As of this writing, I THINK that my boss would have no reason to want to shut me down. I don’t speak specifically about my school, for the most part. I speak mostly about my own philosophy of teaching and in response to other bloggers. I once wrote an entry that I thought might be problematic for me, but I took it down and rewrote it to make it more innocuous. I suppose that costs me a little bit, since I edited myself there, but oh well… discretion being the better part of valor and all that.

I think I have a responsibility if I am going to blog. Blogging is publishing, even if it is informal. I don’t slander or revenge myself on the people I work with. I have some views about my job that may be controversial, but when you’re in the thick of things, it’s hard to be objective. I hope I would quit my job to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest if I found it necessary to rake muck or blow whistles.

To answer your question though… at this time, if it appeared to be my job or my blog, I think I’d have a good lawsuit and I’d pursue it rather than choose one over the other.

If I was using the blog as a forum for personal gripes, especially about the school I was at, I might need to consider what they are saying to me. Not necessarily to end the blog — but perhaps switch the way I was blogging or create a new blog for gripes with an alias username. (grins)

But, in all fairness, if it is a truly educational blog, then I would not close it down. If they think it interferes with my work — then perhaps they just need clarification that it is written OFF the TIMECLOCK.

It is a bit ironic to me that you asked this question, because in 100% honestly, I started to blog because I wasn’t being listened to at my past position. The admin came into the lab ONLY if they needed help with something on their computer.

I began to blog because I had lost my voice and found my voice through blogging. And because the strength I gained by the blogging voice, and the encouragement I was receiving by people I only knew in cyberdom, I was able to walk away from a job this past June.

There is power in blogging — there is power in commenting — and there is power in collaboration — all which happens with blogging.

So — I guess, grins to sum up — if my admin asked me to stop blogging, my response would first be “Why” and then a “Sorry, I cannot.”

Jennifer
http://www.onlineprojects4teachers.com/wordpress/

You see, in a Read/Write Web world, if you compromise your learning, your reflection on your work, and interactions with other professionals, and that compromise is valued by your employer, then you lose more than just a job. You lose the freedom to cogitate, communicate, and collaborate in a connected world. In a world where we each can stand up and speak without fear to oppression, to make our case known and not be dependent on an employer to unequivocally say represent reality in a distorted, one-dimensional way…freedom of speech is more valuable than a job.

If Discovery Education failed to value your learning and reflection, or you failed to let them know what you really thought, then there is a fundamental dishonesty and lack of trust in the relationship. When I get hired, I want people to know what they’re getting, my capacity to learn and express myself, my desire to explore ideas even if they may be controversial.

I haven’t gotten here overnight. Certainly blogging has accelerated the process for me…blogging as conversation, as living up to the 100% potential of a Web that is 50% Read/50% Write.

Miguel Guhlin
Around the Corner - MGuhlin.net
http://www.mguhlin.net

One of the fundamental promises I have made to myself-

If someone puts you an ultimatum, always decide against that person.

Love

Drew

There have been several noted cases where companies have actively dissuaded employees from blogging while others see it as a healthy part of their corporate culture (Robert Scoble has been writing about this recently).

In education, we are rapidly seeing more and more indications that blogging is an essential skill that we should be encouraging rather than suppressing, but how can we do this if the educators are being dissuaded from blogging themselves?

As a final point, I was listening to Ewan McIntosh’s session from SETT06 (Search for SETT on iTunes, and Ewan’s session is called “Web2.0 or what the hell happened to Web1.0″). In it he recounts how The Guardian, one of Britain’s more respected newspapers are now looking for journalists not on the basis of their degree, or other formal qualifications, but on the basis of how good the applicant’s blog is… I wonder if anyone hired on this basis would still be allowed to blog?

Thanks for a truly thought-provoking post… this is one that I suspect will run and run…

To answer your question. I would find it very difficult to give up my blog. I think I would try and argue that it makes me a better, more reflective teacher and also argue the value of it to others (through statistics about its readership). I guess that if it really came to the crunch, I would give it up, after all I do have a mortgage and bills to pay. But I would actively look for another job at the same time. I wouldn’t want to work for a school that wanted to stop my personal professional development.

Great question! Ollie

Guaranteed salary (and a nice one), lifetime health insurance, paid retirement-and a 10 month job-that’s what I have. Give this up for a blog?

Please.

With some tongue in cheek, they would have to know what a blog is! In a recent discussion with some Education Technology managers, I discovered that only 1 in 10 new what del.icio.us was! .

There would have to be an expectation, preferably stated in as many words, about communications related to work outside of your regular circle. As a teacher, I think the expectation should be the opposite. The regular discussion of practice and resources should be a professional expectation.

The real problem with blogs is that the company in question will decide to care tomorrow about something they didn’t even know about today. So you need to worry about now - which may be predictable - but also the future.

Steve, if one of your blogs had been about this large educational media company and how they are a bunch of ….. , then that past posting would be more of an issue than any future one.

In the end I think I’d probably start blogging anonymously on a different site, but since my main blog is all about helping educators, I don’t forsee a problem in this area.