Ethics.com: That's the title of an honors seminar a colleague and I are leading this semester. To help our students grapple with some of the ethical choices posed in online communication, I convinced my co-teacher we should assign our students to create and maintain blogs, rather than write traditional essays and papers. So, in the spirit of the class, here I am -- creating my own blog.
But what in the world am I going to write about?
I'm not entirely sure, but I've decided to call whatever this turns out to be my "mental garden." That's because, although I've been a college professor for more than 20 years, I'm still a farmer's daughter at heart. My favorite metaphors are always those that deal with growth.
So here's the first seed of an idea: Teachers shouldn't give students assignments they wouldn't attempt themselves. ... Even if that means creating a blog and entering a part of the online world I'm not sure I want to join.
It's a tiny seed, by the way. All I did was find a blogging program, accept all its defaults, write a few words and click a few choices. This is a tiny garden plot so far.
