Walled Gardens and Open Parks

I've been enheartened by the number of teachers who have emailed me over the last month or so, asking for help and advice as they have wanted to begin blogging with their classes. I've also been impressed by the number of people who have been in contact with me about their classes blogging and looking to make contact with other classes.

This has brought me to reflect on building walled gardens of students. First of all, let me say that I definitely understand people are concerned about the safety and well being of their students. Bringing kids out into the world can be scary and takes time to  decide upon. But building walled gardens of students, in my mind, defeats two important purposes of blogging, building community, and promoting global understanding. While a community of learners can certainly be built within a single classroom, the possibility of a community far flung and connected at the same time is impossible to create locally.

The Internet is not a walled garden. While certainly having sections that are fenced in and restricted from public view, it is, in its very purpose and design, meant to be open and cutting across boundaries and geography. I also have watched my kids as they have worked with various structures, and stumbled across classrooms of kids blogging who are not open to comments. On one hand the kids are slightly insulted that they are not able to leave comments on what has been written, and on the other hand they wonder why people would want to work online and not be open to others.

"Why not just keep it in the classroom?" I heard the other day. "Why even bother putting stuff online?"

It is a good question. If blogging is different (and I think it can be) from other types of writing, why would you want it to hold on to its "paper roots?" Without adding pictures and links, without the ability to connect with others and push forward your common thinking, blogging is just online publishing without any of the benefits. A network is formed to drive people forward, to invite controversy and discussion. People need to connect to make this happen. Walled gardens may be put together for a reason, but open parks, spaces where people can roam a bit, see what they want, and sure, sometimes cause a bit of controversy, are the realities of our lives. It is in these commonly built open spaces where we learn about other people and other places. Within the walls we may be more comfortable, but we never get a true glimpse of the benefits of being outside.

Images: http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/Wall%20in%20Bethlehem-1.jpg

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/shapinsay/castlegardens/images/gate.jpg

technorati tags:blogging, classrooms, network, connection