Australian Educator’s Class Blog Shut Down By Government
From the blog of Sue Waters,
Last year I was incredibly fortunate to be able to work closely with the Al Upton and the miniLegends, a class of Year 3 students, aged 8 and 9…Al’s been blogging with his students for the past five years and this year Al Upton decided to take student blogging, with his new group of miniLegends, to the next level and invited the educational blogging community to mentor a mini.
Unfortunately Al and his miniLegends have had problems this week; the end result being that today he was given an Order of Closure by Risk and management/Special Investigations Unit from the South Australian Education Department to remove his Al Upton’s MiniLegend class blog. [Read Post]
What some people don’t seem to understand is that student, even as young as 8 and 9, find themselves immersed in a digital world where communication happens instantly, with anyone, all over the world. By providing the opportunity for students to interact via blogging, and connect with educators internationally, Upton was providing a positive example of what the Internet could be used for. He expanded his student’s horizons through their blogging, and did so in a safe environment.
Ordering the closure of the miniLegends’ blog was overkill. Shutting down the blog didn’t protect the students, as the blog didn’t increase the danger to students. However, I would argue that not being able to show students how to participate digitally in the global community will do more harm than good. The Government has impeded the progress of this class, and they should be held accountable for their actions.
One response so far
We are hoping that Al manages this week to discuss the issues with the Department so that the students will be able to continue blogging and the mentoring program goes forward. As you point out there is more harm in not educating them on how to participate digitally then them actually blogging.