Who remembers when they had to register for Facebook using
their college email address? Once upon a time, Facebook was a social media
networking site that connected college students in an easy manner; where you
could only get access if you were a college student. However, Facebook and other
social media sites like it (twitter, instagram, etc.) now cater to individuals
off all ages. We know this is true because every day you see students on or
attempting to get on some social media site. From our elementary students to
high school seniors being on a social media site seems to be a regular occurrence,
and while an easy topic to discuss might be how this increased engagement in
social media site detracts from the learning in classrooms, but this is not the
topic I wish to address today.
It is interesting when as a teacher I get a friend request from
a 10 year old or when one of my middle school kids comes up asking if I saw
so-and-so’s instagram posting or a fellow teacher talks about what they saw
tweeted yesterday. Today, social media has touched all corners of our student’s
lives, especially those who live in urban settings like Baltimore. However,
little is being done to educate our youth about taking safety precautions while
on these sites. As educators one of our duties is to make sure our children are
safe and in a world that is becoming increasingly dependent on technology it is
important that we educate our students about remaining safe while online.
Maryland’s attorney general is planning to do just that.
Monday he will announce the launch of a new program aimed at educating teens on
being safe and protecting their privacy on social media sites. It is my hope
that this program aims to go into the classrooms and educate our students on
remaining safe online. It is my worry often when I hear about things student’s
are posting or pictures they are uploading that something bad may happen. Let
alone the hostility negative posts often bring into our classrooms, but that’s
a bullying topic for another blog. I await Attorney General Doug Gansler announcement
of the program and what it will bring to our schools and educating our students
on how to remain safe online.
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/04/14/md-ag-to-announce-social-media-education-campaign/
2 comments:
I completely agree that social media use by our students requires a new area of education that we need to be providing our kids. I think it is an excellent idea to provide our students with information about how to maintain privacy settings for the content that they are putting on the web. Are students often post content online with the assumption that no one but their friends will ever see it, but they often do not actively prevent other people from viewing the content that they post online. With the growing amount of content that our students are putting on social media sites, we as educators have an increasing responsibility to inform our students of why's and how's of social media privacy settings and safety.
I totally agree that we need to educate students on social media awareness. I truly don't believe that students understand the gravity or permanency of what they post online. Children are becoming more technology savvy at a much younger age, and it is just as equally important to support parents and guardians in monitoring their children's usage as it is to educate students to be smart themselves and not put each other at risk.
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