Safety Tips for Blogging

It is always fun starting a new class and getting my students fired up to WRITE by turning them into bloggers.  However, this excitement is also counterbalanced with fear since it is a big responsibility as an educator to make sure students blog safely and create media that is positive and beneficial to their lives.  What should they write about?  What pictures are OK to share?  Can they or should they upload video that contains footage of other students?  Do they need permission forms signed by other students and their parents that they feature in one of their posts?

These are many of the questions that I ask each time I start teaching a new group of students to be citizen journalists by blogging.  Unfortunately, the answers to these questions are never black and white but there are some great resources available for students, parents, and teachers to access to help navigate this new writing medium.  Hopefully, as long as some simple rules of safety are followed student bloggers will have a positive experience sharing their news with others and add another asset to their digital portfolios that will go with them throughout life.

Here is one online resource with some basic safety rules for young bloggers.
http://www.microsoft.com/security/family-safety/blogging.aspx