Hard policy questions about student blogging

I have been having some interesting discussions in the last couple weeks about a challenging, but important, policy question for you: Should all student blogging (in a school environment) be moderated?

I invite you to think about this and post your comments here. Thanks for the discussion.

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[cross-posted from Mobile Musings]

A question for you: Should all student blogging be moderated?

I am really conflicted about this. I believe strongly in the benefits of student blogging. I think that if blogging is done in a closed (non-public) environment, it isn't really blogging and doesn't have the benefits of writing for an authentic audience.

In general, I think that teaching students to be responsible is a far better approach than trying to block or filter everything that might be dangerous. We should spend more time talking about 21st century skills and how to act prudently in the world that is out there.

On the other hand, I understand concerns about student online safety. There are many more subtle issues than just a concern that students might write something inappropriate.

Also when making a district-level decision about blogging policy, the feelings of the administration, board, and community need to be considered. Or do they? Is this a cop-out? This has been keeping me up nights.

I hope the edublogging community will write about these issues and post links to their thoughts. here. These are not easy issues, and I am looking for some thoughtful discussion on them.