Greg,
You are right. The policies must be articulated to the student and continually repeated so the students know you are serous about the policies. Students tend to think the policy will pertain to everyone but themselves.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Virginia,
I agree. Students tent to think they have the "right" to say anything. We have to remind them of the consequences.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Virginia,
As an instructor we have to hold them to the policy and continually remind them of it. That will tell them it is important.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Eileen,
Nice! You have to continue to remind students regularly. They have understand its importance.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Sodang,
You make a great point. Copyright laws must be followed. This must be addresses and monitored by us. We have to be vigilant about that.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Students should understand what is acceptable to post verses what is unacceptable. It's too easy to post something that is not relevant to a discussion. Thus it's important for an instructor to make sure that students are sharing relevant issues.
Ed,
You are right. Even if you delete it, the content exists elsewhere. There was a stat I found that says 9/10 employers will look at a potential employee's facebook.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
After reading the media hosting and sharing policies, the student should understand several things. The first is what is acceptable and not acceptable for posting. The second is who the information will be shared with. For example, is something uploaded available to everyone, or are there security settings to restrict who the information is shared with. The third may be technology restrictions, such as size limits or format limitations.
Stephanie,
Great points. Students need to see the consequences of inappropriate posts. We now require the freshmen of our college to set through a social media session that discusses the role of social media in their professional lives.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
As has been previously notes, it is important for students to understand acceptable and unacceptable content. To look at this in more detail we need to consider what the students need to know not just about the media hosting and sharing on external sites but any related internal policies, such as “student code of conduct†policy and how this applies to the media hosting and sharing policies. Often policies may be looked at independently but it is important, particularly for something like this, that students know how various policies are interrelated. Ideally, we would like to think that students should be aware of university policies; however, realistically we need to realize that students will often only review a policy when they believe it is necessary so the students are not always aware of important items that are related. It is our responsibility to find ways to ensure that students are aware of the importance. We do not need to reiterate the related policies, but perhaps providing links within the media hosting and sharing policies to other related policies can help ensure students are aware of the connection so that they have the opportunity to review the related policies without significant searching.
Tanya,
Great post. I find that many times, policies set by the instructor are not enforced by the instructor. It is important to remember that policies set mean nothing if note enforced!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Tanya,
Great post. I find that many times, policies set by the instructor are not enforced by the instructor. It is important to remember that policies set mean nothing if note enforced!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
In addition to understanding copyright laws and appropriate netiquette, I think students should also have a clear understanding of how/why the use of social media will help them succeed in the course.
Victoria,
I agree with you. As I just updated my LinkedIn account, we have to educate our students in the role social media can have in their career. We also have to model good communication within the medium.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Students will need to know if their online instructors will be developing the content-based media to be uploaded to the media host, or will students be developing content as well? Is there “ready-made†content-based media they can utilize?
The media must also meet copyright rules and regulations. The content must also be shared only with those who need to view, listen to, or interact with it.
The actual hosting and sharing sites themselves may also mandate specific policies for site use. The educational institution will likely have a social media policy for all students, staff, and instructors.
Richard,
You are right, there is quite a bit of information to know to really implement social media. You make a great point, you have to make sure about the institution policies. You may want to have students look at other types of social media policies. Students must be made aware they don't have "freedom of speech" as a professional.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Students should understand that these social media policies are put in place to help and guide them towards a positive learning experience. They are also a gentle reminder that academic integrity continues outside the typical classroom and the ramifications of any negative actions or behaviors will result in similar consequences.
Kelli,
You are right and we are finding so many employers are looking at social media to predict future behavior of employees. We now are requiring all freshmen to go to a social media workshop to prepare for their professional persona.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
It is essential that students understand copyrights and that you can't just "copy and paste" from other sources, without citing that source as part of the response.
The principle is very similar to writing a paper and using the proper citations.
I think another important consideration for posting on media hosting and share sites is online etiquette. I oftentimes have to help students understand when and how to respond to students, especially if we are discussing a topic that can engender passion in participants. In short, manners are important, and online, people can hide behind the "distance" and forget their manners.
