Should educators blog? It’s a question that is going the rounds. I was wondering why it doesn’t ask if business folks should blog, but I expect that is going the rounds in an arena from which I am generally absent. I’ve seen people get in trouble for blogging. For example, Right on the Left Coast had to deal with a parent not liking a link’s link. An SMU adjunct was not re-hired, perhaps because of her blog. (If that link doesn’t work, you can go here, which is where I first heard of the story.) But should you blog?
Another article in Inside Higher Ed says it might hurt your chances for tenure. But the article doesn’t seem quite sure. Of course, no one has done an experiment on this, so there’s not a clear cut answer. When IHE asked, the bloggers denied tenure said they didn’t know if their blogs were a problem.
Asked if their blogs hurt their tenure bids, Carroll and Drezner answer in nearly identical ways: They are certain that their tenure chances weren’t improved by having a blog, and while their chances might have been hurt, they don’t have any certainty about that. Drezner said it would be “very dangerous to make the assumption†that he was denied tenure because of the blog.
It is true, that many people assume that you are wasting time blogging. My husband thinks that. But I read and write very quickly. I spend much less time on this blog than it would appear.
But I wonder if I should continue blogging if I am trying to move into a tenure track position.
Update: Sort of. Previous posts on the topic of job security and blogging:
Blogs get you fired
Anonymity