Educators Using Facebook

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Permalink Reply by José Picardo on February 9, 2008 at 4:22am

mmh... originally I found myself quite reluctant to accept a pupil as a friend, but as soon as my pupils found out I had an account and started offering "friendhip" on facebook I felt a little mean refusing it...

I have blogged about this before http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=31

I have since converted to the idea of using social media to complement my teaching http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=41

and I have even created a group to interact with my students in Spanish (I am a Spanish teacher) http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19201440603

I am not so concerned about security, since this generation of students, "the bebo generation" to quote Ewan McIntosh, is extremely well versed on all things internet.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Staton on February 9, 2008 at 1:50pm

Join us! http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7036945291

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Permalink Reply by José Picardo on February 22, 2009 at 3:10am

A year on, I still don’t have any qualms about being friends with my students on Facebook, as I am careful not to add any embarrassing photos or make any silly comments which might come back to haunt me later on.

I do stick faithfully to two self-imposed rules though when using Facebook with students:

* I never request to become a friend with a student, former or current, but I will accept a request if it originates from a student I teach or have taught.
* I only write on their wall if they have written on mine first.

Since I wrote my previous post, however, while I still approve of using social networking sites in education, I have almost changed my mind again about this whole Facebook with your students business: whereas I am happy to be friends with them, I no longer expect to deliver any educational content via Facebook.

Why not? Well, on the whole, students think it’s cool to be friends with Mr Picardo on Facebook but they think it’s very uncool, to the point of creepy, if they are contacted by their teachers for teaching purposes via this most private medium, which they use mostly for escapism. Therefore to remind them of deadlines, assignments or, God forbid, to try to covertly teach them something in this way is just weird to them. This is why I stick so faithfully to the rules outlined above. This is why it’s cool to be friends with Mr Picardo.

Have I lost faith in the power of social networking to deliver educational content? On the contrary, my faith has been strengthened. It just happens that I no longer think Facebook offers the best solution. I think my students want a means of communicating with fellow students and teachers but there are now other alternatives out there:

Ning allows you to create private social networks for free (no adverts if you teach 13 to 18 year olds) and the rise and rise of microblogging now means that perhaps that avenue needs to be explored more closely.

Edmodo is one bespoke microblogging system for education that has impressed me greatly since I have started using it with my students (16-18 year olds) and they are lapping it up to the point of badgering other teachers to start using Edmodo.

It is clear that better communication between school and home, between teachers and students is, not only desirable, but also essential in a world in which technology is continually discovering and developing new, exciting and useful ways of improving communication between people. Yet most of it seems to pass our schools and teachers by. This baffles me. Education seems to be coated in teflon: hardly anything sticks.

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Permalink Reply by John Sowash on February 22, 2009 at 5:45am

Your guidelines for facebook contact with students are excellent. I went one step further by creating a limited profile for my students. They can only see the pictures and posts that I choose and are not allowed to write on my wall.

The only instructional value that facebook has created is another medium through which my students can ask questions. The night before a test I can watch my inbox fill up with last minute questions. Other than that it's just a way to keep track of my students and make a personal connection into their lives.

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