Journal 4

In the article Deubel described why he felt a class blog would be useful. He listed the guidelines that he would incorporate into his class blog and how he would mandate complete participation. He gave a couple of ideas to protect the class account and stressed the importance of the ethical, self-monitoring by students to ensure the blog contains trusted content.

Question 1.
What might be a possible downside to a class blog as a forum for discussion?

As pointed out by Deuble, typical classroom discussions can be dominated by a few, more outgoing students. Some shy or disengaged students may never contribute to class discussion. At first blush it appears a blog would allow these students to participate. However, is this just another method that we can allow students to become more depersonalized in the human experience? A recent article in Time pointed out that the number of true friends an individual has is down from 3 to 2. Perhaps the blog is just another safe haven and hiding ground to help someday eliminate all social contact????

Question 2? What rules of engagement did Deuble describe.

Deuble noted the need for "truth, accuracy, and accountability for what you say." He also suggested mutual respect was a premium as well as the need to minimize private issues.