Joe asks “Does the public nature of a weblog inhibit the types of things that students will publish there?” As a writing/journalism teacher for 18 years, there’s no doubt in my mind that publication changes the way students think and write. When kids know they have an audience, they write with more care and depth. But that audience has always been constructed, and with rare exception, authors never find out how readers react to their stories or to their thoughts in writing except in artificial, teacher directed ways. Sure, I’ve used small group feedback exercises, and I’ve had students read to the class. But this pre-publication “audience” is not the way true audiences work. Once you publish something, you can’t take it back and revise it for meaning or correctness.
For instance, I have no idea who will read this (maybe no one). But the fact that someone might dramatically changes the way I write. And yes, it does inhibit me in some way. Even in other more personal weblogs that I have created, the chance that someone, somewhere will read what I write inhibits me from dumping my true feelings as I do in my paper journals which are hidden away in secret places. But those inhibitions are not a bad thing from a teaching standpoint. Getting students to understand that their thoughts or opinions, while emotionally held, must be organized and readable and defensable can only be helped by giving them a potentially huge and anonymous Internet audience.
One change that I would like to effect in my students’ weblogs this year is to get them an even wider audience, to have them collaborate with professionals or classes from other schools or community members. I can guarantee you that if I put a letter in the local paper looking for mentors to help kids with their writing by interacting online in their weblogs, I would get a flood of responses. How about getting parents involved in the process, too? They can become more active participants in the learning of their kids, and that might be the most important potential here of all…I know as a parent, I would love to be able to take a look at what my child is learning and thinking by accessing his/her weblog. And to be able to contribute to that thinking and learning in some way would be even better. What a cool concept…