apcampbell

When personal webpublishing is used in formal educational settings, its
public nature sets it apart from ‘gated communities’ and VLEs, like
WebCT.   This direct access to the public eye gives personal
webpublishing genuine authenticity, something traditionally lacking in
most courses.  Sharing one’s learning with ‘the world’ can serve
to motivate and inspire, but could equally create inner difficulties in
certain individuals.  Last year, our student bloggers had mixed
perceptions and feelings about what ‘public’ was and how it affected
them:

The
completely public nature of the online
learning environment engendered a strong feeling of exposure in the
participants,
which was a key issue.  This was
sometimes described by participants as being scary, intimidating, and
discomforting, causing feelings of anxiety, insecurity,
apprehensiveness, and
vulnerability to arise.  At other times,
learners found the public nature of the course to be challenging,
motivating,
and exhilarating; making them feel good.  Some explained that they
were more affected by
the potential for specific acquaintances to read their work than by
complete
strangers.  These were people to whom a
lack of trust was attributed.  The public
nature brought the kind of authenticity to their learning that the
participants
had never before experienced.  Knowing
that what is posted could be read by anyone on the internet caused the
learners
to question themselves and their views before posting.  Some found
this to be stressful and one
described her feeling that there existed some type of standard to be
met.  Others said that it motivated them to write
more.  What ‘public’ meant to the
learners varied.  While one participant
likened it to ‘the whole world poking and prodding you’, several others
professed that they saw ‘the public’ as only a few people - mostly
acquaintances - rather than multitudes of strangers.  One learner
described the public nature as a ‘chimera’ in that it was not real,
only imagined.  The open environment caused some learners to
turn inward and examine themselves deeply before posting.  Others
insisted that it did not change the
way they posted, purposely not dwelling upon the consequences of making
their
work public.  One participant described
posting in a public forum akin to ‘being fake’, suggesting an insight
into how
identity is constructed online.  Read more…

Learning in such an open, accessable environment poses
ethical questions.  For younger students, personal safety is an
obvious concern, but what about personal webpublishing in higher
education?  Must blogging take place in an elective course? 
Is it acceptable to have students  publish in a required course?
  Does anyone know of an example where students are being asked by
professors to publish their work and thoughts in a required course,
such as 1st year Composition?   Is it ethical to require that
kind of authentic exposure? 
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