Some privacy concerns and suggestions on how to handle them (old version)

Please note that there is an updated version of this blog post at

https://howshouldiblog.blogspot.com/2020/11/reflecting-publicly-or-privately.html

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We are hoping that your blog will be a public one, but if you prefer not to, there are other options that you can choose from, such as restricting the search engines to find it, limiting its readers (only those invited by emails can view) or using other privacy settings.

Different blogging platforms provide different privacy setting options. This is an example from Blogger:

How to write about your learning journey publicly

This blog provides a view of your learning journey. It is about you reflecting upon your professional practice. You can think about your students and members of your community, but you should write about the topics in a manner that does not give away their identity. You shouldn't write anything you couldn't yell out in a bus.

Sharing is collaborating

Ryan Merkley, Chief Executive Officer of Creative Commons, suggests that collaboration, sharing, and co-operation are in our nature. During the first 24 weeks of our postgraduade programme it has been easy to see that building community, co-operating towards common goals and creating shared benefits are at the heart of who we are.

Blogging anonymously

Anonymous blogging allows some people to be more honest than they might be if their real name were attached. You might have noticed that writing under a different name or alias allows some people to express different aspects of their personality, including parts that may not be appropriate to show at other times. But if there is no need to be anonymous, why would you? Why would you want to keep your learning journey and thought to yourself? 

Having said that, you can also just hand in a (word/pdf) document of your learning tasks if you desire to do so. But if you make the effort to raise the discussion openly, we would certainly appreciate that.

Use this as an opportunity to develop your professional online identity

Thinking beyond our personal benefit is at the core of why we share and it is at the core why we are teachers. Sharing pays itself forward in reputation, and rewards us with good feelings and personal gratification. Sharing also contributes to our individual identity — how we want to see ourselves, and be seen, in the world.