This article came from the June 2009 issue of National Education Association. In the article two professors analysis the concept of having students correspond with them through Facebook during the academic semester.
Professor John Damon, took the stand of "Yes" social networking is a private activity separate from teaching and learning.
Professor Damon uses Facebook often to communicate with and stay in touch with current and former students. He believes you should keep private activity separate from teaching and learning. He feels that requiring such use as part of course requirements is an entirely different matter. He uses many forms of technology in his classroom including: Blackboard, Powerpoint, and Web-links. He feels that delivering information using cyberspace differs fundamentally from using social networks as part of the structure of his courses. He fears the problem of invasion of privacy and the possibility of harassment claims.
Professor Partick Bishop, takes the stand of "No", the baby has arrived, social networking is here to stay.
Professor Bishop feels that as educators it is our job to lead change, not just keep pace. We must meet students where they are and connect them to real-world expectations. He feels that teaching students to navigate the world of social networks is a necessary skill in the current marketplace, particularly in fields such as marketing, advertising, and public relations. He also notes that as leaders, we need to embrace the new technologies as we continue to reinforce the core values of empowerment, excellence, and learning.
Now it is your turn to pick a side. Do you feel that social networking is private and should be separate from teaching and learning if so "Yes". Or if you think that social networking is a necessary part of education and learning and should not be separate choose "No".
Explain your answer in the comment section.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I do believe that social networking may be an integral part of a child's education. That being said--it also needs to be handled appropriately by the teacher and cyber safety needs to be taught as well. If we meet the children where they are, then we will should be more successful when teaching them.
ReplyDeleteI feel we should use every available means to reach our students. If we do this then we can maximize our impact on the students and what they learn to help make them successful.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we should use all means avalible inorder to communicate with our students although we need to make sure it is being used in a professional way with the same boundaries put into play as their teacher even though you are using social network!
ReplyDeleteWhether I like it or not, social networking via Face Book and My Space is an integral part of the "younger" generation. Based on this, I am sure students would respond well if it was also used in education. Personally, at this time I have no desire to have a computer as another appendage and another obligation to my job. I like face to face communication and instruction. My age is probably playing a big part in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteLook at us! We are adults but we are also in a unified program, such as school. As teachers we can use social networking in a variety of ways. We can teach a lesson and then have our students go to our "face book" or "myspace" or whatever we have set up and answer specified questions or comments. Even blogging is social networking so you can set up a blog for your class just as we did for this class. I agree that cyber safety must be taught but hopefully they are going to get that from their keyboarding class. This is how I feel but I have yet to incorporate this (Either I am doing something wrong or just cannot find the time).
ReplyDeleteI don't like blogging...one because I don't have the time and two I don't want anything I say to get changed or used against me....Regardless of how much you teach cyber safety people are always hacking into the systems and changing things.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jill, I don't have the time to blog during the school year and although I have a facebook account and myspace account I have NOT given my students access to them for priviacy issues. Yet when my students found out I had a facebook page, they were shocked (The looks on their face said, "Maybe this teacher is not from the stoneage after all"). However with all of the new technology coming out constantly, we have a lot to work against. We need to use every resource possible to communicate and reach our students. Blogging could give some quiet students a voice.
ReplyDeleteI am curious to know why the issue of our professional integrty as educators has not been aproached yet in this discussion. I have often wondered about the possibility of online networking with my students in order to build and maintain the mentoring relationships that I work so hard to form with them during the year, and also to form a stronger connection between classmates by sharing a connection to an online group chat or blog. However, I have opted not to act on those deas, because of the little voice in my head that squaks "YOU'RE GONNA BE ON THE NEWS" at me from time to time. The sad truth is that our letigious society opperates out of suspicion and judgement of one another, with educators being at the top of the list of suspects. While I fundamentally disagree with this aspect of our culture, I am overly-cautious about decisions I make as an educator because I am keenly aware that I would be at risk of loosing my job, my teaching liscense, and my social credibility if (shocker!) a middle school student were to make an innapropriate comment that blew up into a huge drama in such a public context as this, or a parent were to find the practice of online chatting with students (regardless of my intentions) questionable.
ReplyDeleteFelt the need to respond to some things said--I agree about finding it difficult to find the time to engage in social networking, especially since we would have to do this outside of school since most districts have these sites blocked. However, I think we have to question ourselves on what we want to accomplish with our students--how many of us put in extra time outside of our normal work day? I know that my day doesn't end when I walk out of the school building even with a family of my own. As far as our professional integrity--I think that's up to us to establish. Engaging in social networking is not going to compromise your integrity-the act of social networking won't compromise, what you choose to do or say will! I do think that if you choose to engage in social networking I would strongly encourage a separate school account to do this. Also, I feel that parents should engage with their child in this form of communication. Do you not always hear that parents aren't involved enough in their child's education? I guarantee you that more parents would be involved if we involved them this way. Most parents already have their own facebook, myspace, twitter, etc.
ReplyDeleteAfter sitting through school law last year, I have to say that I don't really want anything to do with social networking. All of my educational leadership classes discouraged the use of social networking. The superintendent sent out an article about legal issues and social networking. It also warned against it. I don't want to be on the news, either! I had to use blackboard and post comments about my college classes, but that is all I would be open to do at this point. Our school has had several teachers "resign" because of "social networking" (email and texting).
ReplyDeletei agree that we need to move with the times and become involved with the newest technology, but am afraid the students would abuse the use of it in the classroom. I do have my own myspace, two actually. One I have that students can see and request to be added on and the other they are locked from. I did that so they wouldn't see anything my adult friends might post but I have found the students write things more inappropriate than any adults. it seems they think that the internet gives them free rein to use profanity and no one will notice. I would be concerned that this might show up in the classroom, causing a brand new discipline issue.
ReplyDeleteI am leaning more towards not agreeing with social networking as of right now. I feel like it does place a big liability on me. I want to offer my students the more up to date technology, have them be able to communicate with me out of the classroom, and connect with them after they leave me in the 8th grade (I really want to keep up with where they are in high school)...however, I feel like any blog or anything of the sort will need to be through the school website (hopefully to give the feel of authority...whether it works or not...i have no clue) I know eventually I will have to conform, but for now I would like to keep it safe.
ReplyDeleteI think meeting the students where they are, which is the social networking sites, is a good thing. We know they will go to these places to chat with one another and I see nothing wrong with bringing the classroom to them. There are blog sites for teachers and their students as well as facebook style sites. I would not like for my students to have access to my facebook as I cannot control what my fb friends say. I would, however, like my students to participate in a facebook style forum where they will be safe from the online predators. Since many of them will already be familiar with the format, that should cut down on the time to teach them how to use and post to the site. I also have a twitter account set up for my students only where we will be able to communicate about questions they may have. They will need to have parental permission to use these sites as I will not require them to post but will encourage the students to use them. We do not have to worry about being on the news if we are careful with what we say online. Whether fair or not, we, as educators, are held to a higher standard both in and out of the classroom and we do need to think about what we say in public as well as what we send into cyberspace. When we post to these types of sites we need to think through what we are doing and not do anything without first thinking it through.
ReplyDeleteI am for social networking and finding ways to bring it into the classroom.
I was finally able to find the facebook style site for teachers and their students. www.edmodo.com
ReplyDeleteWell, I would be one of those "out of touch" generations that has not conformed yet to social networking. I am still trying to get used to the idea of texting. The lack of personal interaction with the social networking has me still at odds. I understand since I have a teenager of my own that this is the way they communicate, but feel that having this where everyone one and their momma can view could maybe ostracize a student who may not feel confident in asking for help where everyone will be able to view it. Will the students be truthful and will the ones really needing help ask for it. It just seems so impersonal to me. Not to mention the liability involved. This is an issue which would need to be really thought through with guidelines that would limited the subject matter and responses.
ReplyDeleteThis way of communicating also gives a voice to the student who may be too shy to speak up in class and ask for help. If rules are established at the beginning of the year so they everyone is allowed to have a voice, then the students could post questions and answers to learn from one another.
ReplyDeleteOne great outcome that I can see is that students from different classes can work on concepts and problems without being in the same classroom. For that matter, teachers in different schools can co-create a safe blog where students from different schools can learn from one another. I say the technology is out there and we should embrace it for all it is worth.