A blog I follow, Rate Your Students, brings up the subject of professors on Facebook today. It's an interesting topic for many. I have a facebook account, but I don't post anything on it and have no "friends."Here's what was on their blog:
Is anyone else creeped out by profs who spend as much time on Facebook as our students?He closes with this question:
My colleague across the hall is always talking about events he reads about on Facebook, knows the nicknames of most of his students, and posts a ton of personal info about himself on his own page - which he made me look at one day!
Is Facebook one of those lines that faculty shouldn't be crossing?I don't know the answer to his question.
3 comments:
I have a page on Myspace, not Facebook, as do some of my colleagues. I got my page so I could keep up with the technology, and be aware of what my stepdaughter does online. Some of my students are linked on my page -- usually after they leave my class (college level). I also have friends on Myspace that AREN'T in my classes. It's a great way to keep in touch, but most of us instructors don't post in the same kind of detail that our students do. So I save my really heavy duty stuff for my e-mail, message boards, and my immediate circle of friends. Bottom line: use discretion in what you send, and what you post. . You're part of your student's worlds, but (usually) not one of their closest friends. Don't answer ALL the surveys, and don't spend too much time on their respective pages.
I agree, it can be a useful technological tool...and can lead to some innapropriate behavior...fine lines not to be crossed...use at your own risk
Honestly, what is so WRONG about networking with students. Doing what we do, personal relationships are so important. In a work that calls for such a conectdeness between director and singer; "teacher" and "student" I find that much great music is made when students are close with their teachers. Of course there are boundaries that dare not be cross, but I think those boundaries are extreme and we all know what they are. I think teachers letting students into their lives and vice versa, especially for those students and teachers who work close together, is a beautiful and prosperous relationship and I personally wish people would not be so afraid of it and we would see more of that in schools.
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