IMHO

web publishing

Written By: Miranda - Nov• 03•09

We do not teach web 2.0 tools or online communication mores at KUA.
and I think that’s pretty unfortunate. We now have two a web publishing platform here at KUA, this WordPress installation. and KUtube

We have no policies that I know of written with these platforms in mind. We have the AUP – the Acceptable Use Policy. We have a paragraph in the faculty handbook on social networking and one line stating that discussing school policy with anyone other than faculty members is unprofessional. Does this qualify? Should I be fired?

How are these applied? Who applies them? What happens when someone publishes something that a parent, teacher, classmate or administrator finds objectionable? Do we measure it against the AUP? Who does the measuring? What are the consequences if it is determined that a post or a video is against policy? Is this OK? What about this?

The faculty who have set up blogs here on KUAPress have needed help to do so, they do not instinctively know how to use the tool even in a technical sense. Why would we assume students would? It is obvious, looking at the ModelUN blog that Isaac had no idea how to use the platform – he commented on the example post from Mr. WordPress and then abandoned the blog entirely.

Yet when they go out into the world, our students will need to know how to create web content and how to join in the online conversation as a citizen of the world. Even the chairman of the Republican party has a blog, though I’m awfully disappointed he changed the name from “What Up?”

It isn’t that I think our students will be using blogs per se, it might be something very different. But they’ll need to know how to communicate online, how to work cooperatively on projects, how to disagree without being disagreeable (which isn’t so easy with only words).

Now that faculty are using KUAPress, I don’t think students will use it much. I’m thinking that will probably be the kiss of death for it as far as student sites. But they’ll still need to learn. It isn’t instinctive, no matter how much older adults think it is.

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2 Comments

  1. Mr. Mac says:

    These are great points. One of the things I TRY to communicate with my kids is the idea that what they write goes out into the ethos of the internet, and that it is a universe of incalculable size and accessibility. Therefore, ANYONE can read their work. The standard I set is that the writing needs to be grammatically flawless in order to be taken seriously on the internet, and for their opinions to be taken into account. To their credit, I think most of my kids have received this message, and I am happy with the quality of their writing and their comments at this early stage in the KUAPress phenomenon.

  2. mclemson says:

    Grammatically flawless might be a little too much to ask, Mr. Mac , c’mon.
    I got a real thrill when I posted about a careless spelling mistake that David Warlick ( a noted education blogger) made on his blog and he came and apologized for it on mine, and then fixed it.

    I think the discussions your students are having are very interesting indeed. I only wish students would start their own blogs.

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