Blogging in the Classroom
// October 21st, 2008 // No Comments » // My Stuff
An NYU professor demanded that her journalism student not blog about class. This brings up some interesting questions and debate. Are conversations and discussions in classrooms private? Initially I would have thought “absolutely not, blogging is 100% OK from the classroom”.
After reading the article, the topic is much more grey. In my classroom, there really aren’t any topics that would be sensitive (I teach Web Programming). However, an ethics class could see students proposing opinions or debating ideas from tenuous positions that would they would either choose to be silent on or be greatly embarrassed if revealed publicly.
With all this in mind, I think NYU has the right policy and that is to allow the faculty member to decide for themselves on a class by class basis.
I will say though, that the specific instance in this article is much more black and white. This professor felt threatened and lashed out inappropriately. It did appear that her stance was softening a bit over time though. Good to see she has potential to learn…
