4. Missouri (May 2011) – “Amy Hestir Student Protection Act” Virginia (being discussed as of January 2011) –Would prohibit teachers from accepting friend requests or private messages State Laws
5. Teacher suspended for Facebook post: called kids future criminals(April 2011 – New Jersey) Teacher suspended after students see photos of her on Facebook posing with a stripper (January 2011 – Pennsylvania) Math and science department supervisor fired after she called her students "germ bags" on Facebook (August 2010 – Massachusetts) In the News
6. Social media is not always a problem for teachers! When used properly, social media can be an effective tool. Several teachers utilize social media both in and out of the classroom. Social Media as a Tool
10. Post assignments and updates for your class Students and parents can view or have them sent to their phones Twitter
11. Upload Powerpoint presentations, documents, videos, etc. No profile needed to view material Easy access for notes and lessons from home for students SlideShare.net
Another definition: Web-based and mobile technologies that can be used to turn communication into interactive dialogue. All of these – Twitter, MySpace, SlideShare, Skype, Facebook and LinkedIn are some of the most common forms of social media.
Investigate district policies to see if you are able to have a Facebook and any other restrictions; Explain privacy settings and what they allow you to do (picture); Appropriate profile picture discussion – make sure to include comment about being careful what pictures get taken of you, as anyone can post them on Facebook without your permission
Missouri – deals with preventing sexual molestation by teachers - as result of law, all districts are crafting policies centered around teachers not accepting friend requests, etc. from students on Facebook; As social media continues to grow and problems arise, as teachers we are going to be looking at more and more laws like these – for good and bad
This is only a snapshot of headlines from the past year. All of these instances could have easily been prevented.
We will focus on out of the classroom, as in the classroom pertains more to university settings.
Things to discuss: Creating a teacher profile, creating a group/fan page, allows for discussion, can communicate when grades are posted, can communicate when assignments are due, can custom filter profanity and inappropriate words/phrases, can restrict those who join, share examples (scanned pages or pictures of board), make sure to have signed permission if you put up photos!
Discuss
Talk about easy profile setup and how we did it; upload and you can do any media; easy to view without account
