Issue #1 Blogging
Blogging can be a sensitive topic in teaching. This is probably because blogs can easily be used for appropriate or inappropriate purposes. Regardless, I side with the pro-blog stance of this issue. I believe the first paragraph where the writer stressed that a blog carries the same amount of risk as any other social media platform is quite correct. On that same note, I feel blogs are also a "lesser evil," so to speak, for teachers to use when teaching students about digital citizenship. Blogs come in many formats and a teacher could reasonably find a blog system that could fit their students' needs. For example, many programs these days now have an option where teachers must approve the work before it can be made viewable. Thus I think a blog can be a good starting place for students to learn to use technology safely and responsibly.
In the case of individual blog use by teachers, I still agree that blogs are worth the risk. In the case of the speaker who disagreed, I would like to point out that the source of the interview was from 2009 with the speaker saying that the event had happened in the year before (2008). In 2008, I remember just occasionally hearing things about blogs on the news (usually in a negative light). Now several years later, many of the people I associate with (professional adults, professors, etc.) now often reference blogs in conversation or even have a professional/personal blog of their own. Really, I can't help but feel like the anti-blog testimony I read may just have been a case of a person ahead of their time. I think that now, while personal blogs may still be looked at with suspicion, a professional blog is viewed by most institutions as an asset and a chance for professional collaboration.
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