A school district in southern Mississippi recently enacted a policy prohibiting teachers from communicating with students via social networks like MySpace and Facebook.
The Lamar County School Board said the policy was approved because of concerns that casual contact between teachers and students via these sites would be unprofessional.
I am curious what you think. Is the Mississippi policy on target or misguided? I am asking because I communicate with some of my students via Facebook.
First, some background: A couple of years ago, Towson’s PR Group, comprised of PRSSA and IABC student members, began publicizing meetings on Facebook. I serve as Faculty Adviser for the Group. Being a Facebook novice at the time, I set up a simple, basic page so I could receive the messages. Mine was completely devoid of photos, personal information, etc.
I left the page like that for months. Then one of my students jumped me: “Potter!” she chided, “Why don’t you put some information on your Facebook page? It sucks!”
I confided that I didn’t know how. Truth is, at the time, I didn’t know whether or not it was appropriate for a Baby Boomer professor like me to be on Facebook. Like many other Boomers, I arrived late to the social media party. But I am a quick learner. I am learning by doing, by being personally active in blogging, Facebook, and other forms of social media.
After the chiding from my student, I started playing around with Facebook and quickly was hooked. Over time, more and more people invited me to be Facebook Friends, including current and former students. I am always respectful of people’s privacy, images, and information, especially students. I only use Facebook in ways that are tasteful and respectful.
What we post on Facebook has the potential to be detrimental to personal image and to employment prospects. I never preach or scold anyone about what he or she includes in Facebook. Instead, I try to set an example of how I believe Facebook can be used in a responsible, creative manner.
But the Mississippi policy issue has me thinking. Is it inappropriate for teachers and students to communicate via Facebook or MySpace? From my own experience, I conclude that it is acceptable for me to communicate with students as long as certain conditions are met:
- That communication is honorable, appropriate, respectful, and in good taste.
- That communication has some educational value.
- That communication is age-appropriate.
- That communication does not get too personal so as to make either the sender or receiver feel uncomfortable.
- That communication does not invade a person’s privacy.
- That the communication in Facebook stays in Facebook.
What say you, More With Les learning community?
Hi Prof./Uncle Lester,
I believe communicating with students through Facebook is great. I also believe that class assignments and lecture notes could be posted to your Facebook page so that students who missed class or didn’t comprehend the lecture have access to current info. Communicating through Facebook and communicating through email is no different in my opinion. An instructor with good sense (like Uncle Lester) will not communicate inappropriately by any means.
The medium is just a pipe; what matters is what’s coming out of the tap.
The first five of your bullet points are precisely what I expect of my children’s teachers. If those rules inform the message, the teacher is welcome to use Facebook, YouTube or skywriting to get the message across.
Interesting post, my brother. And a dilemma that will solve itself as society finds a comfort level (or not) with these channels…and as these channels change. I think one potential factor to consider here as well is that of age of audience. I suspect that the intention of the Mississippi school district was targetted at high schools and below. I think one can make the assumption that a professor at a college or university is teaching to legal adults (18+) who, while perhaps still somewhat immature or careless about life, nonetheless have the right to make decisions for themselves about who they communicate with about what and how. Teachers at high schools and below are coming into contact, sometimes inappropriately, with minors, and therein lies the problem.
Keep your Facebook page open, PUBLIC, mature, appropriate and professional, Professor. You are a role model.
michael clendenin
(Hi. New reader here.) What an interesting topic! I have often wondered this myself.
Let me start by providing some background information. I am a 30-something Communication instructor at a large university that still gets mistaken for a student from time to time. It is known in my department that I blog regularly and I use Facebook. In fact, I happen to be the only one in my department–that I know of–that does both. Despite this, I’m actually pretty protective when it comes to my online presence.
On Facebook, I have very little information about myself on my page and I do this on purpose. As a “student friend” you know I’m Faculty and my birthday (minus the year). You know how to reach me via IM (an account I have specifically set up for students’ use) and email. You know some of my interests and favorite TV shows.
What you won’t see are actual photos of my face–tagged or otherwise. You won’t see my blog address. You won’t be able to read my wall. Hey, I have friends, too, and I don’t need my students delving into my personal life. As you know, teachers are not robots. We have lives, but we can’t control what our Facebook friends write on our walls, post in pictures, or give as virtual gifts.
Also, my own rule of thumb is that I won’t “friend” a student first. If they want to be my “friend” that is fine, but it’s all on them to do so. Typically, I don’t respond to friend requests until the semester is complete.
Should teachers communicate with students via Facebook? I’d say, yes, it’s OK but keep the boundaries up. Use some privacy settings so that you can still be social with your friends but remain the responsible adult with your students.
Hi!
This post definitely caught my eye and I’m glad you wrote on the topic. I think this concept of Internet safety almost goes too far if we’re talking about the university system, however, I do understand the need for this type of law in the high school setting, as the anonymous one said.
As long as both parties feel comfortable, then I don’t see why Facebook wouldn’t be a resource for both college professors and students. I am friends with several professors on facebook, and now that I have graduated, those networks are even more valuable – I can keep in touch and see if my professors know someone that might be a good contact for me, and vice versa. For example, one of my professors reached out to me via facebook and asked me if it would be okay for one of her students to contact me with questions she had about blogging and moving to a different city. Facebook was just an easier way to connect me to another student, in this case.
As facebook continues to grow, I’m beginning to see it as another means of communication… and as with all online tools that represent your personal brand, both parties should maintain respectable, professional images.
As always, I appreciate your wisdom and insight.
Take care,
Meg
I would say that it would depend on what you use your Facebook for. If you use it to discuss your personal life with your family (like I do), then you may not want to add your students. I have a couple of students on my Myspace, but I don’t really send messages to them. I also am wary about how I talk about school, since I don’t know which students might be keeping up with my blogs. If you would like a nice alternative for student-teacher interaction online, you could always use a free online bulletin board like nicenet at http://www.nicenet.org. I have used it successfully with my classes, and it is set up for students to discuss topics and interact with you. They can also email you and you can control content since only you have deleting power. I have to say, though, my students have in general respected my privacy. Some of them have my MSN but they only use it for homework questions, turning in assignments or telling me how the soccer games went, etc. Obviously you would want to be very careful about what you discuss since there would be record of your conversation. I don’t allow students to call me at home.
Les,
The parameters that you so wonderfully articulated are good rules of thumb for *any* kind of communication — electronic or otherwise.
Robert
So many great comments! Thanks to you all. This is proving to be a valuable discussion.
So far, there are comments above from a student in grad school, four working professionals (one is a recent college grad in a first job), and two educators. That’s a good mix for balanced, varied viewpoints.
I have never had any conversations on Facebook with students that I would consider inappropriate. I have deleted “Friends” who used extremely foul language. There is no excuse for that.
I do share photos of family and friends. I write photo captions like I would for a publication. Truth is, Facebook reminds me of editing a publication, something I always loved doing professionally.
Most of my six photo albums are of education-related activities, such as the Career Networking events my student PR group hosts annually. One album contains photos of a more personal nature — family and friends — but all are tasteful and well-documented. Part of the value of Facebook to me is to share aspects of our lives with friends.
But as all of you know, many people sometimes show hundreds of photos that are all much the same — hold a drink, stick out your tongue, hug and kiss provocatively, and snap the picture. Perhaps there is peer pressure in certain age groups to do this, maybe even to try and out-perform one another. I believe that this is a deadly trap. It can hurt later on as employers scan such networks for information in making hiring decisions. I’ve blogged about this before.
I am happy to say that my FB Friends include many professionals worldwide, many fellow educators, my son and many of his friends whom I’ve know for years, sons and daughters of longtime friends, and on and on. It is an incredible mix of demographics, and I am proud of it. But with that sharing comes responsibility.
Hence this post. Thank you all for helping me sort this one out.
Lying awake during the night, I thought of one more reason why I put carefully selected and documented photos on Facebook — honesty.
When FB Friends see these photos, they know who I am. I am not trying to pass myself off as anything other than who I am and what I do. The photos are a mini-documentary of me and parts of my life, out there for selected people to see.
Thanks for this beautiful Posting On social networking!
It was very nice to see this great article talking about Community!
The majority of my “friends” on Facebook are graduates of our Corporate Communications and Public Relations program here at Centennial College.
So, of course I think it’s appropriate to communicate with students and greds this way. I must admit when I first developed my profile, I was quite cautious about what I revealed. However, I’ve learned to relax about the information I post.
Students and grads appreciate seeing and reading about professors as people. It strengthens the relationship and puts you on an even keel. And, that’s a good thing.
This one movement from this school board has the potential to change social networking as we know it today… and not necessarily in a good way.
If the Lamar County School Board is going to try to ban professors and students from communicating on social networking sites, where will their movement stop exactly? As with many other things involving the internet and the vast opportunities it opens for communication, there are many fine lines to be drawn, crossed over and flat out blasted away.
Think of what we’re doing right now – professors, students, former students and PR practitioners alike all blogging and responding to a post from our dear friend Les. Wouldn’t we all be technically crossing the line that the Lamar County School Board is trying to draw? Les plainly encourages students to read his blog, and I have personally learned a lot from doing so – much more than I would have learned just sitting in class.
Teaching is too personal to keep it within the hours of 8 and 3. Imparting knowledge on young (and not so young) minds cannot stop at the doors of a school. Sometimes the teachers who take it out into the real world are the most successful ones.
(That having been said, I understand where this school board is coming from. There have been an alarming amount of teacher-student relationships crossing the line of propriety recently and school officials are scrambling to find a way, any way to make it stop. Let’s face it though guys… we know that this is not the way.)
Good points, Ang. I particularly like what you said about learning outside the classrooom. Social media provides wonderful ways of allowing that to happen.
As both Michael and you point out above, the age of the student is an important factor. I can definitely see huge caution flags being raised when adults communicate with 18 year old or younger students. Michael’s point about college-age students makes sense, but he also makes a good point by advising that we keep it “mature, appropriate and professional.” Always. That’s the only way.
Hi, Les! I agree with the points you outlined and the comments by your readers.
Facetiously, is Lamar County trying to protect students from teachers, or vice versa?
Seriously, isn’t one of the first rules of good communication to use the most appropriate and effective channels for your audience. If ‘Book and ‘Space provide the best opportunities for teachers to engage, inspire, and motiviate their students, why not put those tools at their disposal?
True, there are age and maturity considerations, but I’ve also seen many an otherwise rational college student do some pretty un-adult things. (Thank heavens SN wasn’t around during my extended college career!) And perhaps doing a better job of screening and hiring educators would prevent abuses of SN from occurring the first place.
Great post, Les!
The topic certainly caught my attention and sparked my interest. I have been back and forth on my own personal support and/or acceptance of the uber-popular Facebook and MySpace Web sites. I personally have a Facebook account but do not participate in the MySpace network. I think there is a certain “credibility” in Facebook that perhaps MySpace is lacking.
I have spent some time gathering information on MySpace and Facebook comparatively and would feel much more comfortable having a professional, teacher-student relationship carried out via Facebook communication rather than MySpace. The simple fact of advertisements that appear on MySpace pages, compared to the advertisements that appear on Facebook pages, illustrates my lack of comfort with MySpace.
It all comes down to honorable, respecftful, age-appropriate communication that is in good taste. When reading a Facebook message from a professor a racy advertisement is not going to pop up on the screen.
In an increasingly digital-oriented world, teachers do need to learn to communicate via outlets most appropriate to students. In some cases this may be online communication. It depends on the student, the teacher and the topic of conversation. But, I agree with Facebook communication as long as all follow the six rules defined at the end of your post.
This is a subject that has come up from time to time every since the introduction of facebook. And it is still a subject that I can not take a side on. A part of me does agree with the Missippi law that believes that it is innapporpriate for teachers to have this kind of casual, out of classroom relationship with their studetns. Anther part of me, the mor ereasonable side and the side that knows she has some faculty as ‘friends’, knows that not all teacher relationships out side of the class room are unprofessional or have to be bad news.
Every person who has facebook should know that on each account, there is a privacy setting where you can restrict a particular person from seeing your provate information. BUt as a side note, people should probably NOT be putting information about themselves up online if it is something that embarasses them or that they don’t want people to see. Anyway, yes, there are privacy settings you can apply to your account which will still allow you to be friends with Joe Schmo, but he can’t see your pictures from that party this past weekend.
There are different levels of relationships that people are capable of having. Age, race gender and professional titile are nto all things that should prohibit people from being cyber buddies, especially if there are not boundaries that one feels is being crossed or they are uncomfortable with. And if that becomes the case, there is always the option to de-friend a person.
Although it seems as if I have taken the side that it should be ok with teacher/student friendships via the internet, I still don’t 100% dissagree with the law that prohibits teachers Facebook relationships. I think that teachers do have a responsibility to uphold and should try their best to maintain a professional relationship with their students because some students may feel obligated to accept a friend request BECAUSE they are the teacher.
All in all, there is only so much the Universities can do to prohibit teachers from cybering with their students, but there are always ways that students or teachers can prohibit sharing too much with each other on facebook.
Hey there Professor Potter,
I agree with everyone here. This is quite an interesting subject.
As far as communicating with students, I feel Facebook, Myspace, or any other social networking site can no doubt be a great resource for getting in touch with classmates or instructors. While I’ve never seen your Facebook page, I’m sure that yours is one that would get you in trouble later (job interviews, angry department heads, etc). Other professionals may not have professional looking pages, which could lead to some problems.
I had a professor once who stated in the beginning of the semester her rules about social networking sites and her personal life. She was a young instructor and made a couple basic ground rules:
1. If you happen to see her at the club partying with friends, don’t try and say hello to her, unless you aren’t a current student of hers anymore.
2. Same goes for Facebook/Myspace…she will deny your friend requests until the class has ended.
I never saw her pages either, but it seemed like she had some photos or other content that may question her professionalism. That’s one way of dealing with it, but I think teachers should always project themselves as professional, especially if they’re going to chat or exchange comments with students online.
As far as the Mississippi school district goes, I somewhat agree with the ruling. This is assuming that it’s intended for teachers of students in middle or high school. There is a definite difference between students ages 11-17 and students 18+. Younger students, without thinking, will probably make irresponsible choices when it comes to their content.
Half the fun of Myspace sometimes is figuring out who’s dating who, why Karen hates Mary, and other little probes into personal lives. This is something a teacher of children that age should stay away from. Not that teachers would spend all their free time investigating the kids’ lives, but it’s just so easy to click on a Myspace bulletin and read the latest “survey”. It could get worse from there. Suppose a teacher reads a bulletin or comment in which a student talks about doing drugs? What is the teacher to do? I wouldn’t want any of my teacher from high school seeing my page…plus, when you’re that age, it’s bad enough seeing your teacher at the grocery store!
To sum it up, these social networking sites, like any form of communication can be used the right or wrong way. I think as they advance and evolve, more and more teachers will be using them to communicate with students and former students. Everyone just needs use common sense and be careful about what kind of personal information they’re throwing out into cyberspace.
P.S.
When hiring people at work, I run a really basic “background check” which involves Myspace pages and the Maryland Judiciary Court Case Search. It’s helped us weed out thieves, drug addicts, and one crazy white supremacist. Just goes to show, be careful what you post.
Dear Prof. Potter,
Your article(and yesterday’s class) on Should teachers communicate with students via social networks like Facebook and Myspace had me thinking about the “proper” ways in which students/teachers’s relationships, inside and outside of the classroom setting.
I feel that teachers are professionals and they should be able to make wise judgements as to become “friends” on these popular sites such as Facebook and Myspace. I do not feel, however, that it is necessary for a school district such as in southern Mississippi to prohibit anyone from communicating via internet.
I agree with you in that teachers and students should have a respectful relationship via internet and understand that this level of internet friendship comes with an understanding that what happens in facebook, stays in facebook!
I currently do not have any professors in my facebook but its seems that if you decide to, then it could be used as an educational source such as PR meetings,etc and any general questions and advice as in any other matter when consulting your current or past professors. Facebook and myspace should be used to keep in touch with old and new friends and keep it refined and classy like it should be.
Well Uncle Lester,
I think that teachers and students should be able to communicate on facebook as long as it it appropriate. I have many professors that I have become friends with and we keep in touch via e-mail. Communicating on a social network is not that different from e-mail. Some students are always on facebook anyway so why shouldn’t they actually get work done and be able to speak to their professors while they are on the site? The school district in Mississippi should not have prohibited communication. On these sites if someone asks to be your friend, you can deny them. Someone cannot just look at your pictures and information unless you do not have your page set to private. I can see where the issue at hand could be a little awkward for some people. Some professors may judge students beacuse of what they see on their pages such as pictures of them partying and drinking. As long as the relationship between the teachers and students does not become inappropriate and does not compromise the students image, I think that communication between students and professors over social networking sites is okay.
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Dear
All i thing we teachers have to have all the way of social communication as teacher have to deal with society whcih start from growing students and it is must to be in touch of our students. Being a teacher i think it is best way even some time u will unable to have lots of sharing with ur students in school and collages but through these site we can have good touch with students and can motivate them through these sites too.
In my 10 years of teaching life i changed four insitution i started with teaching in collage in India than went to Africa and After teaching in India again now I an in Indonesia I in touch of my 300 hundred student through these sites and i aways share education and innovation with them and i think we are learning positive by this.
this is what i can say.
Manish
Sorry to disagree with all of you, but photos, words etc. posted on facebook are soley up to the person that posts them yes, but students in high schools who have these photos etc. posted should not be penalized at school becaues of nosey stalker teachers reading thier posts. It seems that teachers have nothing better to do that stalk their students at my school, and so now all students distrust the teachers as people have been getting in trouble for things that are posted on the internet. These teachers know that the 16 17 year old most likely underage drink, as they are only one year off legal age anyway, and using these photos found on the internet to give them detnetions in school time has nthing to do with them, the parents should be giving out the punishments not the schools
Dear Professor,
After reading your blog today I was most interested in this topic of online social networking. I am also an avid Facebook user and I can not see me stopping for a long time. The issue that comes to mind is there a line that could be crossed. This line you bring up is the communication between students and teachers on these networking sites. As we all know, communication is essential for the development of the student, and the best person for the job is the teacher. The more communication a teacher and student have, the more comfortable he or she is around the teacher. What I mean by comfortable is the fact the student can relate the teacher with certain characteristics outside the box of a “typical teacher”. As you mentioned at the end, certain guidelines must be followed in order for this communication between teachers and students to be acceptable. The problem is that it’s only guidelines. With Facebook having complete freedom for people to communicate online, the teacher/student relationship online can be easily controversial. My suggestion is possibly a networking site for ONLY teachers and students. That way the guidelines can now be rules, and the rules must be followed. Blackboard is probably the closest thing to a educational online networking site. Even though it is not very popular, the website is still progressing. Overall, I believe Facebook is just too big for a student/teacher communication. With so much freedom, and lack of privacy on Facebook the idea of this certain type of communication will always have the negatives outweigh the positives (Even though we are Facebook friends in reality).
Hello Professor Potter,
I will first start off by saying that I believe using social networking sites for communication between teachers and students is absolutely acceptable. Whether we like it or not, these social networking sites are incredibly popular and are likely to stay that way. Facebook is now used more for than just keeping up with friends. It is a simple, easy way to organize events, start or join a cause, and even keep up with your favorite musicians, actors, and other celebrities. Most people it seems, especially those of the college age, become addicted to facebook and check the site multiple times per day. Hence, it is an easy way to communicate with someone.
Like Clark said above, many students and teachers use blackboard to communicate. However, I think most students would agree that they prefer the layout and easy access of Facebook. Also, unless blackboard is heavily used in the classroom, it is not something used on a regular basis by students. As more and more businesses become aware of the Facebook phenomenon and use it as a quick background check on the employees for hire, those looking to get the job are making sure not to post as many pictures that portray themselves as drunken slobs. Even if they do, that is their choice and while I do disagree it is wrong for businesses to judge a potential hire by their personal lives, it is going to happen. If students and teachers are on a friendly enough basis then I see no reason why they wouldn’t want another way to communicate. I am not ashamed of what I posted on my Facebook or else I wouldn’t have put it their. I wouldn’t be bothered if you or any of my professors saw what was on there. That is why it is there. Because of that I see no reason as to why teachers and students shouldn’t communicate via Facebook. Its just one more way to reach someone.
Professor Potter, I don’t think that you’re the only one that asks this question. With social media playing such a prominent role in today’s society, it is totally understandable to question what is appropriate and what isn’t appropriate.
Before Facebook existed, MySpace was the huge trend, yet I never really got that into it. I had an account but no page. The account was purely so I can “stalk” or in other words look at friends pages. MySpace was a way for people to communicate and connect with other people. I figured that if you’re willing to put yourself on the web like that, then anyone has the right to look at your page. That is why I never made my own page. Why would I want people I didn’t know or people I didn’t like to be looking at me? It’s kind of a sketchy concept if you think about it.
Yet, when I arrived to college and found out about Facebook, I wasn’t as apprehensive. Facebook at the time was solely for college students. It also had privacy settings, so others couldn’t see your profile. At that time, you were even able to upload albums. Your only picture was your default.
Anyway, as time passed Facebook gained popularity and they opened it to everyone. At first I was a little mad but whatever, that’s life! To get back to your topic about students and teachers communicating via these social networks, I feel that it’s okay to a certain extent. I agree with all your conditions you stated in your blog entry. Anything that goes further than those conditions makes things questionable.
Recently, the father of the kids I have been baby-sitting for since I’ve been in 8th grade got Facebook. It was extremely weird when he added me as a friend. He knows me as his baby-sitter, but now he is going to see into my personal life by looking at my pictures. I got a little freaked out! He also sent me a message. It seemed a little odd at first. But that’s only because I don’t see Facebook as something adults would use. But then I realized that a lot of my friends’ parents now have it. They are using it to get in touch with old classmates. And it truly is a great way to connect with people that you have lost touch with!
I feel that one of the reasons people are against student/teacher communication on the internet is because of all the dangers that the internet leads to. You always hear stories about communication via the internet that result in sad endings. People just need to be extremely careful. People should only talk to people they know.
All in all, social-networking between students and teachers is perfectly okay, as long as it doesn’t go too far! The way I see it, it’s like e-mailing but on a network.
I like that you communicate with students through social networks. I think that it is fine for teachers to commincate through these networks because that’s exactly what they are meant for communication. This is just another form of email, but I feel it is more direct. I know personnally, when I get on the computer the first thing I do is to check my facebook. I usually don’t want to check my email because then I have to deal with all the other crap that people send you, and all the advertisments that companys send you about how so save five dollars. With facebook I don’t get any of those it’s all about messaging and sharing information with people. Therefore, I think it would be very effective if teachers and professors communicated through facebook because they could reach many of their students and know that the students probably receieve the information.
Now somethings that might get in the way of this being an effective way to communicate with students are the teacher’s or professor’s intentions. I know some students feel as though teachers and professors only want to see what they are doing outside of school and maybe use it against them. I know that some students are afraid that they will see pictures or posts that could get them in trouble. To this I say, then why are you posting them in the first place. If a student thinks that by putting something on facebook would get them in trouble then it probably shouldn’t have been posted in the first place. Regardless of a teacher or professoring seeing it why would you want something on your page that would be an embarrassment if they were to see it.
Therefore, I feel that communicate on social networks is perfectly fine between teachers and students. It’s just another effective way for teachers to get there information out.
Hello Professor Potter
I think the topic of student/teacher communication via social networking sites continues to be very relevant considering how quickly these websites continue to grow in popularity not just with kids but also with adults. I’ve never been on board with the whole MySpace wagon for various reasons; I remember when it first started gaining in popularity, I mostly heard about it through various “scandals” that were so big they hit the national news scene. Usually it was stories of people meeting up after spending time getting to know one another through MySpace… needless to say, most of these stories didn’t end well. The thought of people being able to see that much into my personal life with the simple click of a mouse, all while in the comfort of their own home, was a little scary. I also once considered MySpace a passing trend and figured it would never become the global networking phenomenon that it is today (definitely was wrong on that one).
However, when Facebook hit the scene around the time that I was graduating from high school and preparing for college, I gave it a little more consideration. The fact that it was strictly for college students and served as a way for people to meet their future classmates and roommates piqued my curiosity- I mean come on, who doesn’t want to know what their roommate will be like, especially when it came to living in a dorm where random selection decided your fate. I used Facebook to connect with friends who were moving out of state to go to college as well as a way to “browse” through my new college campus’ offerings and see what exactly I was getting myself into. Back then, Facebook was relatively plain, stripped down to the most basic of offerings which mostly consisted of photos, wall posts, and messaging (another reason why I favored Facebook over MySpace). I got completely addicted to Facebook the months before school began and continued this way until the present day. I will admit that I have curbed my Facebook stalking to a fraction of what it once used to be. Now that Facebook has changed so much and become available for almost everyone, it has lost some of its seeming exclusivity and become more comparable to MySpace.
In terms of teachers communicating with students through such outlets, I could really argue either way. On the one hand, it’s such an easy way to get in touch with students and continue an open line of communication beyond the walls of the classroom. But there is a fine line that can easily be crossed. It really depends on both parties’ level of maturity and respect. It’s important to remember that even through the internet, you still need to maintain that student/teacher relationship, otherwise things can get weird fast. Since Facebook is now open to pretty much anyone, I’m finding that I am getting more and more friend requests from adults, especially old co-workers. A lot of the things that I post on Facebook, including pictures or posts from either myself or my friends, are not necessarily the type of things that I want them to see. I feel like I have that whole professional image to maintain, while at the same time my Facebook page exhibits a totally different side of me, the college student image that I have when I’m not working in a professional setting. Becoming friends with a professor or an old co-worker has the potential to be detrimental if you don’t adhere to some sort of guidelines. It can be a good tool… when used the right way.
Dear Professor Potter,
I feel that it is wonderful that you communicate with your students through Facebook! I personally love being your friend on it. =) I don’t agree with the Mississippi policy because I feel that it is the students’ choice. The students are able to decide whether or not they want to “friend” their professors, or whether or not they want to accept their professors’ friend requests. Facebook is a fun way to communicate with people, it is not meant to be a malicious website that could harm someone’s personal image or ruin peoples’ reputations. YOU are the creator of your Facebook and YOU can control how you want to be perceived. There are numerous privacy settings that you can set on individuals or multiple people if you don’t completely feel comfortable with someone seeing your pictures, comments, and so on. I feel that you have wonderful morals and good intentions about being friends with your students. Not only did you mention that the “communication is honorable, appropriate, respectful, and in good taste,” but you also stated that “the communication does not invade a person’s privacy.” This just shows what a wonderful and exceptional person you are; not many people possess these admirable qualities! Facebook is not only easier to use, but it is a frequently accessed website as well as a more personable way to communicate with others. Lets face it, who doesn’t like logging onto their Facebook and seeing a nice post? That could potentially make someone’s day a whole lot better! I feel that Facebook can be appropriate or inappropriate based on how you choose to use it, and one must know not to cross that line. I personally check my Facebook much more then I check E-Mails because I don’t receive useless (junk) E-Mails on Facebook. I feel that Facebook is a more efficient way of communicating and should be allowed between professors and students as long as certain lines don’t get crossed making one feel uncomfortable.
What about high school students?
This post about whether or not teachers should communicate via Facebook and other social networking websites really caught my interest. First because, I think that a lot of students wouldn’t want to see that their teachers are on Facebook because they don’t want them to see information about their personal life. I know that I would my teachers looking at what my friends say to me, what I say to my friends or what I’m up to. Second, I think it is somewhat controversial because students and teachers may develop the wrong sort of relationship using this kind of social networking site.
I had an experience with this in high school when I found one of the support counselors from my school on Facebook. It was not surprising to me that she made it so that nobody could see her profile or even a picture of her, in case it was a student. When I graduated, I requested her as a friend and not long after I got an e-mail from her that she had a personal policy that she didn’t communicate on Facebook with former students until they had graduated from college.
In my opinion, I think that the Lamar County School Board in Mississippi’s decision to prohibit contact between students and teachers is a good one. In high school, students have a different kind of relationship with their teachers. The relationship exists mainly in the classroom and within the walls of the school. However, I think that a student being able to communicate with their college professors on Facebook and other social networking sites is okay. It is just each student’s decision whether or not they want to make their information available to their teachers. In college, students have a much more open relationship with their instructors. Professors often give out their home and cell phone numbers so to me, it is not a big deal to be able to interact with them on websites such as Facebook.