(For a more specific description of issues of student privacy, click here.)
Some common problems that arise when implementing a blogging program in the writing classroom include:
- Access: Not all students will have access to computers at home, and not all classrooms will have enough computers for every student. In 2005, Shelbie Witte's eighth-grade writing classroom went from having 25 computers to having only five (Witte 94). She solved this problem by rotating small groups of students through the computer stations each day. Blogging technically makes writing possible "wherever and whenever" -- but only if there is a computer with internet (Pascopella and Richardson 46). For this reason, it is important to do a technology survey to find out whether or not students have access to blogging at home, or whether all writing on the blog will need to be done during class time. Booking time in the computer lab may also be necessary for teachers who do not have enough computers in the classroom.
- Platforms-in-progress: Sara Kajder and Glen Bull wrote their article "A Space for 'Writing without Writing'" in 2004, so their notes about difficulties as Blogger underwent development must be taken in context. However, it is worth remembering that websites are fluid and may be rearranged, gain new features, or lose features at any time. Additionally, as Kajder and Bull found, some platforms may appear differently on browsers or operating systems (Kajder and Bull 35). Though these types of problems are much less common 7 years later, they are possible.
- Inappropriate comments and spam: Deb Marciano, a professor and coordinator of elementary education at Washington College in Chestertown, MD, created a book review blog to use with her college students, as well as K-12 students and teachers, but the blog was soon besieged by spam comments. The blog is now closed to comments and feedback (Ramaswami 6). Sites like Wordpress have spam filters available for the comments section. In the event that spam forces a teacher to disable comments, Marciano feels that blogging still servers its purpose: "writers take more ownership of their writing when they know others will read it. [Blogging is] a contemporary, real-life opportunity for writing development" (ibid).
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