Re: [LM_NET] TARGET: Befriending students on Facebook and My Space -the Oz perspective

[Barbara Braxton <barbara.288@BIGPOND.COM>]

Yesterday I started this discussion on two Australian lists to see what my 
colleagues here thought -
and the result was very much the same as the LM_NET situation.  Some think it is 
okay but are very
circumspect; others think that it is crossing the line between private and 
professional lives,
particularly with current students; others set up particular pages for particular 
purposes; others
think it has no place in their lives.

Most people said that if they got a request from a student to be a 'friend' they 
took care to "let
them down" lightly but some said they just ignored the request. It was suggested 
that if a student
asks to be your friend, that you befriend their parents instead. Some said they 
would agree to a
student asking them, but would never ask a student.  Others asked if the young 
people even want us
in this place, and whether we take the time to consider the time and management 
aspects of setting
up a page, even for a specific purpose.

There was general agreement that we should not condone breaching the T&C of 13+ and 
that if this was
known to have occurred, it could become a teachable moment on Internet safety.  It 
was agreed that
Internet safety and ethics need to be taught explicitly, and information needs to 
be sent to parents
about their responsibilities in this.  Ignoring breaches was seen as a breach of 
professionalism.
However, if we do have FB pages that students can access, then we need to model the 
appropriate
behaviour as part of that explicit teaching.

There was advice about the legal aspects of digital duty-of-care, and some schools 
do, indeed, have
policies about appropriate out-of-school interactions with students. Others asked 
for examples of
these policies, particularly relating to interactions in the Web 2.0 environment..

Some suggested that to be online with a students in this environment was like being 
alone in a
classroom with them, although others thought that it was making any interactions 
more visible. There
was concern about inappropriate posts being made either by students or your other 
friends, or being
made to the students, and the students being able to access inappropriate material 
by going to your
friends' accounts.  (It is this aspect that means that these sites -and most Web 
2.0 tools - are
blocked to students in most government schools, at least, in Australia.)

Someone suggested that it can work both ways - if a student is maligning the school 
or another
student, then it shows up on the teacher's page and the school can deal with it.
 
There were many, many concerns about privacy and how and where  information you 
posted might end up.
Someone pointed out that the first thing the media does if they get a sniff of a 
story is to troll
Facebook and MySpace et al to see if the person has a page.

A previous discussion about what would be appropriate for reaching the under-13s 
for library news
etc suggested a ning was a better environment because it could be more easily 
managed. Even though
this also has the 13+ restriction, it was suggested a responsible adult to create 
additional
accounts over which they have control.  .Reading Clay Shirky's excellent book 'Here 
Comes
Everybody', which explains everything you could possibly want to know about social 
networks and
tools, was also suggested.  

And finally, it was suggested that Facebook Group could be established where only 
the members of the
class are invited..  Members of the group do not need to be "friends" with one 
another in order to
be a part of the one group.  A student is the administrator of the group (along 
with the teacher)
and everyone can post resources for our class within the group's site. Discussions 
have started on
the current assessment pieces which the teacher occasionally logs into to make sure 
they are heading
in the right direction.  Students also post links to resources which can be 
annotated and due dates
are shown in the calendar of both the group and personal pages.

An enriching discussion
Barbara 

Barbara Braxton
Teacher Librarian
COOMA NSW 2630
AUSTRALIA

E. barbara.288@bigpond.com
Together we learn from each other 

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