Policy?

Through all of this I had set out to do one thing: look at social media policies which are in place for local high schools. And by local I mean Oakland and Macomb county in Michigan. The thing is, there aren't any. I conducted a survey of teachers/student teachers working in these areas and they tell me the same thing. None of the survey participants know of a social media policy that their district or school has put into place for the staff or students.

Many of those who took the survey also said that while there are no social media policies in place, they still had to sign a form saying that they would not engage in social media while at school, for personal use that is.

Teachers can decide for themselves how they want to teach in their classroom and what, if any, social or new media technologies they want to use. As long as they do not engage on their personal social media accounts for their own pleasure, then they are allowed to use the sources for teaching purposes.

This makes me wonder. With all of the hype on social media and the ever increasing popularity of new media technologies, when will we create and implement these policies. Or will we stay without them?

What it all comes down to is deciding where we are going and how we will get there. If we choose to stay on the path of new media entering into every aspect of our lives, then we need to make sure we set goals, policies, and whatever else it takes to maintain the balance we need and the education that some may say we deserve.

Department of Education

While it has been difficult to find social media policies relating to certain school, we still can still look higher up in the education system.

In Michigan alone our Department of Education utilizes both Facebook and Twitter to send news and information to the public. You can check the sites out here:

Michigan Dept. of Edu. Facebook

Michigan Dept. of Edu. Twitter

And even the U.S. Dept. of Education uses social media such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

But even with access to all of these social media sites, you still have to dig, ask around, and search for policies and the different rules and regulations set in place for social media. That is, if/when there are any.

Let's face it...just because you can stay connected, doesn't mean you are staying informed.

Social media: an asset to students

Social media and new media skills seems to be becoming more and more prevalent in our daily lives. So what happens when we begin to use them in the classroom or by the students?

For starters, there is the emergence of the online classroom, not just at the college level, but also in high school. When you transform from face-to-face settings and into the web experience, it becomes a whole new ballgame. In an article by Barrow, he describes his own experiences with teaching online and how students become more engages and show improvement as opposed to the face-to-face settings. While this may be more relevant at the higher level, more teachers at the high school level seem to be experimenting with these processes as well.

But new media can be used for more than just teaching online or experiments. Student organizations can utilize these tools and technologies for their benefit as well. Williams (2010) discusses how new media helps in the delivery of information, such as sports news, by high-school media. By using these new technologies, high school newspapers, yearbook staff, or even the morning announcement crew can improve their methods and connect with a wider audience.

There can be a downfall to this as well. When student media begins engaging more in social media, they need to be sure to maintain their audience. In an article by Neff (2009), he discussed how some students were beginning to take a pass on Facebook. At least 900,000 students had stopped using the site within a six month period. With such large numbers of high-school students declining to participate in such areas, it would be hard for those student media groups to find that audience to connect with.

A Chicago-based marketing consultant, Monica O’Brien, even wrote about why high-schoolers leave Facebook on her blog. Be sure to check out what she had to say about the topic.


Aside from students who are choosing not to use the site anymore, students newspapers, yearbooks, and other organizations still need to be careful about their usage of these technologies. While they still maintain their rights to free speech, they may come under the same scrutiny as teachers if they post the wrong thing.


According to Smith (2008), courts may find that a school limiting what students are allowed to say on Facebook is a violation of their first amendment rights. But arguements arise in favor of protecting the students and the school system involved.


This is yet another case that may turn into a he said, she said, never ending cycle until more rules, regulations and policies are established and put into place. Something that seems to be happening...but slowly.

Social Media outside the classroom

While our focus is on social media in the classroom, we should take a moment to look at social media outside of the classroom as well relating to both teachers and students. It is important to see how social media is breaking into our education system, its pros and cons, but how teachers and students engage in social media outside of the classroom can have an effect on how they engage within the classroom.

On the one side, there are the teachers and their personal use of social media. There are several areas here that can cause problems. First is the issue of what teachers post, after all, they have the right to free speech don’t they? But problems arise when teachers post something that is “offensive” “inappropriate”. If the wrong person sees the post, the teacher could get in trouble with the parents of their students or even the school district. Check out this NPR article to learn more about issues such as this:

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/07/143264921/friendly-advice-for-teachers-beware-of-facebook

It’s not just their right to free speech that can be controversial; there is also the issue of student-teacher relationships. Many people deem student-teacher relationships outside of the classroom as inappropriate. After all, if a teacher is not allowed other contact with students, then why should this type of contact be allowed? Is it because parents don’t want their children to see what their teachers are like afterhours?

There is a thin line and teachers and students alike must walk it finely in order to remain in a “favorable” position.

But there can be some good to student-teacher social media relationships as well. In a study done by Mazer, Murphy and Simonds on the effects of teacher self-disclosure via Facebook on teacher credibility, it was found that teachers with a higher self-disclosure on Facebook showed higher levels of credibility with their students than those who did not. In a way, it’s like a double-edged sword. Teachers have more credibility with their students for having a higher self-disclosure, and yet if they say the wrong thing or post the wrong picture they may get in trouble with parents or those higher up in the education system.

On the other end of the spectrum we have the students. Social media sites such as Facebook have and may continue to pose issues. First seems to be the obvious issues that comes with teen and high school years: that of friendship. Who a student “friends” or doesn’t “friend” on Facebook could influence their status in school. In addition, there can be issues over what is said on such social media sites. When someone says or does the wrong thing, their “friends” may react in ways unfavorable to the friendship or may even get sick of reading what their friends have to say. This can lead to more problems. Check out this article from the Wall Street Journal online that describes such issues:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204660604574370450465849142.html

It’s not all positive or negative. But there’s one thing that’s certain, and that’s that issues that arise outside of the classroom can easily carry over into the classroom setting.

New Media and Education Part 2

While some might like to think that there is only good to come from adding new media into our education systems, there are still many who believe the opposite. Since we already looked into some of the ways and reasons why social media can be a positive in the classroom, it’s time to take a moment to look at the negatives.

For starters, some believe that placing social media in the classroom will do more harm than good. If you look at the trials and tribulations that we already encounter during our teens years, so you want to have the potential of making those worse by forcing social media practices in the classroom? As Boyd points out, “Using technology that ruptures social norms in the classroom can be socially and educationally harmful.” That being said, more harm than good may come from forcing your students to “friend” each other or even engage in these social media applications.

Even more than that, students might not feel the same way about these technologies as the teacher. While they may use the same sites, they go about it in a different way, and one that suits their own needs, not one that is forced upon them in the classroom.

Just because we think it appropriate to incorporate these new tactics and strategies, we also need to think about how it will affect our students.

New Media and Education

Just like in other areas of our lives, social media seems to be making its way into our education system. While there are arguments both in support of and against the use of new media tools for education, it all depends on who you talk to. Whether it is the district, the school, or the teacher, there always seems to be some sort of policy or rules relating to the usage of social media. For some, new media tools are seen as an asset, as an improved tool for learning and even that they belong in the classroom.

The NBC NEWS blog “Education Nation” speaks to social media belonging in the classroom in a post by Jason Falls.

In this post, Falls claims “Teachers that resist using social media in the classroom are stripping their students of an essential component of their future success. Avoiding – or worse, banning – social media platforms for students prohibits them from being successful professionals in fields like accounting, chemistry, the arts and more.” Later, Falls even goes on to state that those who lack knowledge of social media are at a disadvantage to those with the knowledge.

Not to say that choosing social media or banning it in the classroom is the right choice, but there seems to be a clear argument for why social media should be used and taught. Some teachers choose to use social media not only as learning tools, but as new and creative ways to engage their students.

Take a look at this list of 100 ways to use social media in the classroom and see why some teachers find this to be useful.

Then again, maybe it’s easier to take things one step at a time. Let’s not jump in and attempt to incorporate every kind of new media into the curriculums at once. Maybe it’s better to start slowly and work our way up from there. So let’s go back to the basics: reading and writing. We still use traditional textbooks as learning tools in the classroom but at home, we no longer sit and read novels or books the same way as before. With the digital platforms that we remain tied to and the increasing popularity of micro-blogging, our attention spans seem to be shrinking and we no longer sit and read the long paragraphs that our long lost novels provide.

E-books have contributed to this shift. In his article, Neary points to e-books and Twitter as reasons why this shift has occurred. (Click here to read the full article) If this shift continues, we may soon see more students walking around with e-readers or iPads instead of the traditional textbooks that we all know. This could be the shift that brings technology and new media into the classrooms in full force. But just as Neary points out, it could be another 10 years until we find out where we are heading.