The golden rule, treat others as you would like to be treated, seems to be applicable to literally everything, even blogging. As a public, technological, and powerful tool, blogging needs to be treated with caution and care. Therefore, it is important to establish guidelines that are to be followed during a blogging enterprise. One rule, that is pure gold and has been recited for centuries, seems to encompass all the other important guidelines under its broad umbrella.
Treat others as you would like to be treated. This simple sentence is arguably the most important rule to follow when participating in an online professional learning network. I discovered this particular guideline while perusing the links provided on our course wiki page (https://sites.google.com/site/midlevelliteracyandpedagogy/assignments/personal-learning-network/ELA-blog-writing-assignments). What I like most about this rule is that it is a rule that everyone already knows and almost every other rule or guideline that could be thought of related to blogging could fit under this one broad rule. As I embark on this blogging adventure, if I ever question if something is appropriate or the right thing to do, I simply put myself in a different position and imagine how I would feel if the situation were reversed. For example, if I am questioning whether or not to go off on a tangent unrelated to the subject at hand during a post to my fellow colleagues, I can ask myself if I would enjoy reading a post that was unfocused and did not seem to have a clear purpose. The answer for most of us would probably be no.
The following are more specific examples of guidelines that I found on the links previously mentioned and that fall under the golden rule. These guidelines are ones that I personally found respectful, easy to follow, and particularly pertinent to our professional learning network.
1. Do not post personal information, not your own and not anyone else's. I think it is very important to share personal stories throughout this learning process, but names of those involved should be kept confidential out of respect for their privacy.
2. Going along with this aspect of sharing stories, only share information that you can verify is true. Do not post anything you cannot prove and do not spread gossip, once again out of respect for those involved.
3. Share your opinion freely and be honest but remember to present it as what it is--opinion, not truth.
4. Give constructive feedback. Be honest yet respectful when commenting on colleagues' blogs and ensure responses are helpful and deliberate. This also means that while you may disagree with a post, you should not turn this disagreement into a personal attack against the poster.
5. Be professional. Be professional in your post, comments, and feedback through use of proper grammar and punctuation, by citing your sources, and being intentional in your writing.
I find these guidelines to be very valuable in my blogging endeavor and I will hold true to them to the best of my ability. Although they may be difficult to follow at times, if we are conscientious of our blogging behavior and hold one another accountable for our actions, the collaborative experience of participating in a professional learning network will be that much more enriching.
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI particularly agree with the thought process of reversing roles and imagining yourself in that situation. How would I want another person to handle this, especially if I were the subject of the blog? I think it is important to keep in mind, however, that everybody sees things in a different light. Even though you might be okay with something doesn't mean that another would agree. I think it is best to play it safe and, as you said, follow the common courtesies applied to blogging!
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI don't think you could have said it better! Those are great rules to follow by, not only when blogging, but also for all social networking sites. I think one of the most important rules that you shared, for our particular purpose of blogging is to remember to be professional; not only with correct spelling and punctuation, but as well as in the topics you chose to talk about as well as the way you present information.
Thanks for the ideas! :-)
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post! As I was reading through your post, I realized that I included a lot of what you had said in my own post. Great minds :)
I think one of the most important rules that most of us are aware of is to keep it professional. We have to remember that this classroom blog is about the classroom, not our families, pets, or hobbies. We can create a different blog for those things that our students don't have access to. If we follow these few, but extremely important rules, I think that we as future teachers have a great resource and teaching tool at our fingertips!