Who is Your Audience and How Much Will You Tell Them?

This question has been simmering in my head the last several days because of some news and blogs I’ve read recently. Consider these recent headlines:

Teachers Should Blog, Tweet and Flirt Online Like the Rest of Us

Fired! EFL teacher loses his job after employer finds out about his blog.

Florida teacher may lose job over MySpace

Thinking about Audience Matters

Marquette Dental Student Suspended Over Blog Posts

Students, officials locking horns over blogs


What exactly should educators share or not share publicly on a blog? Are any opinions okay or only some? Are any comments about their personal lives okay or only a few? To what standard should educators be held in their online expressions? Are there different standards for elementary and secondary educators? What is prudent? What is paranoia? What do you think about anonymous bloggers?

What exactly should students divulge on a blog? Would it matter whether it was a school-sponsored blog or personal blog? Are the “rules” about sharing opinions or personal lives different for students? How much is safe to share online? How much is wise to share online? Should student blogs always be anonymous? What about transparency? Are we supposed to connect online with students in any way? How? In which formats?

More on these topics to come (including links to the articles). Your preliminary comments are most welcome. Join the discussion!

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