I agree. At my school the instructors are forbidden to "friend" students on Facebook, Twitter, Instragram, etc until they graduate. What I have found useful is telling the students about forums or groups that are directly related to their courses. I tell them about cases that have been posted or comments that have been said and this usually starts a class discussion where most of the students participate in if they also saw the post. So even though I don't agree with friending my students while they are students, to say that using social media is bad is just not true. There can be positive outcomes by using social media.
I have a very strict policy about social media, I do not connect with my students nor my co workers. I feel this is for personal use and should not be connected to your professional life. I think it would be different in a professional social media such as linkedin.
I believe it is a double edged sword. Our school has a fraternization policy, the lines could become blurred and that could bring problems to the school and the instructor.
I think that social media outlets can help to bring the classroom much better receptive and unite the student attitude toward a topic, you can use it to discuss new topic or even old topics if there are new points of view about them. It can also be distracting as well, so you just need to make sure everyone is using it properly
All the overviews of the social media sites warn against inappropriate use. Seems you would have to set up to many rules. For now I will stay away from them.
Both students & instructors should be on social media sites but not connected to each other. It can be perceived as a conflict of interest from the instructors stand point. Students can connect with each other to share ideas, pics, etc. Same with instructors & their fellow colleagues.
Use of social media outlets with open channels of interaction help the students feel at ease and communicate more. As long as it is targeted toward the course information and the communication is professional it can be a great tool for increased interaction.
the student teacher relationship should be held to the highest standard in the class room as well as out of the class room.so student teach relationships on media outlets should not happen.
Social media is a great way to create a team atmosphere in the class room. As the instructor you are the leader of this team. With todays millennial's it is imperative to create social networks to keep them engaged.
I believe they should. However, there should be a clear understanding about its purpose. It can be used as an alternate venue to discuss class related material. The connection between the instructors and students must remain professional in order for the social media outlet to function properly.
Theresa,
I beleive our school is missing out on a hugh oportunity by not allowing phones to be utilized in certain ways and at specific times.I teach automotive electronics to students just out of high school. While teaching on the suject of diff. frequencies,I ask them to access the high freq. ring tone app that most of them have, and see when each person's range of hearing stops.That one simple activity gets more "buy in " than any five other activities! If I did'nt have corporate handcuffs on I could do so much more with my class.
Bill Smith
if the student is a current one I would say no. There will definitely be conflict of interest. If and when they graduate, it is now a different story.
I believe instructors should connect with students through social media for learning because they generally spend a large amount of their time on social media and instructors could engage with students easily. There are obvious drawbacks and safeguards that need to be considered. Today if you want to get the attention of a Millennial you need to contact them through social media, emails are always checked.
Like anything, there are good points and bad points about students and instructors being connected on social media. I think it is critical for the instructors to keep in mind their role as instructor and not slip into the role of "buddy". Personally, I do not "friend" current students on my personal account. What I do and share outside of the classroom, I want to stay personal and not share with current students. Many instructors have a personal account and a professional account. Using a professional account helps keep home and work separated and maintains some amount of professional distance with students.
I believe that in the adult classroom it is fine. It also depends on how the instructor conducts themselves on social media sites. For example, I mainly use my Facebook account to stay in touch with old friends and classmates. When I see an inappropriate post in my news feed, I either hide that post or delete the person that posted it. You have to be very careful when connecting with students via social media that the content you are posting, and sharing with the students is appropriate and relative strictly to the course.
I think social media outlets can be very advantageous to connect students and instructors, IF done properly. If used, instructors should never use their personal social media accounts. Instead, they should create an account that is only used professionally.
I believe students and instructors should be connected on social media outlets. It provides students the opportunity to interact with and pose questions to their instructors in an environment they are comfortable with using in their everyday life.
I don't believe students and instrucots should be connected on social media outlets. I feel that it will evenutally interfere with the teacher-student relationship.
I think using social media depends on the age group of your students. In some classes, I have more adult learners who don't utilize these outlets. In my classes where the age is a lot younger, it would be benefical to provide them with resources or other venues to access educational materials.
Only if under the auspices and authority of the institution. I do not think instructors should "friend" a student on any personal social media site for any reason... at least, not until after graduation (or in the case of K-12, after the student turns 18).
On a side note, I have been very hesitant to incorporate any social media in my college classes simply because I don't feel I would have enough TIME to fully (or effectively) engage on social media as well as conduct on-ground classes and manage the variety of web-based course resources that are already part of the established curriculum.
Dan
