Daddy Clay started an interesting convo via FB and Twitter. Thought it to be a great thing to discuss here:

"Thinking about teachers and students interacting through social media. What are your thoughts about your kids chatting with teachers on FB?"


I am of the opinion that absolutely not, on a personal level. As in, the child should not be 'friended' via their teacher's personal FB account. Online interactions, especially for school age children, are ripe with bullying, insults, and disrespect. It's too easy. And crossing that line WILL filter into the classroom. So I say, NO, do NOT friend your teachers. Period.

Now, there is great potential in using social media as a "tool" in teaching and learning. No doubt! But I feel there needs to be a specific account for the teacher to use for that purpose. The teacher could use it for homework hints/assignments/basic classroom related information, but not for personal interaction. (ie: No tweets about going out to the bar on Saturday night.)

I also believe a "How to(and How NOT to) use Social Media" class should be required for our youth today. Clearly, teachers need training on how to conduct themselves, and that class before attempting to teach it.

Teachers and students both need to be protected from "over sharing." A student who doesn't like a teacher, but is "friended" on FB because they are a student, WILL no doubt take an opportunity to print an embarrassing photo from FB of said teacher and post it in the school. Crossing the line for the student, and maybe even for the teacher. There have apparently been situations where online interactions lead to physical "relationships" resulting in firings and jail time. Again, it's too easy for that to happen.

Teachers and students who want to cross that line will of course. But a school policy of not using personal sites/accounts should protect the majority of them, as well as school districts. It will also make parents feel a bit more at ease knowing that students and teachers both KNOW and understand there are clear boundaries, and consequences.

Discuss...

I wrote this:"We discussed this quite a bit in grad school, and I knew of some teachers use social media while at LTHS (not sure how successfully). I think with very clear boundaries, i.e. teacher sets up a class account that has nothing personal, it can be an useful tool. But, the school and other teachers have to support it. Plus, inevitably, kids bend the rules, like using the cell in the classroom and saying they're checking Ms. Twitter's Homework." In response to the FB post from Daddy Clay. Then, realizing it was much too long, I arrived at this thread to see that Nik had already written much of the same.
Quick answer: I think it could be great, but (most) schools are not ready for it.

I'm working up a blog post on this, so more on this subject, but here is my short take.

Do you believe in Experiential Education (Experiential Ed for you teacher types)? If so, you should be all for kids and teachers on FB. The theory goes that kids learn more about biology by going to a pond than by sitting in a classroom.

Using SM for interaction is virtual experiential ed. That is, learning about online communication and social media by participating in it.

Experiential Ed has huge power -- the filmmaking projects I did with high school kids were life-changing experiences that, indirectly, led me to this forum. Long story.

However, sometimes kids learning about geology by climbing mountains fall and break their necks.

Experiential ed is inherently powerful and risky.

I wonder what alternatives school might have to FB -- some kind of walled garden where the fundamentals of social media could be taught without being public in any way. If you know of such platforms or software, I'd love to hear more about it.

For me it comes down to questions of "which media" and "for what purpose."

I can definitely see and appreciate the utility of a teacher using a blog or perhaps a facebook profile to communicate with ADULTS associated with the students in their class.

I'm not a fan of the idea of adults being connected to minors on social media. For reasons Nik stated very well, I just see it as a very slippery slope.

@DaddyClay: to your point about Experiential Education, the same principle above applies. If a teacher wants to show students (I'm thinking late Elem and up) how to construct a blog and do online journaling, I have no issue with the lessons there.

But a teacher connected with minors on Facebook, no. It's recipe for disaster.

Another article I ran across regarding parenting and social media.

www.commonsensemedia.org/new/six-ways-be...ia-savvy-parent-2012

The CommonSenseMedia.org site seems pretty legit when it comes to, well, media and common sense.

But I also always remember the saying, "If common sense were common, everyone would have it."