How much protection is to much? Should we have a firewall? Security systems such as firewalls make sense. But we must loosen the firewall a bit! It's imperative that we grow with technology, it would be a tragedy for technology to grow without us.
It's critical for social media to be allowed in schools as it presents a world of opportunities that far outweigh the negatives if it is implemented safely and properly. Social media is our world and it has become far too integrated into daily life for us not to incorporate it into schools. This would be a disservice to our children, their families and our entire school community.
Yes, of course there is reason for concern... There are potential dangers and risks. Bad people exist in all walks of life and students don't always make the right decisions, but that no reason to exclude social media. These are the reasons its important to make social media part of school teaching. School is a place where we educate our youth about the potential risks so that they know how to avoid them.
I loved the statement, "If you don't publicly define who you are, you can be sure someone else will, with or without your approval." If we fail to embrace social media it will still grow so we may as well be a part of it's growth. We can use Webpages, Twitter, Facebook, etc. to define who we our as a district, as a school, as an administrator. We can use it educate ourselves on what other educators are doing. We can use it to share information with our school community, parents, and students. Information can be put out quickly. Technology and social media is wonderful and we can't run from it instead we must embrace it an use it to our advantage!
How would you deter students from using social media during class time and when they should be doing other work? Would you loosed the firewall differently for teachers than you would for students?
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