Reflection: Social Networking and Privacy

Almost everyone and their grandma is on Facebook, so what better way than to introduce it into the educational setting--a medium that some of your students are already comfortable using. It is effective for class discussions, because you can develop a post, and have students respond with comments as feedback. Plus, the document section is a place for students to upload assignments, while getting them active in practicing online communication and skills. Additionally, you can correspond with other parents who have access to the site about classroom news, up-and-coming events, and important forms for download, like a field trip permission slip. It is a great tool to upload any information, from videos to news articles, that you as the teacher feel are important for your class. For example, it's a lot easier and more effective to post a news article or a "stop bullying campaign" on the profile than to bring it to class in print for it to be read and passed around. Yes, it is basically the same thing, but you can get comments and discussion on topics without distracting or taking up class time--time that can be devoted to teaching the mile-wide standards. Last, if your students are getting the majority of their research from online about a topic or assignment, then you can have them upload article links that are relevant for an assignment to the class profile, and write a about the article there. This way, you can see the article and their thoughts on it, plus you can monitor for plagiarism.
Facebook is a cool tool when communicating with teachers and getting information or worksheets from them as well. It can also create a greater community amongst teachers and their classes, so that everyone is involved, and it becomes and inclusive discussion. Moreover, with teacher strikes now-a-days, you can keep parents and other leaders informed on things happening in the community, and its a place to pull the community in on what is happening at their school.
The drawbacks, are that not everyone has access to a computer, like some ELL parents, so traditional means of keeping them informed should still be in place. Also, with students, those who are advanced with using the medium, might get carried away and add pictures or other information that can be distracting or distasteful. Also, you do not want it to be a gateway for unwanted users to gain access to your students profiles, so safety of your students should be the number one priority when using the site. So, learning the privacy portion of the site is important with relation to your class profile and those of your students.
If Facebook is going to be used in class it is hard to say whether or not it is being used for school or for socializing, so implementing some rules about when or where to use the site is key.
We want to prepare our students for a world that will be using social media and electronic communications, so using Facebook in the classroom in any of the above ways is an effective way of preparing them for that future.