The message went something like this:
- Staff should refrain from using social networks sites such as Facebook or MySpace to communicate, collaborate, or contact students and parents.
- Staff should use their district email accounts to correspond with students and parents regarding school assignments and activities.
- Staff should use school owned web sites for posting assignments instead of Facebook or MySpace.
- Staff should carefully consider what personal information they display in their public social network profile and what comments they make in online public forums.
I guess what I found humorous about this email was the fact that I am engaged in a grant program supported by the school district that actually has me considering the creation of Nings, wikis, blogs, twitters, etc... that I feel would benefit my classroom and my professional relationship with the information age students I teach. I did actually begin creating a Ning for the robotics team at home earlier in the year only to find out once I got to school that the district filters blocked access. UGH!
I feel that this message assumes that I am guilty of wrong-doing rather than that I am capable of professional conduct in the many forms of online interactions I choose to have with the Internet saavy students/parents/colleagues in my life. Hmmmmmmm. I'm really going to have to ponder how I truly feel about all of this. I'd love to hear the thoughts of my colleagues who teach in my district or other districts around the state.
2 comments:
Personally, I (as far as communicating with parents and students) think there is a difference between an "open" social network (like Facebook and MySpace where you can't control what other people write) and a "closed" social network (like a Ning) where you have control over who joins and what they write (i.e., the administrator can delete.) But all of this is certainly "grey" ... and what the district mentions is by no means a definitive list.
While I appreciate your efforts to communicate with students in current fashion,I think this is a wise policy. Especially with this economy, people will seize any opportunity to think up lawsuits or claim injuries of one kind or another. Some students may inevitably be excluded for economic or social reasons. Onnce our words are out there, they no longer belong to us. As teachers, there is very little support to back us up if we get ourselves in trouble.
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