Social Media in Education

Well, social media and education is quite a touchy subject these days among teachers, and especially for me. I strongly believe that teachers and students should not have contact on social media sites such as Facebook until the profession clearly defines the expectations and consequences for such interactions. For example, what about the mandated reporter role of teachers? Does that extend onto sites like Facebook? Am I responsible for policing students' profile pages during my free time to ensure proper behavior? Until we have a clearer picture and understanding of these issues, I will not be engaging students using social media.

Having said that, I think you can still utilize some of the concepts to enhance student learning. For example, I have always wanted to create an assignment for analyzing characters in which students would create a Facebook profile page for them. I am sure that there are other teachers out there who have done this type of activity before. This would tap into the students' knowledge of social media sites, yet also require higher level thinking. What status updates would the character post throughout the story? Who would their friends be? This could all be done on a paper graphic organizer designed to look like a Facebook page instead of having to actually be connected online with the site. This would provide students a chance to use what they are familiar with while also protecting teachers from any legality issues that social media sites may bring up.