Sunday, September 11, 2011

Old Topic, New Twist: Teachers and Facebook

Image from http://edudemic.com/2011/01/every-teachers-must-have-guide-to-facebook/
Before we bemoan Facebook as a teaching tool, we might consider its possibilities. In this short piece, Every Teacher's Must Have Guide to Facebook, we see a list of what not to do as well as what to do. Does the what to do list help you? Do you see potential applications for using Facebook as a teaching tool, assuming it is unblocked in schools, or at least usable by students outside the school walls for educational uses?

1 comment:

Christine said...

This is a very interesting article-- it was timely and I appreciate you posting this. That being, our school auction has now been added to Facebook as well as my principal and a "like" page for our school. While we discussed on both the Ning and in class my "rules" for facebook (including not friending parents/students...) this now opens up the "can of worms," so to say, about whether or not to communicate with those "like" pages, due to parents and students clicking on my name in a heartbeat when searching the users liking the page.

I have followed many of the items on the list, however I have chosen not to share any of my information even in an educational setting. (I teach third grade after all!) I do wholeheartedly agree with the comment the author made that was somewhere along the lines of not inviting students to a dinner party, so why would you have them have full viewing access to your profiles. The rest of the items on the list seem very common sense to me-- or to anyone, for that matter! Uploading photos and content that portrays your character as controversial is going to come back and haunt you at some point in your life. It is my personal wish that college students and young adults, even teenagers would realize this now. The Internet is a SCARY place.

With that being said, I am certain that in a high school or college setting there are probably useful ways for a teacher and students to connect. For now, however, I feel much safer with tougher safety restrictions.

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