Getting permission for blogs and wikis

[Randy de Jong]

I have learned a lot and am learning more about the potential of blogs and wikis. I brought up the subject with my principal and got a "see me" response via email. The principal indicated that blogs would be a risky and problematic area that would be better unexplored. There was no mention of wikis. If you have had success helping an administrator realize the value of these tools, I would love to get some insight and approaches.

Randy de Jong
Future Teacher-Librarian
Kern Valley High School
[e-mail]

[Cindy]

Hi Randy,

This is a tough one, for sure. You know the climate and culture in your school, and will have to figure out how best to move forward. Sometimes having folks articulate their concerns works - what, specifically, are they afraid of/concerned about? What are ways that such concerns can be addressed? But you are right that first the value of the tool needs to be understood - otherwise it is perceived as a waste of time to even talk about it.

Finding teachers and schools that ARE using blogs and wikis successfully and showing how it has engaged the students beyond belief is always a good sell. Vicki Davis' and Will Richardson's blogs would be a good place to start. If you can get folks enthusiastic about the possibilities and the benefits to student learning, then the obstacles and concerns are not insurmountable.

There is a great 20 minute movie by National Geographic photographer DeWitt Jones that tells us we need to believe it and then we'll see it (which is just the opposite of how we normally think). It's beautifully done and very inspiring - called Celebrate What's Right with the World. Helps to focus on the positive, the possibilities, and then we naturally find solutions to the challenges - just because our perspective is different.

Hope this helps a bit!

[Nancy White]

I have found that building a blog or wiki for professional use within a school gets adminstrators and teachers engaged and they get past their "fear" of the unknown. We managed to convince the powers that be to open up blogs and wikis for staff use as a start. We are using wikis for many, many different professional development and collaborative projects, such as committees working on common assessments for language arts and technology literacy, a "living and breathing" policy and procedure manual for technology coordinators (at the district level), and even a fun project of sharing recipes within our central office building. Now --we are gaining some succes in getting these opened up on a case-by-case basis for students. I tell teachers - if you build it - and show us the value and how you will keep kids safe, we will open it. We have a school doing a "research expo" - and one of the students created a wiki to share the results of his project and get classmates, teachers and parents to offer their feedback and thinking. We will open this up and I suspect that as we have a great deal of success with these one by one - our adminstration will be more willing to continue on this path.

[Randy de Jong]

Cindy and Nancy, Both of you have given valuable insight to ways to approach this. I appreciate the comments and thoughts.

[karenklieg]

Hi Randy,
I started blogging and using wikis with my 4th & 5th grade students. We send home a letter to parents to give their permission and also have our students sign a blogger's contract with very specific rules (must be signed by parent as well). We use Class Blogmeister because it is password protected and all articles and comments are screened by the teacher before being published. See my library page @ http://www.herricks.org/webpages/KKliegman/blogswikis.cfm

With these safeguards in place, you might have more success. There is also a video on my website that speaks to the idea of students blogging. Good luck!
Karen

[Randy de Jong]

Karen,
Are there any costs with Blogmeister? I am going to pursue possible uses with my school. So far there is a very cold reception from the administration. I am studying a number of things regarding blogging for educational use. There is a great deal to explore still. In the class I am taking, there is a discussion about using blogs for the posting of assignments. Have you encountered positives or negatives? What do you do for those without computer access at home? Are all your assignments done at school?
Randy

[Bonnie Hauser]

Randy,
I have been using blogs for a few years, and wikis this year in the library. We also have several teachers at school who have been using blogs for years. Most of our students do not have computers at home, but we have extended hours before and after school in the library, and I work closely with our local public library branch to provide access to students. It seems to work well.