Australian Blog is Shut Down

Our 831 class had the extreme good fortune to chat viaUstream and Skype with educators around the world about the current events surrounding Al Upton’s blog. A quick summary for those that are not familiar with the situation is as follows. Al Upton is an educator from Australia who had his class blog shut down by education authorities for security reasons. At this point in time I am not aware of exactly what the reasons were.

This action has sparked a firestorm of debate around the globe. As I previously stated we had the opportunity to discuss this event with other educators around the globe. Right off the bat I was blown away with how easy it is to chat live with others around the globe. For me this was a great example of connecting as described by Sharon Peters, one of our previous guest lecturers. To be able to chat with Sue Walters and others from Australia added an element to the conversation that I really can’t describe.

As one would imagine the conversation was very pro-blogging and the support for Upton was evident. What else would you expect from educators who support unique uses of technology within classroom settings. In addition the educational authorities who shut down Upton’s blog were on the hit list by those participating in the conversation. This is where my blog is going to take off and it may ruffle a few feathers at the same time.

I first want to state that I am all for technology use in the classroom. In fact one of the main reasons that I took this particular class was to enhance my own personal use of technology in my teaching environment. However, being a principal I also know what it is like on the other side of the fence when it comes to monitoring programming of educators within a school setting. I have no doubt that Upton’s blog served a valuable purpose in his attempts to educate the students in his charge. I also find it hard to believe that the educational authorities who oversee this program would shut down his blog without some reason to do so. In my career I have not witnessed any educational programs that were discontinued or suspended by those in charge without reason.

It is unfortunate that the blog was shut down but regulations need to be in place. There have been too many incidents of educators, for lack of better words, screwing up royally. Regulations are a direct result of this lack of professionalism. Now, I’m not stating that Upton acted unprofessionally, rather that there must have been some reason for the authorities to make the decision that they did. So to say that administrators that the blog was shut down because of this lack of understanding is a load of crap. Maybe the concept of a blog was not fully understood, I can go that far, but I would bet money that there was a clear understanding by the officials of what constituted student safety. There must have been some element(s) in the blog that raised enough red flags that the authorities had to react.

Again, as an administrator, I encourage my teachers to be creative in the classroom. I have shut down some ideas but never because of a lack of understanding. I also have never seen this happen by those that are higher in the chain than myself. Before people begin to point fingers and lay blame on the educational authority get all the facts from all sides. Passion about a topic is great but don’t let the passion cloud the judgement.