I have always been fascinated with how the field of education has completely blown up over the internet in the last ten to fifteen years or so. The number of incredible resources that is now available on the internet, in terms of curriculum content links and ideas, or software and apps to display learning is completely staggering, and it continues to grow everyday. Teachers have even taken to the internet, to share their ideas about teaching and teaching strategies, through a variety of social media platforms. Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Blogs, and Wikis alike, are continuing to grow in terms of educator use, and student use alike. Whether it be sharing ideas on teaching pedagogy, posting links to great resources and websites, or students sharing their learning in creative ways, the internet and education just seem to go naturally hand in hand.
Keeping these great advancements in mind, there is always that other side to the coin when it comes to accessing and posting on the internet. Privacy has become a large issue in terms of use from a professional standpoint, as well as personal standpoint. The point of posting on social media and writing a blog is to not only share your own thoughts and ideas, but to connect with others. Quite often however, individuals who are posting on these forums do not often think about one key component to their own internet participation, and that is who the target audience is. When something is posted on the internet, potentially, anyone can view this content. You would then have to ask yourself, if I only want my message to be posted to a certain audience, how can I do that safely, so only those whom are intended to see it, actually do.
As an educator, I understand the importance of using social media platforms to connect with my students, parents, and the community. It is a valuable means of communication, in terms of the ease and quickness in which information can be shared. Likewise, students can share their learning online likewise, not just to display what they know for evaluation purposes, but so their parents and other students alike can see what they have been doing in class. I have discovered that the more I use internet platforms and social media for students to share their work, the less questions I receive from parents as to what we are covering in class, and how their own child is progressing. Applications such as Twitter is a great means for parents to follow what is going on in the school, and in their child's classroom.
However, like everyone else, I have a personal life, a life that I keep separate from my professional one. As a teacher, I do take a lot of work home with me, my job just does not always end when the bell rings at the end of the day. I, like so many other teachers, have to mark, plan, evaluate, and report on my own time, even within the confides of my personal residence. At the end of the day though, my time belongs to me, and I like to connect with my friends and family over the internet through a variety of social media platforms. My personal interests, hobbies, and activities that I participate in are often shared and discussed to great lengths online. This begs the question, while I want parents to see the latest updates for the math homework over the weekend, do I really want them to see the pictures of my trip to Montreal?
Many have argued that the lines between personal and professional life are becoming more and more vague, with the use and access to social media. While some forms of social media like Facebook do offer privacy settings, so you can adjust not only who follows you, but who can even search you over the site, other platforms do not necessarily have very advanced privacy settings. Many professionals have suggested having multiple accounts to social media platforms, one for professional use, and a second for personal. While this may seem like a reasonable solution, I have heard of some companies asking for access to a new applicants Facebook account, so they can view the content posted, before considering to offer that applicant a position with their company. Is that very ethical in terms of a person's right to privacy? Probably not, but if that personal really wants / needs a job with that firm, are they really going to say no?
I have found in my own experience, the best way to control who has access to your social media information, is to just be mindful about what you post. If I do not want the parents of my students seeing, viewing, or hearing this information, I don't post it! Also, I try to use different social media platforms for different purposes. I use Facebook for my own personal connections, where as I use Twitter for more professional purposes, when reaching out to the teaching community. Also, I make sure to post things that would be reasonable for anyone to view. Even though my Blog is intended for educators and teachers alike, I still only post content that I would be okay with being viewed by other audiences, such as the parents of my students. I find that being more of an open book leads to better interactions with others, both personally and professionally.
When discussing social media and internet use with my own students, I often share these same practices with my students. I make them aware that even though they may be posting things that are intended to be viewed by your friends, anyone can potentially view it. I am especially diligent about this fact, when student are posting status updates, with their current location attached to it. You can never be too careful when it comes to who may be viewing your personal posts. This type of modelling is done in my class on a regular basis, and needs to be a part of all classrooms. This is the society we live in today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqezbib5qpQ
In the classroom, I encourage students to use the internet for research and information purposes, as well as to display their learning and creative works. I make parents aware through news and letters as to what their children are doing in the classroom, and how their work is going to be shared. If any parents have concerns with the work of their child being shared online, I am always willing to make other arrangements and accommodations to protect the privacy of their children. Many have argued that easier access to online materials, means easier access to cheating. I have always found, that issues of cheating lie more in classroom culture than in student motivation. I make it a point to discuss these issues with my students regularly, whether it be cheating on a quiz or copying and pasting facts from the internet without actually understanding them. Here is a great link that gives some great tips for cheating prevention in the classroom:
http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/cheating_in_school_why_it_happens_how_prevent_it
As I stated earlier, the internet and social media is the world we live in today, and it needs to be adopted into classroom culture. These tools, apps, and resources need to be modeled, and used on regular basis. We as educators need to prepare our students for the world that awaits them beyond the classroom, and as such, the classroom needs to mirror what is going on in the real world. Educators need to practice safe standards when accessing the internet, and in turn, model these practices with their students. This is the Digital Generation, where the world is happening online. Our students are already accessing it and making use of it on a daily basis for their own personal use. It's important that we get them practicing safe standards now, so they can implement those practices into adulthood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG7wyTW74W0
The internet is a vast and complex system, and safe use is paramount to successful classroom integration. However, because it continues to change daily, and social media platforms do become more complex, and especially with social media now interacting with other platforms (e.g. Photos taken with Instagram automatically being shared with Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter), how can teachers, educators, and school boards continue to stay up to date and in the know for effective social media safety protocols?
"......I make them aware that even though they may be posting things that are intended to be viewed by your friends, anyone can potentially view it"...... I think this is the biggest lesson that we can all learn. I often get teachers or pre-service teachers being quite adamant about having a public space ie: twitter or private space ie: facebook. What we all must remember and remind our students over and over is that the only private space that really exists is in our heads - that there is nothing "online" that is private due to the invention of "copy and paste".
ReplyDeleteYou have some strong opinions about how educators should model the use of social media both inside and outside school. This bring me to my question (s)..should social media itself be considered a literacy? Should educators be "required" to teach this? If educators aren't teaching these skills, who is?