The first thing that really interested me when looking at the course material is that on the syllabus it is
stated that “70% of US schools ban social media (Lemke, C., Coughlin, E., Garcia, L., Reifsneider, D.,& Baas, J., 2009) but 37% of US schools have a social media site (Purcell, Buchanan, Friedrich, 2013)”. This really confused me, 70% ban it yet 37% have it? The numbers just really did not add up – that was until I looked at the dates. If I look at this as simply as possible it stands to reason that in the past 4 years, 7% of schools in the US have gone from banning social media to embracing it. Right now this is where I am – in a limbo, an (or as Julia states in “Managing our digital footprints: Ostriches vs. Eagles”: “[a social media in the classroom Ostrich],
ignoring any educational applications of these technologies due to fear. I have social media profiles and use them regularly, but am I ready to use them in a professional manner?
I am aware that there are many professional constraints with social media and I think this might be one of the main reasons that I am hesitant to use them with my students. In the past the way I saw it was – if I don’t use it with my students then I don’t have to know what my professional expectations would be. Now that I am being pushed to learn what my profession expects of me through use of these technologies, I am still left wondering if it will be worth it for my students and if I would get any push back from my administration or parents (as I teach in an independent Christian school); this may help or hinder because I might be super cautious if I decide to move forward with using it with my students or I may become more worried.
As it stands right now, my students are enrolled in my online classroom through Canvas by Instructure. This platform allows me to have everything that Moodle offers plus a little bit more in a password protected area. At the same time it allows my students to have blogging/wiki capabilities to connect with one another but at the same time doing so privately.
I am also worried about the problem of “no take-backs” I have attended a very in depth session about posting things and not being able to delete once they are there and it still amazes me how many people are still oblivious. This makes me worried about pictures my friends and family may take of me and post without my consent. Julia referenced to this in her “Ostriches vs. Eagles” paper when she says: The model of exponential publication and transmissions means that once tweeted—or otherwise published in a social network—there are no ‘take-backs”. I would want to make sure that my students were very clear on this before I introduced social
media to them – I think this is why I am starting them out in a closed environment.
I have also had the issue of a past friend of mine wanting to take a picture of me so she could post it on Facebook but I declined and she couldn’t understand why, but I understood the “once it is there you can never remove it” and I really didn’t want a bunch of people seeing me in my swimsuit, much less my students being able to search it from her lack of privacy settings. I hope through this course I can learn more about this topic and at the same time inform others so that they are aware.
References:
Lemke, C., Coughlin, E., Garcia, L., Reifsneider, D., & Baas, J. (2009). Leadership for web 2.0 in education: Promise and reality. Culver City, CA: Metiri Group. Commissioned by CoSN through support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. http://cosn.enoah.com/Portals/7/docs/Web%202.0/CoSN%20Report%20042809Final%20w-cover.pdf
Purcell, K., Buchanan, J., Friedrich, L. (2013). The impact of digital tools on student writing and how writing is taught in schools. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2013/PIP_NWP%20Writing%20and%20Tech.pdf
Hengstler, J. (2011). Managing digital footprints: Ostriches v. eagles".(2011). In S. Hirtz & K. Kelly (Eds.), Education
for a Digital World 2.0 (2nd ed.) (Vol. 1, Part One: Emerging
technologies and practices). Open
School/Crown Publications: Queen's
Printer for British Columbia, Canada.
stated that “70% of US schools ban social media (Lemke, C., Coughlin, E., Garcia, L., Reifsneider, D.,& Baas, J., 2009) but 37% of US schools have a social media site (Purcell, Buchanan, Friedrich, 2013)”. This really confused me, 70% ban it yet 37% have it? The numbers just really did not add up – that was until I looked at the dates. If I look at this as simply as possible it stands to reason that in the past 4 years, 7% of schools in the US have gone from banning social media to embracing it. Right now this is where I am – in a limbo, an (or as Julia states in “Managing our digital footprints: Ostriches vs. Eagles”: “[a social media in the classroom Ostrich],
ignoring any educational applications of these technologies due to fear. I have social media profiles and use them regularly, but am I ready to use them in a professional manner?
I am aware that there are many professional constraints with social media and I think this might be one of the main reasons that I am hesitant to use them with my students. In the past the way I saw it was – if I don’t use it with my students then I don’t have to know what my professional expectations would be. Now that I am being pushed to learn what my profession expects of me through use of these technologies, I am still left wondering if it will be worth it for my students and if I would get any push back from my administration or parents (as I teach in an independent Christian school); this may help or hinder because I might be super cautious if I decide to move forward with using it with my students or I may become more worried.
As it stands right now, my students are enrolled in my online classroom through Canvas by Instructure. This platform allows me to have everything that Moodle offers plus a little bit more in a password protected area. At the same time it allows my students to have blogging/wiki capabilities to connect with one another but at the same time doing so privately.
I am also worried about the problem of “no take-backs” I have attended a very in depth session about posting things and not being able to delete once they are there and it still amazes me how many people are still oblivious. This makes me worried about pictures my friends and family may take of me and post without my consent. Julia referenced to this in her “Ostriches vs. Eagles” paper when she says: The model of exponential publication and transmissions means that once tweeted—or otherwise published in a social network—there are no ‘take-backs”. I would want to make sure that my students were very clear on this before I introduced social
media to them – I think this is why I am starting them out in a closed environment.
I have also had the issue of a past friend of mine wanting to take a picture of me so she could post it on Facebook but I declined and she couldn’t understand why, but I understood the “once it is there you can never remove it” and I really didn’t want a bunch of people seeing me in my swimsuit, much less my students being able to search it from her lack of privacy settings. I hope through this course I can learn more about this topic and at the same time inform others so that they are aware.
References:
Lemke, C., Coughlin, E., Garcia, L., Reifsneider, D., & Baas, J. (2009). Leadership for web 2.0 in education: Promise and reality. Culver City, CA: Metiri Group. Commissioned by CoSN through support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. http://cosn.enoah.com/Portals/7/docs/Web%202.0/CoSN%20Report%20042809Final%20w-cover.pdf
Purcell, K., Buchanan, J., Friedrich, L. (2013). The impact of digital tools on student writing and how writing is taught in schools. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2013/PIP_NWP%20Writing%20and%20Tech.pdf
Hengstler, J. (2011). Managing digital footprints: Ostriches v. eagles".(2011). In S. Hirtz & K. Kelly (Eds.), Education
for a Digital World 2.0 (2nd ed.) (Vol. 1, Part One: Emerging
technologies and practices). Open
School/Crown Publications: Queen's
Printer for British Columbia, Canada.
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