Teacher Information

In today's fast paced world, many parents have no idea who is teaching and influencing their children's lives on a daily basis. It is well known that teachers greatly influence our children and how they see the world. Schools that use a weblog or blog would be able to have a section that provides information about the teachers working there. Schools can post a picture of the teacher so parents can put a face to the name when their children talk about them (or rant about how unfair they are). The school blog page can also list the educational background and previous teaching positions of the teacher so parents can get a good idea of their experience. The school weblog can also contain a contact page listing the school email address of the teacher so that parents can contact them if they need to discuss their children's performance in class.

Counseling and Other Help

Students today are under a tremendous amount of pressure from worrying about their grades, pressure from their friends. In addition, as we sometimes tragically hear in the news after they lash out; there are problems with bullies, or depression. While teachers in schools are not counselors, or monitors, they are often one of the first to see problems developing with their students in their classrooms, homework assignments, and interaction with others. I feel that schools using weblogs could benefit their students by providing ways for them to get information on things such as the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol, how to deal with bullies, and how to talk to their parents about issues they may have. School weblogs could be good 'portals' or starting points to help direct their students to seek out help and counseling services to help them with their issues before they become a serious problem.

Security and Privacy
Any system that is put in place to help others can also be abused and damaged if security and privacy considerations are not taken into account. Schools that setup weblogs need to make sure that they devote adequate thought and resources to protecting the information and privacy of their students. It is unfortunate that so many precautions must be taken in order to provide something that can benefit so many but that is the world that we live in today. One thing that schools can do this is require students to be pre-registered through their school which would allow only students that went to the school to be able to access features of the school weblog, make posts or ask teachers questions. Various sections would be password protected and require students to enter their name and student ID provided by the school in order to utilize the features of the school blog. The amount of security and access would depend upon the individual school and the amount of interactivity that is provided. Weblogs that are mostly static would not require as much as one that provided a chat feature or allowed students to email teachers with questions.

Conclusion

Weblogs in school can serve as an invaluable educational and informational resource for school students, staff and their families. They can provide a good way for students, teachers and parents to interact with each other to help provide the best learning environment possible. The weblogs can also be a place for schools to highlight educational events such as science fairs, sporting events, as well as fund raising events. Schools that develop a blog stand to provide their students with valuable educational resources outside of their schools, as well as additional educational help for those students that need it. The use of school weblogs and the benefits they can provide to students are endless. Over time as the use of the internet grows, blogging and other forms of online communication and interaction will continue to grow. Schools that embrace this technology and show their students the benefits will help prepare their students to take advantage of the resources available online.


John Collins is a freelance writer that covers a variety of internet related topics such as blogging, web conferencing, and more. Get more blogging information here.

Related link:

School Weblogs - Why Blogging Benefits Schools - Part 1
School Weblogs - Why Blogging Benefits Schools - Part 2