Comments on Reassigned Time: The Ethics and Conventions of Blogging While Acade...

amen, adjunct whore.

2007-05-27T22:06:00.000-04:00

amen, adjunct whore.

i like what you've said here about developing a wr...

2007-05-23T20:53:00.000-04:00

i like what you've said here about developing a writing voice and it is always good to note/remind people that of course the medium is public....that said, and perhaps this is just a problem i have with dr. dean's blog in general, the moralizing tone and presumptive position to guide (him, not you, although i suppose anyone) students on how to blog makes me quite sick. is there a reason why we need to replicate the hierarchy of the academy in the blog world? there are, of course, insitutional alliances and shared experiences, say, of junior faculty members, etc. but what seems so correct about your position, dr. c., is that this space is something apart, even if you are not anonymous. grad students and everyone else need to figure out their voice and if that includes bitching for awhile, then by all means, they should. there are so many other ways to connect or oppose or listen or comment--i prefer those blogs that move between the intellectual, personal, irreverent, humorous, etc.

but what i dislike about dr. dean's space is the consistent rush to judgement that gets made. and in this context, the blog world, i find it even more unecessary than in the real world.

In terms of self-editing, I tend to use the 'would...

2007-05-23T20:42:00.000-04:00

In terms of self-editing, I tend to use the 'would I tell this to my grandmother' test. Doesn't work for everyone, obviously, but it works for me most of the time. Of course, grandma was pretty cool. But, as I said earlier, I know that some of my students look at my blog. It doesn't bother me. I occassionally write about teaching issues, but it tends to be general. And if I'm trying out something new with a class, I'll often ask them what they think of whatever it was that we did. So, if I write about the 'experiment' later, it isn't a surprise.

I definitely agree that blogging can be a great way to develop one's voice - especially when grappling with ways to talk about what it is we do with people outside of our areas of specialty. And it's a great way to try out some ideas.

The original post over at Dean Dad's bothered me in the same way. Although, I keep wondering if I'm more annoyed by the need to consult with someone in such a public way about the grad students' blogs or the fact that the original poster needed to ask anyone to begin with. Part of me wants to just tell the advice seeker to deal with it. But, I'm feeling critical today.

i mean it translates to real life. I sort of didn...

2007-05-23T17:42:00.000-04:00

i mean it translates to real life. I sort of didn't finish that thought. I also mean to say, i've made clear errors in judgment, which is why i've deleted my blog altogether (twice) and overhauled it once in order to get it right. It's been a learning process. People who blog get that, I think. People who don't? I don't know if they really understand. A blog is a living thing in lots of ways.

It's funny...I don't think I'd mind if a student o...

2007-05-23T17:40:00.000-04:00

It's funny...I don't think I'd mind if a student or former student of mine found the blog. on the other hand, I'd mind terribly if some of my faculty found it. I may think out loud on my own blog about why that is but I won't take over your comments here.

in reference to your post, i agree completely with the notion that people should be allowed to make errors in writing and move forward from them without any kind of heavy-handed penalty. blogging and reading blogs has been a gentle way for me to learn some lessons about voice and tone, about embracing my own authority (such as it is) and I think that's been a good thing. I also think it translates.

I also agree profoundly with your statement that this is a HOBBY. are we not professionalized enough? Egads.

The impulse to create rules and regulations, to enact codes of conduct, to police what people are saying, even to peer review blog content...it just makes my skin crawl because it seems so antithetical to the potential of blogging.

Great post! I used to be one of those bloggers who...

2007-05-23T17:06:00.000-04:00

Great post! I used to be one of those bloggers who didn't think that anyone would figure out my real identity, even though I did try to speak abstractly (for the most part). This illusion was shattered when a current student found me and started posting comments (anonymously) where they demanded to know their grades, or they resented some of the things I had said about being disenchanted with teaching at the college level, etc.... I tried to tell them that I was not using my blog to attack students, but that it was my personal place to vent frustrations. He/she refused to accept that. And, admittedly, I may have been harsh with them, simply because I felt violated...I was fine with crazy internet psychos reading my blog, but I did NOT want students to find it. This is part of the reason for why I have stopped talking about teaching at all on my blog. Also, this student found me (I think) by reading posts about specific readings and pedagogical strategies, etc..., which makes me hesitant even now to talk about these issues, not because I think its bad to talk about pedagogy, but because this appears to be one way to discover my *real* identity. Anyway, I didn't mean to hijack your comments, but I felt like I should share this.

You can reach me at reassignedtime [at] gmail [dot...

2007-05-23T15:28:00.000-04:00

You can reach me at reassignedtime [at] gmail [dot] com. Feel free to drop me a note!

K8 - I agree that if there is a case before academ...

2007-05-23T15:27:00.000-04:00

K8 - I agree that if there is a case before academic affairs that the grad student is discussing on a blog in a specific way that it's inappropriate, and I agree that teachers - whether grad students or not - do have power over and responsibility to students. I suppose the thing that I find troubling about this sort of discussion has to do with a few different things. 1) I have trouble with the sanctimonious tone that can typify the conversation, wherein a bunch of people talk about how it's wrong to blog in such and such a way - as if the medium rather than the message is the issue and as if our conversations over the copier are somehow exempt from the same ethical constraints. 2) Perhaps this is contradicting my first difficulty, but if what we're really interested in is maintaining total confidentiality then probably we shouldn't blog about the positive things in specific ways either, but I've never seen anybody called out for doing that. 3) I do feel like the discussion of this grad student is replicating the very problem that the chair notes - talking about students who could be easily identified in an online context without the student having knowledge of being discussed and having giving his/her permission to be a topic of conversation. I feel like in this sort of discussion those on the side of "oh, that's so wrong," do try to have it both ways, and that just doesn't make sense to me.

Also, I think the issue here is not really about _blogging_ so much as it's about _writing_. If one is a good _writer_ one thinks about audience and one thinks about writing as something that can have consequences. One learns to own one's words, and sometimes one learns that by making mistakes, whether those mistakes happen on a blog or in a hastily written email or in some other forum. So I suppose what I'm defending here is not so much everybody's ability to say anything that they want anonymously or pseudonymously, but rather the right for people to learn how to negotiate these issues in writing, if that makes any sense. I'm fairly certain that the student in question probably has crossed a line in what he/she has posted, but I am really uncomfortable with the idea that this means grad students should be given "guidelines" by a chair about what is appropriate to write on his/her blog. For me, this isn't a BLOGGING issue. This is a TEACHING issue. It's about saying what is appropriate to communicate about students IN GENERAL in WHATEVER medium. And should it necessarily involve singling out individuals because they blog? I don't think so.

And Fifi - I'm glad you've found something here that's been useful. Sometimes I don't know whether I'm saying anything that's helpful to anybody but me!

Do you have an e-mail address where you can be rea...

2007-05-23T15:19:00.000-04:00

Do you have an e-mail address where you can be reached? (anonymous, of course!)

This is a great post, Dr C. You've given me plent...

2007-05-23T13:59:00.000-04:00

This is a great post, Dr C. You've given me plenty of food for thought as I continue to debate whether to start blogging myself. This seems a good time for me to say how great it has been for me to be able to read your blog and those of other junior faculty in this my first year on the tenure track. Although I have mostly remained silent and have only recently begun to comment here and there, I have gained a huge amount from reading these blogs in what has been a period of incredible personal and professional upheaval for me. So thanks and please keep doing what you're doing!

I agree it is difficult to judge the grad student ...

2007-05-23T13:58:00.000-04:00

I agree it is difficult to judge the grad student blogger without seeing the post. However, if the student revealed information about a specific student's case before academic affairs, he or she needs to be reminded about the importance (and necessity) of confidentiality. I'll admit that I don't have much patience with those who ridicule specific students, students who could be identified, online. Yes, those of us who are grad students have little power, but we have a lot of power over (and responsibility to) our students.

Having said that, I don't think it is possible or desirable to set blogging rules. But, if someone writes something, he or she needs to be prepared to handle the consequences of that action. Like I tell my students, all words/writing/talk/etc. has consequences. While it isn't necessary to be 'professional' on a blog, we need to remember that student rights (or anyone's rights, for that matter) of confidentiality regarding their coursework and grades don't fade away simply because we are online and think that we are anonymous.

I know that anyone could figure out my full name with very little work. My students know where my blog is because I don't have a separate blog i.d. when I comment on their blog posts for class. Which, actually, is a good way to remind myself that anyone can see what I'm writing.