Thanks for the shout out. I feel proud to have introduced someone to danah boyd. Hope all is well in China.

But again, all this is just a thought and I'm still in the analyzing phase of my potential policy.

Oh and I absolutely agree that districts should not be able to tell teachers they cannot connect with students digitally. It is analogous to a shopping mall situation. In my opinion, schools/districts are fearful of the digital world. They want to use it but don't want to deal with potential harms that come with it. So instead of teaching appropriate use, they seek to ban it all together, except those elements of it that are simply digital modifications of old school style teaching. (e.g. powerpoint = chalkboard, youtube = 8mm movies, etc). To truly use technology you have to be able to be able manipulate it and make it work for you, not just use it as a way to convey information like the chalkboard did or the 8mm movie. (And I realize the contradiction of using FB as an additional tool to convey information and my belief about the use of technology in education.) But that's another subject and one I've been wanting to tackle in a blog post.

I thought 'Facebook Revisited' would be a final visit of this topic for me on my blog, but is seems my thinking has been challenged and perhaps I still have more to consider.

Thank you for contributing to my learning Chris!

Another thought on my earlier post. I find that teachers using Facebook now are much less tech savy than those who were using it 3 years ago (the early adopters). As these teachers get on Facebook, they no much less about security settings, and are more likely to make mistakes with their settings. I understand the largest growth in Facebook is in the over 50 crowd – people who likely will have little experience with security settings. Another reason that Facebook friends for these teachers and their students could be problematic.

Chris

Good post, and a topic I have been doing a lot of thinking about lately. Maybe I am getting more conservative, but I have made some adjustments in my view, and in the advice I give to young teachers and Facebook.

First, some history. Three or four years ago as Facebook began to take hold and many of us were searching for ways to bring Facebook into our schools and classrooms to conenct to students, I was one of the people who was “friends” with current students and also trying to use it as a collaborative tool in the classroom.

I have found that now, Facebook is about 90% personal and about 10% professional. I find very few educational uses. I love Facebook for conencting with old friends and sharing photos with family, but don't do a lot of collaborating. I contrast that with Twitter where my use is really the reverse – about 90% professional and 10% personal.

When I would speak with student teachers, new teachers, or even experienced teachers 3 years ago, I would give the messages of we need to go where the kids are, and Facebook is one of these places.

Now, I say, Facebook is great and I use it all the time, but I wouldn't be friends with current students. If teachers are going to be friends with students be very careful with security settings and also be sure to use it as a teachable moment to remind these students to be careful with their security settings. If you asked me, I would say, don't go there with students.

Another caveat, I wouldn't say don't conenct with students on Facebook – create / collaborate in groups etc. but what value does being Friends add, and do the benefits out weight the potential very awkward situation that could be created by seeing photos of student drinking etc.

I don't think there are absolutes with social networking – and I appreciate our District's advice to staff but also flexible guidelines.

I was helping a group of students from multiple districts connect last week for a project and we immediately agreed on Facebook as our tool – everyone had it. Yes we could have used a ning – but Facebook was easy and convenient – so it does have its place.

Here was a recent CBC story on the topic: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story...

I think there needs to be Guidelines to be clear about what is appropriate.

What we don't need are sweeping policies based on banning and restrictions… but in our Bubble Wrapped approaches, I fear those may be on their way.
Like punishing the whole class for the behavior of one kid, we will probably see lawsuit-scared organizations dictating that we should disconnect from kids online because one or two teachers are not being appropriate. The odd thing is that I think this kind of behavior leaves a definitive digital trail and is probably easier to catch (at a more harmless point) than the same behavior face-to-face. And yet we will disconnect from more meaningful and more appropriate connections and learning opportunities, not so much to prevent this, but to push it out of sight.
Guidelines, not restrictions, are needed.

As usual, you & I are on the same page with regards to this issue. I agree with pretty much all the points you mentioned.

I have another few (self-imposed) rules:

- no students that currently attend my school can add me. I only allow former students to add me. I figure if, after they leave my school, they STILL want to be connected, then it weeds out a bunch who just do it to goof around or for the novelty. Plus, I don't want to be talking about my latest status update with kids at school (even though, like you, ALL my FB info – limited or not – is appropriate enough for any kid, colleague or parent to see).

- no Facebook chat with any (former) student, ever. There's no way to keep a record of this conversation, I don't think. Love the idea of sending the message with the “thanks for inviting me” for a record of who started things!

- my profile is less Limited than yours – but especially the Wall is turned off because I don't want to be monitoring what people post on there. I know I can't control what people write on my wall short of deleting it after it's been posted, but I don't want kids having access to read & write on it either.

- I almost never look through the students' profiles. I don't feel like I “can't” – but I most likely won't. I leave it to them to connect & share with me more directly if they want to.

- I don't think using Facebook in the classroom is very effective. I look at it more as a connection tool – if former students want to stay connected to a teacher, I look at it as one more positive adult in their life – even if it's their “online” life.

My personal teaching philosophy in the classroom includes sharing a little bit of myself with students – my experiences, passions, lessons, likes/dislikes, stories… I find that when we all laugh together, empathize or learn about each other, not only do we cultivate community but I usually find I have much more willing learners. For me, since Facebook only includes former students & all of my info is relatively benign, it's a way to remind those students that there's a real human out there, who's willing to connect with them – and for some, it might just be the link they need.

Cheers,
Elaan