The recent flurry of posts regarding the merits/detriments of anonymous blog posts, begs the question:
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The recent flurry of posts regarding the merits/detriments of anonymous blog posts, begs the question:
The Harold Lounge 
Yes. Not routinely and only for the purpose of allowing students the opportunity to give voice to particular issues without fear of retaliation.
This is not the same thing as allowing students to say anything at all.
Students respond to prompts which are not only rooted in well-established standards/expectations set forth for all writing assignments (as per rubrics — in this case, a rubric for discussion board postings), but also in specific reading assignments.
Moreover, requiring that students respond to each other’s anonymous postings further ensures that the anonymity/experience has a structure (i.e. meets a variety of SLOs).
Mastery of content — with an eye on an affective outcome — ensures that the experience isn’t some unformed outburst or pointless catharsis.
Is it teaching if you don’t include these things in the activity/assignment? If you leave those things out, will you even promote any useful (rational) utterances?
If you will allow your question/topic to be amplified just a bit: what do instructors do when the anonymous activity goes. . . awry?
I did an anonymous activity in 3rd grade believing that students would honestly share their opinions. They did. It was tearful. I will NEVER do it again.