In QLD teachers have been banned from contacting students on social networking sites. This bothers me. There are so many things I see as wrong about this stance. Students can run into trouble online. There are no adults in their lives giving them any feedback about the publishing they do online. I have attended a number of talks on cybersafety and cyberbullying. I read numerous blogs about education and using social networking software for educational purposes. This just reeks of people who don’t know what they are talking about wanting to control something they have limited understanding of.
I think inappropriate behaviour is not acceptable anywhere, banning useful tools is not going to stamp out inappropriate behaviour. Teachers have the potential to set an example online as they are expected to at school.
Michael Carr-Gregg at one of those talks last year said the internet was like the Wild West where the children were there with no adult supervision. These restrictions placed on teachers could discourage teachers from the learning and participation they need to effectively guide students. A fellow staff member attended a cybersafety course recently and told me they were advised not to talk about online participation if they had no experience of it. Students would see right through it. Makes sense doesn’t it?
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