embed code. Sometimes this is directly below the embed code. The various customizing options include the Include Related Videos checkbox.
4. Unclick the check box to include related videos.
5. The page or post where you wish to embed the video must be in HTML mode. Click on HTML in the upper right hand corner of the page or post.
6. Now copy the video’s embed code and paste the code into the section of the page or post where you’d like the video embedded.
I also use a blogging checklist – click on this link to view!
@Deborah (Brown) Bernard,
Thanks for sharing. I have incorporated and revised much of your work to include on my blog.
One thing I used successfully last year was screencasts with jing.
I would create how-to tutorials (1-5 minutes long) to model for students how to navigate the blog, how to post, how to add video, etc.
This year I am planning on posting some screencasts that model what inappropriate blogging looks like and what appropriate blogging looks like. I try to make it light and fun and it tends to give the students a more visceral connection to the expectations. I will share them soon as I am in the process of creating them. My old screencasts are for another blog platform.
Best,
Robert
This is what I have used for students participating in a class blog:
Online Discussion Agreement
I understand that to be allowed to participate in the online discussions in Mrs. Lo’s class that:
I am responsible for what I write. My writing will be thoughtful, appropriate for school, and will not include harassment, put downs, lies, gossip, or making fun of others. The words will be my own, not plagiarized from others. If I quote others, I will provide information about the source of the words. I am responsible for what I write, whether I write at school or outside of school.
I am responsible for keeping my password secure, and for not sharing it with anybody. This also means that I am responsible for anything others write under my ID if I share my password or am careless in keeping my password safe. (That means if I leave my password lying around, I will take the consequences.)
I will use proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, and English usage. I will not use texting shorthand.
I will have to redo my work if my work is inappropriate, filled with errors, or sloppy, and will not receive credit until my work meets academic standards. Mrs. Lo decides if I have to redo my work.
I will not try to disrupt the discussion or the computer resources that permit the discussion.
If my writing or other behavior is not appropriate, I risk losing the opportunity to participate in our online discussion. I will have to do the writing assignments on my own, print them out and hand them to the teacher, without participating in the online discussion.
@Fran Lo,
What a simple, straightforward way to accomplish this task. I love using “I” statements — creates ownership. Very powerful. I have this list of Dos and Don’ts I’m playing with but with your permission I’d like to use your work here and make changes for my own class blog.
Robert Barker
English/History Instructor
Blog Enthusiast
John Liechty Middle School
Los Angeles
@MisterB, Be my guest! I’m going to incorporate some of Deborah Bernard’s ideas in my agreement for the fall.
@Fran Lo,
Thank you for the wonderful online agreement. I would also like to incorporate it into my blog. It’s a great way to keep our kids safe and accountable for their posts!
Lena Resin
English Teacher
New Blogger
Capac High School
MI