You’re online. No, really!

artclublab“I don’t like it when people read what I write.”
That’s a direct quote from one of my Art Club kids. I’ve met many students (and adults) who had that same opinion, but this particular student had just finished posting to her Art Club blog.

And she was very surprised when she walked over to me and saw her words on my screen. (I was in the process of approving it for publication on the web.)

We had a nice little conversation about how we should always assume everything we write will be read by somebody, and I think it’s finally sinking in that her actions on a web site make her part of a larger community. Not only that, but now she also knows things she wants to be private should not be placed in a public forum. (No, she didn’t put private stuff in her blog.)

At least, it’s a start.

Published by theartguy

Aaron Smith is a Media Arts & Technology Teacher who spends most of his time on computers. In his free time he plays video games, edits videos, and misses his wife dearly.

2 replies on “You’re online. No, really!”

  1. Some people say they write for themselves: to express themselves to have their restless thoughts released from their minds. Why then they present their thoughts for the public eye? You can keep a personal diary where you communicate your reflections to paper and no one except you has access to it. But since we are introducing our ideas to other people we become responsible of how they can affect them. It is the first issue. The second one you should always what your writing aims at.

  2. Hi there,

    I found your blog today and I was suprised to see that teachers are so much into web technology (especially the Web 2.0 technologies). I think it’s great that you and your colleagues make use of it. I remember my school days and we actually had a teacher back then who said (quote): “The Internet will go as fast as it came”. Well, I’d love to see that teacher again sometime…

    Anyway, since you guys are familiar with web technologies I was wondering if you might be interested in Pageflakes. It’s a personalized start page (yes, I know, there are quite a few out there). However, it’s not just a start page for a single user but also for teams and groups. I thought it might be an interesting tool for you and your colleagues to create shared pages where you add note modules, tasks and todo lists, shared contacts, schedules and news feeds. It’s quite simple – just go to http://www.pageflakes.com, get a free account and then setup your own, personalized page. You can then either leave it in “private” mode, or change it to “shared” (invited teacher colleagues can use and edit it) or “publish” (everyone can see it, but only you can edit it).

    Please feel free to contact me if you have any suggestions or questions. I look forward to hearing from you.

    With best wishes
    Tegan Harris

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