As a geography teacher, I see a lot of potential for the collaborative nature of Web 2.0 technologies. If students can connect with other students in the world, it would make geography more "real" for them.
There were two articles in this month's Virginia Journal of Education (a publication of the VEA) related to the topic of the interactive Web. One highlighted several web sites that allow teachers and their students to collaborate on projects with students around the world. One I found quite interesting was by the Global SchoolNet Foundation, where there are many projects to participate in for free with online registration. This type of work shows great of promise.
The other article warned teachers about the dangers of social networking websites. Its main focus was on discouraging teachers from having MySpace or Facebook accounts as they may compromise their integrity as a teacher, or get them fired or sued. It pointed out that even if you keep your pages appropriate, the friends you are linked to may not be so conservative. Also, it can give the impression of inappropriate relationships with students if they are your "friends." I do have a Facebook account that I started this summer. The head cheer coach and I found it was the easiest way to keep an eye on our cheerleaders and to communicate with them easily on our "wall." We have a closed group that is just for current cheerleaders. I had not thought of this as risky. What do you think? I don't have any of the girls as friends. By the way, my son said that Facebook is no longer cool since I invited him to be my friend.
I did a book review and a research paper on this very topic during the summer and I too made the argument that we should use more wikis and blogs in school to teach students to use the web safely, just as we do with drivers ed. Many of these tools have settings to keep them closed and monitored for appropriate participation.
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Denise, just today I had a guidance counselor hand me a copy of the VEA article on teachers using MySpace (though I haven't had the chance to read it yet). I have heard of two incidents in my division regarding where teachers have been contacted by students on MySpace and the students have been dangerously close to cyber-stalking. These teachers have MySpace pages for their personal interest with no intent to communicate with students. I believe in the theory of social networking in schools but do not feel our teachers, students or policies are ready for this leap.
I also have been wondering about having a myspace account. I had told my students that I created one to communicate with my family that lives in NC. Since then several students have asked to be my friends. I got to thinking, do I really want them to have access to my family information? Will this cause future problems? I then decided not to respond and talk to them in person and tell them that I am not opening my account to others.
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