Blogging

Whilst I am new to blogging, I am not a novice as far as computers and technology go. I e-mail at home and at work, I have an i-pod, I use an i-pod as a teaching tool at school, I txt instead of calling ppl, I have a study buddy (hi Judi) who I chat to all hours of thenight and day (using msn) about uni - interestingly we have never met. I also use the IWB at school, I have a facebook profile, and check the weather, my horoscope, book overseas holidays and do everything else on line including, (I have kept the best til last) shopping on-line.
However, the one thing that I do not do on-line is discuss specifics about family and friends. It is not because I am a private person, it is because I do not want to expose them to 'the world'. I would hope that my friends and family feel the same way about me and want to protect me.
The thing that we have to remember with technology today, is that once an image or text is out there on 'the web' there is no way to retrieve it. You can modify it, but so can others. You can retrieve it, but so can others. If we as future LM's have the best interest and safety (a requirement of the job of teaching) of children at the forefront of our thinking, then we also have to be aware of the 'safety' of the students when we are teaching them to use a tool like blogging.

WHAT I THINK:
Plus: Blogging would be a fantastic tool for all students as a communication device, or to record progress on a particular topic or subject at school. For students who struggle with writing it is a tool that may assist them by writing stories and 'blogging' it up. For students who are schooled by distance education or study by 'flex' it is a great tool to read what others are thinking, and to add comments. If it is for a particular project or topic, it also provides an avenue for 'feedback' from others, either peers or teachers.
Minus: Blogging, or following others blogs, like Facebook, can be very time consuming. This is particularly if you are following a lot of blogs, or people put a lot of 'extra unimportant stuff that no one really cares about' that you have to read through to find out there was nothing of interest there in the first place. The other minus is one I have already raised, and it is one of safety. Safety for individuals and safety for family and friends. Unfortunately the big wide world is not a safe place, and it only takes one individual to misuse your information, in any way they want, and your world suddenly becomes very small and scary.
Improve Interesting Implement: Considering the safety issue, as part of 'effective teaching' I would incorporate this into the lesson for students. I would ensure that if they were 'blogging' that is was on a secure website such as "Learning Place". Just as we teach students 'road safety' I would include 'web safety' as part of the 'protocols and procedures' for netiquette.
As a learning tool, I would use blogging for the students (SWD) that I work with and when they have completed some excellent work, they could 'blog it' and other students in that group, or the class teacher could post comments.