Should students and teachers be friends on Facebook?

[Dion]

Vancouver teachers are not going to be very “friendly” on social media sites come fall, should the Vancouver School Board adopt a new social media policy.

A draft of the proposed policy — believed to be the first of its kind in B.C. — will be debated at a committee meeting Tuesday afternoon.

“We want to take a proactive approach and encourage employees to use caution, common sense and sound judgment, and serve as good role models for our students,” said school board trustee Mike Lombardi.

The policy bans teachers from requesting or accepting students as “friends” on social networking sites for non-educational purposes and exchanging personal phone numbers, email addresses or photographs with students.

Gerry Kent, president of the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers Association, said his group supports examining the evolving usage of social media by teachers, but noted some items in the draft policy may be overkill.

“We are concerned about too many limitations put on how teachers use social media in their own personal life,” he said.

Teachers should not be expected to constantly monitoring their accounts, police other people’s comments on their pages, or be held responsible if their posts are forwarded or taken out of context.

“It’s finding that right balance between protecting the individual and the school, while at the same time isn’t overly restrictive and punitive,” said Kent, who sits on the committee drafting the policy.

Representatives from students, parents and teachers groups are expected to give their feedback on the draft policy Tuesday with a final version expected in June to take effect in September.

http://www.theprovince.com/technolog...671/story.html

[flamesfan6]

If a student wants their teacher on Facebook then go ahead.. I don't know why you would ever want your teacher to be on your facebook friends though....

[drPepper1]

If your teacher is hot would you add her to your facebook? Yes I would

[nik-]

I don't see why a teacher would need a student on Facebook. If they want an information distribution medium, use Twitter.

[WhiteTiger]

Maybe if the teacher was using a specific FB page for that class, sure. If it's their personal page? No way.

[SHOGUN]

I think it would awkward. It's like adding your boss on facebook, I'd like a strong boundary between my personal life vs work life.

[driveway]

I am encouraged by my small private school to engage with students on Facebook. I am forbidden by the large International school I also teach at from engaging with students on Facebook.

To satisfy both I created a specific page for me as a teacher. It's one of those "pages" like Sarah Palin has where people can follow me but are not my 'friends' and I have total control over what appears on the page. I only allow students from the private school to follow me - never the International school - and the only things I ever post are links to articles. I never make personal statements, never personally respond to student comments or queries, and never, ever give students access to my actual personal Facebook page.

There is way too much exposure to risk for me to allow any more access than that and I think most teachers would probably agree with me.

[TorqueDog]

I think if Facebook was around when I was a kid, I would definitely not want my teachers on mine.

[keenan87]

It depends, there were some really cool teachers in HS that I added after graduating. They don't use it much but its nice to chat with them once in a while, especially my guidance counsellor who helped me so much.

[undercoverbrother]

Facebook groups are often used for team communication, though you don't need to "be friends" to be in the same group for the purpose of communication (ie: games, practice, injury updates, etc).

[SeeBass]

Why in the world is this so frikin tough??

Do we need a six month comittee to look into this and panels of experts?

Just use some GD common sense here, what is with the all the overkill.

There is a big difference between Miss Johnson the 5th grade teacher's facebook page and Sally Johnson the 26 year old single woman who follows the Grateful Dead on their summer tour.

Gee let's get a panel together talk about it, run a study for 3 years and file a 300 page report by 3 people with PHDs telling us this....

A teacher can have a "teacher focused facebook page" and a teacher may have a "personal" one but that one must exlude any current students. If contact with a student is important then there is no reason why a student needs to use the personal one.

There done, lets go for lunch.

[worth]

Most of my teacher friends obscure their names in some way as to avoid students finding and adding them on facebook. I don't even like to have co-workers on fb.

[The Goon]

It's a lot simpler if the teacher just sexts you directly.

[Northendzone]

^ this.....anyways, if i was a teacher, why would i want to risk friending someone who is currently at my school. i suppose i could see being friends with someone who has completed high school and is now an adult.

[CaptainCrunch]

Teacher's shouldn't be friends, confidences or buddies with Students, its kind of icky and it puts a teacher in a dangerous position.

Honestly they should spend more time smackin kids up with the chalkboard pointer and less time being their best friends in the whole wide world.

[MarchHare]

I have two friends who are university-level professors. They both use a pseudonym on Facebook specifically so their students can't find them.

My sister is an elementary school teacher and uses her real name on Facebook, but her students shouldn't have accounts anyway (FB's terms of service state you must be 13 or older to sign up). I'm not sure if she's FB friends with any of her students' parents.

[REDVAN]

Not until the teacher will never teach that student again.

I'm 28 and I have a couple of my former teachers on facebook.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

Not until the teacher will never teach that student again.

I'm 28 and I have a couple of my former teachers on facebook.

So do you tell em that you used to spank the monkey while thinking about them when they were your teachers?

[troutman]

Do students have to be 14 to have a facebook account? I'm sure many lie about their age.

[Rathji]

You need to be 13 to have a Facebook account, but many lie about their age, of course.

I know one of niece and nephew's teachers have a policy where they cannot be Facebook friends until after they have finished at the school (graduated/moved). I don't know if it was school mandated though , because I just saw it written on her Facebook wall.