An issue any teacher wanting to make use of student multimedia authoring must consider is the visibility such academic work may bring. I would argue this visibility is a big part of the motivation generated by such activities (an audience – real or imagined – brings an increased level of effort out of all of us), but visibility also brings risks. It is difficult to evaluate the actual dangers that are there from anecdotal evidence, but clearly cases in which predators have used the Internet to identify victims exist.
If you are not familiar with what exposure is considered to constitute a risk, consider the legislation described by the New Jersey Department of Education. Read the list of items that are to be considered. Note in this description that student names and photos of students are considered a risk. A parental consent form related to these potential risks is available as a link from this site. I liked the way the consent form differentiated the information sources. I would assume most parents would not want phone numbers, addresses, etc. of their children released to the general public. I would argue there is much less risk involved in the use of a photo.
What I wonder about is how teachers keep track of this information – Sam and Jerry can use their names on a web page, Sally can have her picture included, no mention can be made of Mark. I can imagine a complex grid (students by information sources) that a teacher must carefully consult before approving a project for posting. At what point do teachers throw up their hands and say “this is just not worth it”?
Perhaps the best strategy is to limit student creativity in order to reduce the possibility of errors. I do not know what else to suggest. Simple rules (no names) and project templates (field trip image focused on inanimate objects, e.g., trees, buildings, in this box and a related description in this box) reduce the amount of information the teacher must consider before releasing a student project to the web. We need a range of practical strategies or a great number of teachers will shy away or use the complexity of this situation as an excuse.
