Facebook Teachers and Facebook Students

I met Susan for lunch today and had a really nice visit. She's a friend and a colleague who just happens to also be on sabbatical this year. We're hopefully going to get together again a couple of times this year, at least check in with each other, as we're both working on integrating some cool technology into our classes. We visited about a wide range of work-related items, but one part of our discussion I really needed to take to not only take to heart, but take some action as well.

She had had a conversation with another colleague about facebook and the student-teacher relationship. Both Susan and I started facebook approximately the same time. We both relatively new to this environment. I orignally started mine as a "business only" account so-to-speak. I did not join any groups that would have political affiliations. I participated in quizzes that only President Lundblad would approve of. I did not put too much personal information on my site and I certainly did not include any personal photos besides my profile picture.

My first "friends" were my international club students as they had so many questions I was unable to answer at the beginning of the school year since I was no longer their advisor nor was I on campus. It was fun to search through their photo albums for the pictures from our club activities. And before I knew it, almost the entire club had access to my account. Some sought me out and I accepted them. It didn't seem like an issue until I started seeing pictures that I didn't want to be associated with on my business account. And it wasn't just the pictures it was sometimes the status line. When the lines about being drunk were coupled with innappropriate pictures started to fill my "news feed". I had to take action. I actually defriended (just made that up) a student. Which brings me back to my conversation with Susan.

Both she and this other colleague had experienced similar situations. In one case a student did not want to accept his teacher's request to be a "friend" for class. In another case, asking nieces and nephews to be a friend seemed like a good idea until you truly learned what was going on in their world. So the conclusion eventually came around to the thought of separation of chats and state. As teachers, most of us would not advise becoming "friends" with our in class students so the same rules should probably apply online. I've learned more about some of my students than I cared to know and more than I probably should now.

So I made the decision to "defriend" my students and just be their teacher--at least until after they've left CLC.

Thanks Susan if you're reading this :)