Facebook. Where do I even start? I remember when it was first started. I was unable to have it because as we all know Facebook was first started as a social networking tool for college students, and I was still in high school. They only way you could have a page was if you had a college email address. Wow, times sure have changed. Everyboy and their dog has Facebook now. This being said several young children are even starting their own page. As a teacher, I am of course thinking of how this website could be used within the classroom, and even should this website be used within the classroom.
I'm hoping to use this blog post to get feedback from my fellow classmates. I really want to know your views on Facebook and the classroom. Here is a list of questions that I hope you will answer:
Should teachers friend their students?
Should teachers friend their students' parents?
How could Facebook be used as a tool in the classroom?
Do you see any negative consequences with using Facebook in the classroom?
These are questions that I constantly toss back and forth in my head. At this point in my life, Facebook is used for something entirely different than what it would be in a classroom and for me it's hard to think of it in any other way. I posed these questions to you all because I am still very torn on the issue and am hoping to get some insight into what others think.
These are definitely questions that run through my mind as well. I think all teachers should very carefully examine their own Facebook page and ask themselves what audience it would be appropriate for. I believe that students should not be that involved in their teacher's personal lives and there are definitely things posted on Facebook pages that are personal and could cause major issues if inappropriate.
ReplyDeleteAs for "friending" parents...this could be tricky too. Parents definitely wouldn't want to see anything on a teacher's page that they might not agree with because teachers have a strong influence on their child. I think it would be safe to say not to friend either parents or students. You can't control what your Facebook friends post on your wall. There's always the delete option, but by the time you read a post that you want deleted, a parent/student could have already seen the post. Stay on the safe side-maybe teachers could make a separate page, like a "group", and invite parents and/or students on that page. From this "group" page, there might be some educational benefits here...it's definitely something to think about.
I am not going to comment too much on this topic yet --- I'll let your classmates provide their insight at this point. I plan to cover this in a future class, so we can discuss it as a group. I think you have wonderful points and we do need to discuss them! Please others - respond and provide Kystina with your 2 cents worth! Have a look at this - an Iowa Teacher!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2010/09/08/dnt.facebook.in.class.ketv
These are really great questions. I have never thought of having a facebook page or profile open to my students or their parents. I could just imagine how easy it would be for it to get messed up some way or another. I do however see potential uses for a class facebook page, but perhaps you as a teacher can have two accounts (or more).
ReplyDeleteNot mixing your personal and professional life is always a good thing, and by having two accounts you can certainly do this (given that you have two email addresses, but seeing as it is free on gmail, why not?).
In addition, I do not think that we should add or accept parents to either one of these profiles. For one, you do not want parents to get involved in your personal life, unless you are really friends with them, and second if parents were to join the class page where their kids comment and post statusses and so forth, this might have a restricting side to the students' participation on the page.
In one sentence then: Yes for two profiles, no to parents on both, yes to students on the professional account.