The Vancouver School Board’s policy on banning teachers from friending students on social media sites like Facebook regulates how students use mobile devices for educational purposes during and after school hours. The article “Facebook for Educators: Should it be Banned?” by Kathleen Kalk (2013), which is linked to the UBC Digital Tattoo site outlines the VSB’s attempts to address the issue. The reality of students working on mobile devices in my classes is that they are multi-tasking. Yes, they are spending most of their time on the task at hand, but I also see that they are checking and updating their social media. When groups are working collaboratively, it is not uncommon to see at least one of them on a short ebb before they re-engage in the activity. The Board exercises some control here through access to the wifi in the room; however, some students with large data packages do not use the wifi.
The VSB policy is not really intended primarily to affect the situation above; rather, it is a weak attempt to direct teacher to “monitor all content” posted by themselves or class members that are interacting on a classroom site. It clearly makes the teacher responsible for ensuring that all communication of social media sites is consistent with Board policy. I am not a Facebook user, so the discussion of timelines etc. is slightly lost on me, but I get the gist of it. Kalk does a good job of pointing out the contradictory nature of the policy: encouraging social media use in the classroom via a class group page, but expecting interaction in an environment where students cannot access the teacher’s timeline.
She goes on to suggest two alternatives: setting-up professional accounts where updates, announcements and discussions can take place, and isolating students and parents from a teacher’s personal account whereby the latter can choose who sees any given post.
Given the plethora of valuable information for consideration on the UBC Digital Tatoo site, like social media presence, protecting your mobile, online gaming and privacy in the cloud, using Facebook seems wrought with unnecessary risk if it is simply going to be used for updates and discussions. There are better, more effective and safer web tools with which to do this.
Facebook for Educators: Should it be banned? (n.d.). Retrieved June 11, 2015, from http://digitaltattoo.ubc.ca/2013/06/11/facebook-for-educators-should-it-be-banned/