Social Networking and Education Part 2

Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Messenger, Blogs ... social networking is everywhere. As an educator, I must ask the question:

Do social networking websites have a place in schools?

Firstly, I feel that students should not be using their personal Facebook and Twitter accounts (and similar sites) during school time, but rather use their time at school in a more educational (or useful) way. I also think that for some students, social networking can be distracting and addictive, which can impede their learning process and progress at school.

However, I do wonder if blocking these sites in the solution. My thinking is that these websites can and are being used in educational ways. For example, Twitter accounts may be created for a particular class, and monitored by the teacher. This has been successfully implemented in Gr. 12 classes at my school, and many students found that they were able to stay up to date with critical information and discussions more easily. The issue as educators becomes finding ways of utilizing these formats while protecting our students.

It seems that despite teachers best efforts to monitor student use of the internet, we are constantly playing "catch up" with new technology. I think that these sites do have a place in education, BUT in a controlled and monitored environment. Recently, our school installed a system that allows teachers to monitor the use of lab computers. We are able to see exactly what the students are doing, and to assume control of the computer when needed. We can also block all internet use, or just allow access to one or two websites. I have found this enormously effective, since the idea of the teacher monitoring their screen discourages most inappropriate use of computers.

Monitoring the use of computers at school is a start, and can easily be enforced during class time, however with more and more students acquiring their own laptops, this becomes much more difficult to do outside of class time. This is why it is critical that students are aware of the potential risks involved with using these sites.

Some risks that we should explicitly teach students about are:

1. Privacy issues
I'm not convinced that all students realize that "nothing you write on the web is completely private" (www.opp.ca). They may think that an E-mail or instant message is completely private, however this is not the case.

2. Consequences of their posts (pictures, videos, gossip, ...)
Students need to realize that once they have posted something on the internet, anyone can access and save this information. Unforeseen consequences may result from irresponsible use of social networking features. Compromising pictures, statements or other postings may not reflect how they want to be seen by the outside world, for example other peer groups, potential employers, family and other members of the community.

Marcia